Battle of the five smallest small capitals: Montpelier, Pierre, Augusta, Frankfort, Helena (live, best)

[EclecticEars]

The capital cities are in Vermont, South Dakota, Maine, Kentucky, and Montana, respectively.

What is/are your preference(s) in terms of the following criteria? Admittedly, this is subjective.

Quality of life
Access to larger, more relevant, or more influential cities
Educational quality (Preschool through postsecondary)
Natural scenery in area
Beauty of the cities themselves
Employment
Access to fun and interesting things in region
Better/best place to live

I grew up near one of these five capitals, by the way, but I'm just curious to see how this all plays out here on C-D.

[Champ le monstre du lac]

-Quality of life: too subjective for me to rate

-Access to larger, more relevant, or more influential cities: Montpelier - 45 minutes to Burlington, 2.5 hours to Montreal, 3 hours to Boston, 4.5 hours to NYC

-Educational quality (Preschool through postsecondary) - don't know

-Natural scenery in area: Montpelier, it's in a beautiful valley on a river tucked away in the Green Mountains. Frankfort is surrounded by bluegrass country which beautiful as well.

-Beauty of the cities themselves - Montpelier is quaint, Frankfort seemed attractive from the 15 minutes I stopped there. Augusta is meh. Don't know about Helena or Pierre.

-Employment, they all seem too tiny to have any remarkable employment outside of government.

-Access to fun and interesting things in region - Montpelier is close to skiing at Stowe, Lake Champlain along with nice waterfalls and swimming holes in the summer, hiking in the Green Mountains, and easy access to other Northeastern cities.

-Better/best place to live: Given these choices, not sure how I leaned so far towards a biased feeling but I dig Montpelier and find it more appealing than the others. Augusta is pretty dull, As I said before Frankfort was attractive but I just haven't thought much about Kentucky. Pierre and Helena are very isolated.

[TheBeagleLady]

Of the five, I have only been to Pierre. I can't imagine it ranks anywhere but last.

[ctr88]

Montpelier! Cutest and most quaint
of them all. VT is super scenic.

[EclecticEars]

Originally Posted by EclecticEars

The capital cities are in Vermont, South Dakota, Maine, Kentucky, and Montana, respectively.

What is/are your preference(s) in terms of the following criteria? Admittedly, this is subjective.

- Quality of life Subjective indeed, but based on what I'm looking for overall in a place to live, I'd have to give this award to Helena.
- Access to larger, more relevant, or more influential cities Montpelier absolutely, followed by Augusta and Frankfort.
- Educational quality (Preschool through postsecondary) Kentucky is the only state listed that has generally poor public schools, while the other four states tend to produce high school graduates that can actually compose a proper sentence. However, in addition to K-12 education, Helena also has Carroll College and the two-year Helena College of Technology, a member of the UofM system. Helena is the winner in my mind.
- Natural scenery in area Helena without contest, followed by Montpelier and Frankfort.
- Beauty of the cities themselves Probably Montpelier, followed by Frankfort.
- Employment Tricky one here. Vermont, South Dakota and Montana have traditionally had low unemployment rates, even during the recent recession. However, while the job market in Kentucky has always been lackluster and the pay rates by employers aren't that great, Frankfort is indeed close to Lexington and Louisville. Frankfort also has a sizable university in Kentucky State, as well as two local public school systems and a sizable manufacturing presence. I think Frankfort gets this award.
- Access to fun and interesting things in region Montpelier if you're into the whole East Coast thing, Helena if you love the beauty of the West and getting away from it all very quickly.
- Better/best place to live Subjective, yes, but Helena, followed by Montpelier, are probably the nicest of the five. Augusta does seem kind of "meh," even though it is close to Portland and the coast. Pierre is in the middle of BFE. Frankfort, away from the very beautiful historic district, has some dumpy areas with moderately high property crime rates that remind you that you're still in Kentucky.

I grew up near one of these five capitals, by the way, but I'm just curious to see how this all plays out here on C-D.

I took at stab at it. My answers are in bold above, based on what I know about the cities from research, skimming C-D forum, etc.

I've only been to one, Frankfort, which I grew up near. I know Frankfort quite well, in fact.

[woxyroxme]

I have only been to Frankfort and Augusta, I really liked Augusta, small town by most standards but the biggest for miles around so it is a center of activity for its size. I also drove through the two rotaries without stopping.