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
East Side neighborhood near downtown Butler. (Scott Goldsmith)
An old-time rural hub as down-to-earth as its most famous product—the Jeep.
Mines and factories come to mind when people think about western Pennsylvania, but forests and farms stretch across the state, punctuated by small towns like the seat of Butler County north of Pittsburgh in the Allegheny River watershed. Butler (pop. 13,800) is an American classic that grew up along a trail blazed by George Washington, sent in 1753 to discourage French settlement along the frontier. Farmers followed, giving the region its country character and prized hand-built barns. The town serves as a business and cultural hub, with its own baseball team, thriving downtown, community symphony, theater and barbershop chorus. The Maridon Museum, founded by local philanthropist Mary Hulton Phillips, houses an excellent collection of Asian art, and the Butler County Historical Society maintains an old settler’s cabin, schoolhouse and the landmark 1828 Lowrie Shaw House. Butler owes its star on the map to the Jeep, invented just before World War II at the town’s American Bantam Car Company and still celebrated in August at the Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival. -- SS
Read how these towns were selected.
Comments (819)
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You missed Princeton, IN. You have forgotten all the basics. Priceton is a clean, crime free community with good schools and a cost of living that will alow you to go visit your artsy craftsy places when you take a vacation because you'll have enough money left over from the low cost of living.
Posted by Paul Beyerle on February 12,2013 | 12:25 PM
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
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