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I suspect you can find what you are looking for in many parts of the country. It can certainly be found in Northern New England (Vermont-New Hampshire-Maine) where small towns little changed in decades are abundant.
I'm sure like many on this forum, I can remember going to my Dads hometown when I was a kid. My family were visiting my Grandparents. It was a farming town in Northern Maine with a population of a few hundred people. I can remember my Dad borrowing my Uncles old Dodge pickup and riding into town.
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I've read there are still many places like this in states like Kansas and Nebraska. Would love to here more places. Even if you don't have time to describe it, just the name of the town would be great! I can do my own research from there. Thank you all for your time
I'll muse a bit.
I grew up in suburban Detroit, the nice part (Oakland County). I've been a suburbanite all my life, and wonder if I will die one. I'm looking for a small to mid-size town to buy a home, or maybe condo, to live out retirement. Another thread, maybe.
In Michigan, in the 1980s when I could drive, times were pretty tough for various reasons mostly around Rust Belt economic and social problems. We didn't go downtown Detroit, it was a great way to get mugged or worse (yes, really, for awhile there).
Other end, Michigan has tons of little towns. Kalkaska, Mt. Pleasant, even Marquette (closest thing to a city in the Upper Peninsula). Maybe Hancock-Houghton. H-H may be close what you want, but my lord it's isolated up on the Keweenaw Peninsula into Lake Superior. Things are cheap and sleepy there because they receive huge snowfall every year, and it's way isolated from...everything. Black bears wandering around. Wonder if there aren't more bears than people. Don't mess with them, they'll extend the same courtesy, I found the few times I visited there.
Ely, Nevada is sort of a outpost of the damned, Nevada-style. I have no idea what anyone does for a living there anymore, it was a mining boom and bust down (Copper pits and tailings piles that will stand for a thousand years, I'm sure, given the lack of rainfall). I kind of liked Ely, all the times I visited, but living there...man, I dunno. Real small, couple thousand people. Loneliest town in America, on hwy 50 ("Loneliest Road in America," so-called. I personally found Hwy 50 spectacular.)
Virginia City, Nevada tries to keep the old "wild West" motif going. I used to get boozed up there when I was 22 and fancied myself a bar-busting old west gangsta. That never served me well, but was pretty funny all considered, me on my Japanese sportbike. I don't think that quite hits OP's desired town concept. BTW, last I heard they hauled two BILLION ounces of silver out of the V.C. area, it helped fund the Civil War. There are thousands of feet of shafts and adits, most flooded last I heard. Those ruins, too, will last a thousand years or more given the slow rate of any decay out there...it's more like a graveyard from the 19th Century with people living in the ruins.
Maybe Ashland, OR, with a cute downtown that is starting to remind me of Santa Barbara, filled with rich refugees from CA. Thought i might want to buy my dream home there, since CA will implode eventually. I don't think it's the best place to retire, either (Oregon the state). There may be some towns like OP wants up along the Columbia, west of Portland out to Astoria: it's pretty Norman Rockwell up there. Can't name any at the moment, though, and more exploration needed all in good time.
Enough for now. I know beans about Kansas or Nebraska, not my scene now or ever. I'd like to see "Dodge City" at least once, though, see if there's anything interesting to it.
Friend of mine from grad school, very long ago, is a pastor at a small town in Nebraska, off the I-80 and all the rail lines. Looks pretty Norman Rockwell, just like he'd like it I'm sure. He has his congregation and they do well enough, I assume. Haven't been there, the town is Gothenburg, Nebraska. Looks like a "Children of the Corn" kind of place to me (shudder). Wonder if they have a town curfew at 9pm daily...hmm.
There are plenty of small towns in New Mexico like that; in fact, some of them are used in films on the Old West, and no special props are needed! Many are populated by Hispanic families who have been in the area 400 years. There are also towns like that in "Gold Country" in California's Sierra foothills; one of the most affordable areas in CA. Look at Placerville, for example.
