ghostofamerica book design

Secret History of Roadside Attractions

Cover of Secret History of Roadside Attractions, designed by ghostofamerica book design — a hand-drawn illustration of a weathered roadside curiosity rendered in faded sign-paint colors, with the title set in a worn, vernacular display face

The Bucket

Opening spread for 'The Bucket' with a hand-lettered story title set over a loose pen-and-ink sketch of a roadside stand, the body text beginning in a single column on the facing page
"The Bucket" opens with its title hand-lettered in a loose, slightly uneven script that echoes the painted signage of the attractions the book describes — set above a pen-and-ink sketch of a roadside stand, with the body copy beginning in a single, generously leaded column on the facing page.
Spread with a loose pencil sketch of a forest cabin in the margin beside a column of running text set in a warm serif
A loose pencil sketch of a cabin at the forest's edge sits in the margin beside the running text, its sketchy, unfinished quality keeping the page feeling like a field notebook rather than a polished illustration — a reminder that these attractions were once someone's half-formed roadside dream.
Spread of running text set in a warm serif with a wide left margin reserved for marginal sketches and notations
The page settles into its working rhythm: a warm, slightly rustic serif carries the narrative in a single measured column, while a wide left margin stands ready to host the next sketch — a layout that treats illustration as marginalia rather than ornament.
Spread with a hand-drawn diagram of the bucket attraction's mechanism, labeled in a small hand-lettered caption face
A hand-drawn diagram of the attraction's rickety mechanism is labeled in a small, hand-lettered caption face — half technical drawing, half folk-art exhibit card, capturing the earnest amateur engineering at the heart of the story.
Spread of running text drawing toward the story's end, set in the same warm serif with a faint sign-paint red used for a single line of dialogue
As the story nears its close, a single line of dialogue is lifted into a faint, faded sign-paint red — the only color accent in the chapter, landing with the quiet snap of a hand-painted roadside sign glimpsed from a moving car.
Closing spread for 'The Bucket' with the final lines of text set above a small closing illustration of the attraction at dusk
The chapter closes on a small dusk illustration of the attraction sitting quiet beside the highway — the warm serif text trailing off above it, the layout giving the image the last, unhurried word.