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Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Small towns get largely ignored on CD and the major cities get all the hype. But there are many eclectic, charming, and beautiful small towns full of character in every state. What is your favorite small town in your state? Or if you'd like it can be in another state, or plural as in your favorites. What do you like about it? What is the settting like?
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,720 posts, read 23,625,739 times
Reputation: 14551
I really dig Wellfleet Mass. It's on Cape Cod in the outer stretch going towards the tip, just before Provincetown. Wellfleet is the real Cape Cod. It's still a small town, not overdeveloped with tourism and real estate like much of the rest of the Cape. It's beautiful with Cape Cod Bay on one side of town and the Atlantic Ocean on the other side. The bayside beaches have lots of sandbars and tide pools. The Atlantic side has huge bluff like sand dunes. In town there are sandy fresh water kettle ponds to swim in and lots of trails through shrubby fine forests, marshland, and dunes. Much of Wellfleet is protected within the Cape Cod National Seashore. The town center is tiny but has a few art galleries and restaurants, located on a big harbor it has that nautical New England seaside look. To me, it's as good as Cape Cod gets.
I like villages like Clinton, Hamilton, Cazenovia, Skaneateles and Sackets Harbor. All because of the architecture and walkability to shops and restaurants. With the latter, they are all on lakes and the first 2 have private colleges with a New England feel. Villages like Manlius, Liverpool, Fayetteville and Baldwinsville have nice attributes. Can't forget Sylvan Beach too.
Waynesville, Black Mountain, Blowing Rock, Boone, Banner Elk, Davidson, Carthage, Hillsbororogh, New Bern are all some kinds of quaint, boutique-y little towns, scattered around N.C.
Boone is a large college town, something of a small urban Apppalachian commercial hub, and hub to a lot of nearby resorts. Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, Beech Mountain, Seven Devils, Grandfather Village, Linville, are all within it's 20 mile orbit, and offer ultra-high end vacation/retirement property, skiing, clubs, eateries, antiques, hiking, time-share condos, et. al.
Black Mountain, Waynesville are a bit more historic, near Asheville, a little churchy, but with a very strong arts heritage as well.
Carthage is near the center of the state; tons of antiques. Very close to Pinehust, Southern Pines, et. al. - conglomeration of golf towns in Moore Couny.
Davidson is a high end college town right off I-77 about 15-20 miles due north of downtown Charlotte. It has morphed into a suburb to some degree, though growth is tightly controlled so it's something of an oasis in the sprawlopolis of North Meck and South Iredell. Very quaint downtown, and a cool mix of old and new in the neigborhoods.
Hillsbororough is a little similar - at one time, it almost became the state capital. It's now a rather pricey writers' colony, with lots and lots of beautiful antibellum homes, and interesting markets and boutiques.
New Bern, on the coast seems to turning into a popular retirement destination. It's near beaches, fishing, the Outer Banks, Wilmington (1 1/2 drive or so), Greenville (big university town about an hour away), Raleigh is about 2 hours. It's on the tidal estuary of the Neuse River, so it's hurricane exposure is not head-on like most of the other NC coast cities/ New Bern is - as the crow flies - about 20 miles inland, but it sits on a 5-10 mile wide mouth of the Neuse as it meanders down into the Pamlico Sound, so it's slightly more sheltered fro severe storms than some other coastal cities. Key word is slightly - don't build right on the water.
Places that to come to mind quickly include Camden (ME), Littleton (NH), Woodstock (VT), Rockport (MA), Newport (RI), New Hope (PA), Lambertville (NJ), Lewes (DE), Lexington (VA), Harpers Ferry (WV), Eureka Springs (AR), Excelsior Springs (MO), Lawrence (KS), Pass Christian (MS), New Braunfels (TX), Leadville (CO) and Astoria (OR). I'm particularly fond of all the little towns on Maryland's Eastern Shore. St Michaels is a prime example:
All sizes | St. Michaels, MD, waterfront | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/leonandloisphotos/3457857811/sizes/z/in/photostream/ - broken link)
Nevada City - Gold rush California at its best.
Santa Ynez Valley - Small towns plus wine tasting and just a short drive from LA.
Carmel - Storybook artist colony on the foggy California central coast.
I'm sure there's lots more good ones for CA but I've not lived here all that long.
Doylestown PA - A perfect Norman Rockwellesque town with a little bit of country and a little bit of sophistiation all at once and a great little walakbe downtown with many shops, restaurants, cafes, museums, and a great old movie house.
Also as JM02 referenced above New Hope PA/Lambertville NJ that are on opposite sides of the Delaware River and only a few miles from Doylestown are gems as well. Just love this area of Bucks County
Doylestown PA - A perfect Norman Rockwellesque town with a little bit of country and a little bit of sophistiation all at once and a great little walakbe downtown with many shops, restaurants, cafes, museums, and a great old movie house.
Movie Theater | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jedisalf/5047887872/ - broken link)
Also as JM02 referenced above New Hope PA/Lambertville NJ that are on opposite sides of the Delaware River and only a few miles from Doylestown are gems as well. Just love this area of Bucks County
In Ontario, some of my favourites are Niagara on the Lake, Elora and Brockville. Cobourg and Goderich look quite nice too, but I haven't visited them yet.
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