Spent a LOT of time in overnights at those Sierra foothills towns, including but not limited to Placerville, Auburn, Grass Valley, Nevada City, and Sutter Mill. Did a lot of field work for Pacific Bell. All on Hwy 49, btw. Absolutely gorgeous, thanks for the reminder.
Oven hot in the summer, but otherwise nice: the whole Sacramento Valley is an irrigated desert after all and I've seldom if-ever had such hot summer days as out at the Air Force bases around Sac (Mather AFB, McClellen AFB, back during BRAC under GW Bush closing them down. Just a couple years after fall of the Soviet Union, who thank God went with a whimper vs. bang. The biggest "bang" was in the B52s at all those former SAC bases....(shudder). Castle AFB, too, down in Merced but that town never really grabbed me as all that interesting. Ditto Fresno...just no.
Think I'll take a look at those Hwy 49 towns, too. Lot of exploring upcoming...see if places from 25 years ago are still 'all that', as those were back in the day. OP might want to give them a go.
Spent a LOT of time in overnights at those Sierra foothills towns, including but not limited to Placerville, Auburn, Grass Valley, Nevada City, and Sutter Mill. Did a lot of field work for Pacific Bell. All on Hwy 49, btw. Absolutely gorgeous, thanks for the reminder.
Oven hot in the summer, but otherwise nice: the whole Sacramento Valley is an irrigated desert after all and I've seldom if-ever had such hot summer days as out at the Air Force bases around Sac (Mather AFB, McClellen AFB, back during BRAC under GW Bush closing them down. Just a couple years after fall of the Soviet Union, who thank God went with a whimper vs. bang. The biggest "bang" was in the B52s at all those former SAC bases....(shudder). Castle AFB, too, down in Merced but that town never really grabbed me as all that interesting. Ditto Fresno...just no.
Think I'll take a look at those Hwy 49 towns, too. Lot of exploring upcoming...see if places from 25 years ago are still 'all that', as those were back in the day. OP might want to give them a go.
Some of those towns have smaller towns uphill from them, where it's cooler in the summers. Like Pollock Pines, up the mountain a little from Placerville. It's amazing what a little extra elevation will do, to cool off the summer heat. Twain Harte might be a possibility, too, though I don't know if it has a "cute" town center... Do you, BB?
Really liking all the suggestions. Thanks for the input. We currently live in a small Connecticut town.....about 1800 people. the unfortunate thing is there is nothing here...no "town center", no businesses, really nothing to speak of except an old church and a town hall. I guess it is the perfect "country living, yet a reasonable commute". We are bordered by somewhat larger towns of 30,000+ people. Its convenient with many stores, but not my ideal country life. Yes there are a couple farms within a mile of me, but within 5 miles is a housing project where people tend to get stabbed a lot. We lived in Florida for 5 years, not a good experience. I had enough of the concrete and stucco jungle! From there we moved to Vermont because wife took a transfer. My parents had a vacation home in VT when I was a kid, and I had many wonderful memories there. Thought it would be perfect but needless to say, the VT of my childhood was much different than my adulthood...so we left after a year. New England is changing rapidly, and even though I was born and raised here and lived here most of my life.....I think we are going to skip it. Same with West Coast.
We lived slightly in the country of Florida on 3 acres, bordering a large preserve. Had my fair share of snakes and black widows....so not sure about states like Texas or Oklahoma. I'm not deathly afraid...but don't care for that surprise on a daily basis. Not to mention the heat. I worked in the elements in FL, often times in attics repairing AC units. I've had enough heat to last a lifetime. I can tolerate 3 months of summer......but not 6-9 months of it!
Kansas has plenty of "time forgot" towns. We even have some entire counties that time forgot. Great little towns, but there are no services to speak of in many. There are quite a few counties with less than 5,000 people in Kansas. The county I live in has less than 20,000 people and it is about 600 square miles. Cattle population-wise, who knows, there might be 100,000, or more. The towns further from urban areas are declining in population. If there is a NAPA and a Ford dealer, there must be a fairly good population. Many towns are lucky to have one diner. Many do not have a grocery store and people drive 50 miles, or more, for shopping.
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