• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Library of Lore for Cliffside, North Carolina

Since 2002

Remember Cliffside

Galleries
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • Explore
    • Galleries
    • History
    • In The News
    • Landmarks
    • Media
    • Memories
    • Odds & Ends
    • Photos of the Month
    • Rutherford County
    • Society
    • Where People Lived
  • What's New
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Where are we?
  • Guest Book
  • Contact Us
  • Search
  • Help
  • Donate
Home » Galleries » Jim Scancarelli’s “Cliffside” Model

Logo for section: Photo Galleries

Jim Scancarelli’s “Cliffside” Model

Jim Scancarelli
Jim Scancarelli
In the early 1980s, artist Jim Scancarelli, inspired by several visits to our town over the preceding 20 years, built a model of an imaginary town called “Cliffside.” Drawing a little on his memory of the real Cliffside, and a lot on his fertile imagination, Jim spent a good portion of four years on the model. As he would think of new features to add, he built them in separate pieces, so it is not one massive model, but a series of unattached “dioramas,” as he calls them.

Click here
to view 128 photos of the amazing Scancarelli model of “Cliffside.”

He created a fantasy place. Unable to recall the exact name of the corporation that owned the mill, he guessed it was “Cohen” (instead of Cone), and that’s the name he used. The “Cliffside” of this model is much larger in scope than the real town ever was, with many more stores, streets and people. It’s fun to imagine what might be behind this door, or around that corner.

The scenes depict the years of World War II, with vintage vehicles, clothing, and signs everywhere reminding us “there’s a war on.” On other signs you’ll see references to Cliffside, Rutherford County, WBT, and many consumer products of the time. The detail in these scenes is astonishing. (Check the junk yard carefully, you might find the remains of that old car you used to drive.)

Jim used HO, a scale popular with railroad modelers. (HO scale means “a lot smaller than real life.”) For many of the buildings, train components and terrain objects, he purchased hobby kits, modifying them to suit his needs; others he built from scratch. His human figures are an amalgam of body parts from tiny dolls and toy soldiers.

At some point, when he’d decided he had finished, Jim photographed the model on 35mm slides, which we’ve scanned for this presentation. Jim is now a nationally-known cartoonist; he draws the comic strip “Gasoline Alley” that may appear in your local newspaper. For more about Jim and this remarkable work, read Dot Jackson’s column from The Charlotte Observer in our Memories section.

Models and photography by Jim Scancarelli

Primary Sidebar

Gallery Categories

  • People
    • Callahan Album
    • Faces of Cliffside
    • Ponies on Parade
  • Places
    • Duke Power Steam Station
    • Forest City Scenes
  • History
    • Firebugs
  • Groups
    • School
    • Church
    • Community
  • Railroad
    • Moving 110 to Bonsal
    • Photo Album (7 Galleries)
  • Sports
    • Little League Teams
  • Events
    • The Bypass
    • Cliffside Days
      • Cliffside Day 2002
      • Cliffside Day 2003
      • Cliffside Day 2004
      • Cliffside Day 2009
      • Cliffside Day 2011
      • Cliffside Day 2012
      • Cliffside Day 2013
      • Cliffside Day 2014
      • Cliffside Day 2016
    • Moving the Cabin
    • Tacky Party – 1955
    • Thanksgiving Dinner 2004
  • Later Years
    • Present Day Tour
    • Old Mill Tour
  • Various
    • First Rate Fotos
    • Model of “Cliffside”
    • The Cleanup
  • Society
    • Caring for the Clock
      • Restoring the Clockworks
      • Clock Tower Restoration
    • The Gathering 2016

© 2002–2023 · Cliffside Historical SocietyScroll To Top