The Haines Shoe House

It is in the category of “Out of the Ordinary” that this place belongs.  We learned about the Haines Shoe House from the CBS News Sunday Morning show, I think it was.  As the picture depicts, it’s a house in the shape of a shoe!  Well, actually it’s a work boot.

We drove by this unique dwelling [on Shoe House Road no less!] in Hallam, PA, while driving along the Lincoln Highway en route to our current destination in northeast Pennsylvania.  According to my source, Wikipedia, Mahlon Haines built the house in 1948 as a form of advertisement for his boot company.

The back of the Haines Show House - and note the mailbox - how could you miss it actually?
The back of the house – great mailbox!

The house is 25′ tall with five stories and is open to public tours now, but on the day we drove a little out of our way to drive by it, The Old Woman [who lived in a shoe] was not home so we couldn’t get the tour.  Oh well….

For you TV fans, which, by the way, we aren’t any more (haven’t seen TV since we’ve been Out Here other than when we have dinner at a bar / restaurant and it’s on in the background), the Shoe House was on the TV show, The Amazing Race.  We never watched that show, but that’s okay – we got to see The Haines House up close and in person!