Most beautiful small towns in America

[iris lilies]

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.travelandleisure.com%2Fm ost-beautiful-small-towns-in-the-united-states-7099980&h=AT2RB1lpgH_JBoqZtY99_gP7ujsc3paUWK9BMCMnWHsf-5pulkCmn8wblKmQmau1Jn3VpCNoIp-dCWUI1AYG0-vZCON6Y1USr1fVQqmmuxsdM5MzK0NqW92Ns7a_&s=1

Hermann Missouri and Cape May listed as in top 20 beautiful small towns in America. Scroll down to the bottom of list to see both.

I thought it was cool to see my town and Catherine’s town listed one after the other.

Of course we all know these lists are click bait produced regularly, and in my mind any number of small New .England towns trump Hermann, but still, the recognition is nice.

[nswef]

I love to see these towns. Our Frederick, MD was on one list recently. Hermann looks beautiful and having been to Cape May..It is lovely too. We were looking to go to Galena IL to a time share as my husband could play golf in 3 states! Haven't decided when as it is a long drive. Fun site, thanks for sharing it.

[catherine]

You and I have great taste in places to live, apparently, IL!! So cool about Hermann in particular. Cape May is a well-known beautiful town on the East Coast, but nice to see a small Midwestern town acknowledged on such a short list!

And on a related note, this was another FB article--"This One Jaw Dropping Place In Vermont Will Blow You Away" that popped up just last week!

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/vermont/vt-islands/

If I can only make living in these desirable real estate locales pay off monetarily...

[iris lilies]

I can report that my former neighborhood, Lafayette Square inSt. Louis, is more beautiful per square yard
than Hermann is. It is a jewell of perfection.

DH mused that we live in places where the tour buses go by

[catherine]

I can report that my former neighborhood, Lafayette Square inSt. Louis, is more beautiful per square yard
than Hermann is. It is a jewell of perfection.

DH mused that we live in places where the tour buses go by

That's a great claim to fame! I've been pretty lucky in terms of places I've lived in. I remember my senior year of college I was walking from my senior housing to the campus in the spring shortly before graduation and thinking, "I'll never live in a place this beautiful again." That turned out to be a very poor prediction, because many of the places I've lived certainly were beautiful in their own ways.

[iris lilies]

That's a great claim to fame! I've been pretty lucky in terms of places I've lived in. I remember my senior year of college I was walking from my senior housing to the campus in the spring shortly before graduation and thinking, "I'll never live in a place this beautiful again." That turned out to be a very poor prediction, because many of the places I've lived certainly were beautiful in their own ways.

I am from Iowa where no tour buses go by, because what would they see?

I admit that my own aesthetic preference is for a built environment that is simpatico with its nature scape.

The Rockies in Colorado are nice, but where are the houses? Haha. Pure nature scenery is not my jam.

[iris lilies]

Oh sorry catherine! Your town is Ocean Grove. This article is Cape May! My error.

But probably the two are similar like Hermann and Galena are similar, both Midwestern
victorian river towns.

[littlebittybobby]

Okay---There USED to be a beautiful little town in Central Iwah, back in the 70's. , by the Scots-Irish name of McCallsburg. See, one of the towns business leaders acquired many of the propertiers that went on the market during the decline of previous decades, due to people getting out to drive-n-shop in a college town not too far away. Y'see---People in Iwah love to drive-n-eat-n-shop. Yup. Anyway, the businessman owned a perfectlt legitimate business---a recycling & salvage dealership, for many years, and I toured it, many times. It was beautiful. But then--the pushback came from suburbanite wannabees from the college town, who wanted to get away from their cares listening to NPR or the bassabaw game, etc., while driving to and from their nice, new dream home, in-and-around that tiny town. Well, he was embattled with frivoulous and malicious lawsuits by these finicky fussbudgets, who harrassed him so much! Well, a few years ago, I was biking through that small town, and stopped awhile. Two other cyclists were discussing the business leaders' struggle against Leftist Govt socialistic intrusion into private enterprise! But yeah---that's where it all starts. Here's a photo---I can't believe they finally even required him to wear a leisure suit! Anyway, thankk mee.5164

[iris lilies]

You are mistaken, there are no beautiful towns in Central Iowa.

Some of the river towns might be acceptable, but nothing on the plains is palatable.

[catherine]

Oh sorry catherine! Your town is Ocean Grove. This article is Cape May! My error.



It's an easy mistake--they are very similar. Ocean Grove is "Cape May-lite". But OG is better because it's smaller, and Asbury Park is just a 5 minute walk away across a little footbridge. You go to OG to be a saint and to Asbury to be a devil :). Asbury is where all the fun is.

[ToomuchStuff]

You are mistaken, there are no beautiful towns in Central Iowa.

Some of the river towns might be acceptable, but nothing on the plains is palatable.

Define central?

Allergies made my one trip to Iowa as a kid miserable. Car with no a/c, sneezing and wheezing. I was left in the hotel when my parents went to what we went up there for.
But I have wanted to see Waverly for a long time. Go to Roy's (inspiration for Hooters), and a few other things (now bosses grave).

[iris lilies]

Define central?

Allergies made my one trip to Iowa as a kid miserable. Car with no a/c, sneezing and wheezing. I was left in the hotel when my parents went to what we went up there for.
But I have wanted to see Waverly for a long time. Go to Roy's (inspiration for Hooters), and a few other things (now bosses grave).
I wouldn’t make any special trip to Waverly. Iowa City is nice if you have to live in Iowa. I could live in Des Moines if I had to but would forever avoid downtown where they have stripped out every building of significance so that it now looks like generic midwest.

[dado potato]

Sauk Centre MN (population 4,600)

In the summer nighthawks "boom" in a display near the ground. They also eat insects on the wing above the lights of Main Street.

A considerably bigger city is Lititz PA (population 9,370). Historic buildings going back to 1710, good local chocolate, and it's a short drive to Lebanon PA on New Year's Eve for the bologna drop. To mark midnight on New Year's Eve Times Square in NYC drops a ball. Lebanon drops a ball along with a tube of smoked bologna (which is then donated to a food bank, I believe.)

[nswef]

Hagerstown, MD has a donut drop-, Frederick has a Key drop ( Francis Scott Key is buried in the local cemetery, had law offices) I think it's cool that these little towns find ways to make life interesting.

[dado potato]

Mount Olive NC has had a New Years Eve outdoor pickle drop for 22 years... but in 2022 the drop was cancelled due to inclement weather. Linked youtube clip contains the bluegrass musicians playing for the 2017 pickle drop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuZRvNE1YuE

[catherine]

I think it's cool that these little towns find ways to make life interesting.

True! Up here we have a Christmas tree bonfire on the lake ice in February, complete with wine and beer vendors and fireworks. I've also been to tractor pulls in a small Vermont town, and of course, if you grew up in a small town in Scotland, you know all about the tossing of the caber. (Who was the first person to think of that?)

Cool topic for a discussion, though--any other small town traditional activities people know of?

[dado potato]

I could not write off small towns in Iowa without recognizing Grinnell... and the efforts of the Imagine Grinnell Foundation. In my opinion, the community is enriched by their stewardship. http://www.imaginegrinnell.org/news