The 20 Best Small Towns in America
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
Mill Valley Records owner Gary Scheuenstuhl hits a groove with customer Alex Andersen. (Mark Richards)
A Bay Area enclave that put mellow on the map keeps its funky vibe.
Mill Valley is one of the jewels in a necklace of beau- tiful towns—along with Sausalito, Marin City and Tiburon—across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. It’s tucked into a canyon on the flank of 2,571-foot Mount Tamalpais, near the giant redwoods of Muir Woods National Monument and marshland surrounding Richardson Bay. The setting and proximity to San Francisco attracted sawmills, dairy farms and resort operators, then Beat poets and hippies who scandalized locals by skinny-dipping and smoking weed. A more recent influx of wealthy commuters has made Mill Valley (pop. 13,900) one of the nation’s wealthiest ZIP codes. Shops, galleries, organic food restaurants and art festivals cater to the newcomers, threatening to crowd out ratty old landmarks like the beloved Sweetwater Saloon where Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder, Jerry Garcia and Elvis Costello played. The good news is that, as of this past January, the Sweetwater’s back, occupying new quarters in the town’s old Masonic Hall. The Art Commission sponsors concerts and comedy in the town plaza, and the Throckmorton Theater welcomes music groups like the Kingston Trio and Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, along with a June festival dedicated to gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. -- SS
Read how these towns were selected.
Comments (818)
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I can't help but think the original photo is from Fairhope, Alabama even though it was not included in your list. You didn't identify that site. Could you, please? Thank you.
Posted by e graham on February 11,2013 | 11:27 AM
Cool.... I'd like to share a soundtrack suited for small towns http://www.theamericanmodern.com/post/42335087342/soundtrack-for-a-small-town. Happy listening!
Posted by Tara on February 5,2013 | 07:56 AM
Taos? It's a filthy place when I was there a few years ago. Garbage everywhere and no one picks anything up. Of course they are artists and picking up garbage is the government's job or something. In Arizona,you see those signs like" The next three miles the Kiwanis Club keeps the highway clean". There are zero near Taos. What a dump.
Posted by John Galt on February 2,2013 | 11:49 AM
I thought this might be a credible list of towns until I saw Beckley, WV. Someone has lost their mind.
Posted by jt on January 30,2013 | 06:49 PM
http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/631*421/Small-Towns-Naples-FL-intro-631.jpg looks like my hometown but not on the list. but now i see in the url it says naples, FL so i guess that's what it is.
Posted by nubwaxer on January 29,2013 | 07:50 PM
this website is awesome
Posted by brittany peterson on January 28,2013 | 01:11 PM
this website is awesome
Posted by brittany peterson on January 28,2013 | 01:11 PM
Perhaps you should have the author check a map of Washington State to locate the Olympic Peninsula. I'm sure the people of Bremerton, Port Orchard, Silverdale, Poulsbo and Kingston will be quite amused to find that they've been moved across the Hood Canal with Gig Harbor to the Olympic Peninsula. Gig Harbor is located on the Kitsap Peninsula. The bridges refered to cross the Tacoma Narrows which separates the Kitsap Peninsula from Tacoma.
Posted by R. Rasmussen on January 17,2013 | 02:39 AM
Morton all the way! Yo dawg, I love me did town!
Posted by Carl Colwell on January 11,2013 | 12:50 AM
I have lived near some of these towns; Great Barrington, Brattleboro, Mill Valley. Most people can not afford to live in them. How about a slide show of affordable small towns?
Posted by Jeff and Yo on January 10,2013 | 03:38 PM
This website has proven very useful in my work. You see, I'm an aspiring author, and my first book Dénûment takes place in a small town. I decided to be realistic and use a real place as the location of my story, but I didn't know any small towns. So while researching small towns I came across your website. I'm pleased to say that because if your website I have decided to make my story take place in Laguna Beach. Thank you. -Catie Westphal
Posted by Catie Westphal on January 9,2013 | 02:09 PM
How Naples, FL made the list is beyond me? This town has no character. It is only for the rich and their employees. Don luke in Bradenton, FL.
Posted by donald luke on January 4,2013 | 03:30 PM
New mexico really haves the best little towns in the world i lived there before i wouldint go back because i love the city and fast living but when i get old i will move back
Posted by Jack on December 25,2012 | 09:51 PM
I have returned to Beckley, WV and have lived here for two years and have been pulled over by the poice three tines for no reason and my wife has been pulled over once for a made up reason . Tamarac is nice and so is the Exibition Mine, if you have never been a mine. There are too many city police. There were 14 policeman in 1965 and the population was 21,000, now the popullation is 17,000 and there are about 54 policeman. It is almost like a police state. The Smithsonian has lost creditability with me.
Posted by james Bennet on December 15,2012 | 01:46 PM
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