America's Coolest Small Towns

Budget Travel/Yahoo ^ | 10-4-09

[Recon Dad]

We're both in the same boat on being a senior. I used to live in New Orleans and travel the state. Good memories.

[Clemenza]

I love Cooperstown, but its not so much a small town as much as a mall for baseball memoribilia.

There are some nice towns along the Finger Lakes, Ithaca being the exception.

[native texan]

So very true!! I love our area a the state. We moved away once to San Antonio; stayed 3 years and came back. No place like home! I’ll even let you keep the score!!

[Tainan]

Ya know...Its Cambria where I stayed at. A nice little motel on the beach side right before the town. Good breakfast place about a 5 minute walk north into town. Last time I was there was in 2003.
I remember reading/hearing about some earthquake damage to some old buildings in Cayucos...if my memory serves me right...this time.

Thanks for jogging my faulty memory back on track.

[EDINVA]

What with being a senior and all, just lucky I didn’t say Lloyd Bridges ;)

[SunkenCiv]

Years ago National Geographic did some kind of 50 states special, and there was literally one photo, taken in Detroit, from all of Michigan. :’)

There are places I’d like to see, mostly ghost towns, but also some of the larger waterfalls, lighthouses, etc. Most of Michigan’s waterfalls are in the U.P., for that matter, so are most of the lighthouses.

Also would be interesting to visit both Hell and Paradise. :’)

[grellis]

I picked up a tri-county map a few years ago, Eaton/Clinton/Ingham, but also had a lot of surrounding villages in Shiawassee and Ionia counties. The map itself was just that, nothing special, but it contained mini bios of virtually every town, township, village and city in the vicinity—including several that no longer exist. It was packed with local lore, much of it very, very amusing. I’ve driven out to see what remains of a few of the towns, some of them are now no more than cornfields and an occasional chimney or foundation. The map got destroyed last year and I really need to replace it. It’s a gem.

[SunkenCiv]

Somewhere I’ve got a full-state atlas, county by county, with the vanished townsites marked in a pale red, very handy. I’d driven through some of them without knowing. On the Grand Valley campus there’s one of the green historical markers for Blendon Landing, which was on the river, but slipped into nothingness almost a hundred years ago. A few decades ago Grand Valley did an archaeological dig on the old site. Oddly enough, my grandpa had gone there as a boy (to Blendon Landing, not to Grand Valley ;’) with his father.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

I’ve got 10 years to pick a location to settle in Virginia, and that is ASSUMING it is still a red state by then, and not entirely polluted by the DC liberals that are multiplying like malignant cancer cells. I found Lexington to be a nice compromise for location and history and beauty. I really don’t know that I want to be in the snowy hills though...

Like I said, I have a long time to pick and I’ll likely rent a year or two before buying.

Now that Lexington is discovered, I really don’t expect house prices to be “great” vs other lower cost town in Virginia. That said, I will just be thrilled if Virginia is still a nice Conservative state in 10 years when I’m coming up on retirement!

I’ll find somewhere I like, I am sure. I’m looking forward to the change from California to Virginia. I always feels so comfortable on the east coast. California may have the best weather in the nation, but it has some real downside too.

[ConservativeMan55]

bttt

[ConservativeMan55]

bttt

[Salvation]

Jacksonville, Ore.

(pop. 2,750)

a refuge from the tourist whirl of napa

Just across the border from California and 4½ hours south of Portland, this old gold-rush town is getting its second wind from liquid gold. With 17 wineries in the surrounding Applegate Valley, and a climate that's ripe for growing multiple types of grapes, Jacksonville is a refuge from the tourist whirl of Napa. Herb Quady is among the residents integral to the burgeoning scene. Quady, whose father, Andrew, produces dessert wines at Quady Winery in Madera, Calif., opened the Quady North tasting room in April. "There isn't anyplace in California that's nearly as cute," Quady explains of his move. "We're all about the bucolic southern Oregon life." The best way to tap in is at South Stage Cellars, which stocks bottles from nine area wineries. The Garden Bistro at the five-room McCully House Inn & Cottages showcases local growers of a different sort, with food products from 27 area purveyors, including cheese from the goats at nearby Pholia Farm (from $135). The lifestyle drew Constance and David Jesser, a chef and a commodities trader, respectively, from Sonoma five years ago to open Jacksonville Mercantile, where the shelves are filled with provisions like black-truffle-roasted almonds. — Jason Cohen

Oregon Ping

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[Salvation]

Jacksonville, Ore.

(pop. 2,750)

a refuge from the tourist whirl of napa

Just across the border from California and 4½ hours south of Portland, this old gold-rush town is getting its second wind from liquid gold. With 17 wineries in the surrounding Applegate Valley, and a climate that's ripe for growing multiple types of grapes, Jacksonville is a refuge from the tourist whirl of Napa. Herb Quady is among the residents integral to the burgeoning scene. Quady, whose father, Andrew, produces dessert wines at Quady Winery in Madera, Calif., opened the Quady North tasting room in April. "There isn't anyplace in California that's nearly as cute," Quady explains of his move. "We're all about the bucolic southern Oregon life." The best way to tap in is at South Stage Cellars, which stocks bottles from nine area wineries. The Garden Bistro at the five-room McCully House Inn & Cottages showcases local growers of a different sort, with food products from 27 area purveyors, including cheese from the goats at nearby Pholia Farm (from $135). The lifestyle drew Constance and David Jesser, a chef and a commodities trader, respectively, from Sonoma five years ago to open Jacksonville Mercantile, where the shelves are filled with provisions like black-truffle-roasted almonds. — Jason Cohen

Oregon Ping

Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be added to or taken off the Oregon Ping List.

[investigateworld]

I've been to Jacksonville several times. Really a neat place, with lots of great people.

[BruceysMom]

On November 24, 2009 it will have been 52 years since I was born in Wallace Idaho. At that time it was several bars, a couple of houses of ill repute, and a hospital. Didn’t want you all to think that my Momma was any where but the hospital! They closed the brothels in the 60’s after the mayor’s wife learned of his patronage. A colorful town, Wallace.

[Zathras]

I’ve been thinking about retiring in Jacksonville.