The 20 Best Small Towns in America of 2012
From the Berkshires to the Cascades, we've crunched the numbers and pulled a list some of the most interesting spots around the country
- By Susan Spano and Aviva Shen
- Smithsonian magazine, May 2012
Not everything happens outdoors in Naples: a Louise Nevelson work at the art museum. (Brian Tietz)
World-class music, design to die for and palm trees: What’s not to like?
Even when it’s snowing somewhere up north, around the historic Naples pier they’re catching mackerel, opening beach umbrellas and looking for treasure in the surf. Grandkids are building sand castles, pelicans are squawking and the Gulf of Mexico is smooth as far as the eye can see.
Travelers have been coming to this small town on the edge of the Everglades ever since the late 19th century, when you could reach it only by boat and there was just one place to stay, the steeple-topped Naples Hotel, connected to the pier by a track with a cart for moving steamer trunks. Back then the visitors were chiefly sportsmen drawn to the abundant fish and game of southwest Florida’s cypress swamps.
Once the Orange Blossom Express train reached Naples in 1927, followed a year later by the opening of the cross-peninsula highway system the Tamiami Trail, sun-seekers arrived in boaters and bloomers, many of them Methodists from the Midwest who thought the drinking started too soon after Sunday church service in West Palm Beach. So when the snow flew, say, in Cincinnati, they decamped to winter retreats in Naples with wide sleeping porches, pine plank floors and whirring ceiling fans. Palm Cottage near the pier is a sterling example of classic Florida vacation cottage architecture. Built in 1895 for the publisher of the Louisville Courier-Journal, it is now headquarters of the busy Naples Historical Society, which sponsors walking tours through the town’s winsome historic district and bougainvillea-lined back alleyways.
Sure, Naples (pop. 19,500) has malls and high-rise condos. Touristy development has taken over bayside docks where fishermen used to haul in giant grouper and tarpon. Traffic clogs the ritzy Fifth Avenue South shopping and restaurant district.
If most of the folks you meet are over 65, in Naples old age looks pretty golden. Ask a duffer with a fishing pole how he likes his martinis and he’ll tell you the third one’s always beautiful (Methodists notwithstanding).
A fair percentage of the snowbirds are retired executives with cultural expectations and the means to pursue them. So the town has an astonishing concentration of deeply rooted cultural institutions like the Naples Zoo, located in a tropical garden founded in 1919 by botanist Henry Nehrling; the Naples Players, a community theater now in its 59th season; and the almost-as-venerable Naples Art Association, at the Von Liebig Art Center in Cambier Park.
“A group of people wanted this little winter paradise to have the same cultural features as Northern cities do,” says Kathleen van Bergen, CEO of the Naples Philharmonic.
The Phil, born 30 years ago of an amateur group on nearby Marco Island, is a renowned orchestra with a state-of-the-art concert hall visited by the likes of Kathleen Battle and Itzhak Perlman. From September to May, it holds 400 events: classical and chamber music performances; concerts by pop stars; galas; Broadway musicals; and lifelong learning programs, along with appearances by the Sarasota Opera and Miami Ballet. Bronze sculpture by the Spanish artist Manolo Valdés and massive art glass by Dale Chihuly spill over into the lobby from galleries in the adjoining Naples Museum of Art. Its chiefly modernist collection got a new star in 2010: Dawn’s Forest, Louise Nevelson’s last and largest work of environmental art.
Dozens of art galleries line Third Street South, just a few blocks from the designated Design District. Meanwhile, at the Naples pier, there’s bound to be someone at an easel, with a palette provided by the Gulf of Mexico—all sky blue, sand white and aquamarine. -- SS
Read how these towns were selected.
Comments (844)
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Your article said Sausalito was '#12. What happened. Where is the article in this small town?
Posted by Patti frazier on May 11,2013 | 10:04 PM
This town looks perfect! I was wondering if you could send me a pamplet or more info on it. Thank You.
Posted by Rhonda robison on May 11,2013 | 03:44 PM
I must say that, having been born in Butler and still living there, I can't possibly figure out how you people think we rate being on this list. You have obviously never been there. Drug addicts everywhere, dilapidated buildings, crumbling roads and sidewalks, a huge jail right in the middle of downtown, etc. The town is a DUMP!! I live in Butler Township, which surrounds the city, and it is amazing that such a stark constrast can exist between two places so close together. I highly recommend that you do NOT visit Butler! (By the way, the picture for Butler is not an "East side neighborhood", it is called Lyndora, which has its own post office and zip code and is not even part of Butler. Please correct this error.)
Posted by Sam Hoszwa on May 9,2013 | 12:47 PM
Beckley, West Virginia? You've got to be kidding me! I'm from West Virginia, and I've been to Beckley many times throughout my life visiting family. Beckley is one of my least favorite places in West Virginia! The picture shows Tamarak, which to be honest, is not that exciting, and is not really in Beckley anyway. Seriously, it is a run-down town that has nothing going on, and if I didn't have family that lived there, I would never intentionally go there. This just discredits the entire article in my opinion.
Posted by Heather on May 8,2013 | 11:38 PM
I lived in Menomonie for four years during college at Stout. Somehow I missed the building in the photo. I lived in Mabel Tainter Hall for two years and loved the old house. The achitecture was nearly identical to the building featured. I'm hoping to visit Menomonie this coming warmer weather seasons.
Posted by Carole-Joy Evert on April 26,2013 | 03:11 PM
The best towns are where your loving family is.
Posted by John on April 22,2013 | 01:05 PM
I live in Astoria, OR and your description of the town seems to have come straight from a Chamber of Commerce brochure. I don't believe you actually visited the place. Or if you did, you limited yourself to the 10 square block tourist-trap area downtown. Outside of that you only see run-down houses, boarded up businesses, and people in hunting camouflage driving jacked-up pickups. You obviously did not talk to anyone outside of town officials either, or you would have realized the general sense of apathy that pervades the population. And what you euphamistically refer to as "blue collar" is actually just redneck. This is a depressing place, and it has nothing to do with the weather.
Posted by Charles Bode on April 16,2013 | 01:29 AM
Cool place,great to visit
Posted by Gage on April 15,2013 | 04:24 PM
I went through the 22 cities and did not find Lihue, HI. What happened? I went through the cities 2 times. I love Laguna Beach. I have been going to Laguna Beach for over 25 years.I never get tired of visiting. there is always something new. Christine
Posted by christine Smith on April 11,2013 | 05:27 PM
Hard to believe Aspen isn't on the list. For culture, it beats most of the others hands down.
Posted by chuck rock on April 11,2013 | 10:36 AM
My hometown!! Proud to say i live here..thanks for adding us to the list!
Posted by dottie legg on April 9,2013 | 01:34 PM
Sun Valley should be in here, but it might be a little to small. (5,000 is the population) It is a really fun place. GREAT skiing in Winter and pretty good mountain biking in the Summer
Posted by binruggeri on April 6,2013 | 03:25 PM
Gig Harbor is an awesome little town. 7,200 is pretty a small population, don't you think? Just research Gig Harbor, Wa and see all the cool stuff about it. Also for all those sun lovers, come in the summer.
Posted by ghf on April 2,2013 | 07:31 PM
While waiting in an Orthodontist office I found a maagazine which I am sure was a Smithsonian magazine ffor children, but I can find no info for one. Is there such an issue? Collin
Posted by Collin L. Neal on March 27,2013 | 05:31 PM
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