Am I the only one who thinks there’s something so comforting about a small town? I love to imagine what life would be like living in one. It feels like life is immediately simpler {which, I am sure it is not, but at least as a visitor, it feels that way}.
Over the past 2 weeks I’ve visited the tiny town of Steilacoom, Washington twice. Both times it was so I could take the ferry to Anderson Island.
I LOVE this place!
There really isn’t much to do in Steilacoom, but I think that’s what I find so endearing about it. For instance, Bair Drug & Hardware. This little shop is no longer a pharmacy and hardware store, but instead a tiny restaurant and ice cream parlor filled with antiques from the past.
Locals and tourists alike stop by for breakfast or a milkshake. Bu imagine what it would have been like to shop here 50 or 75 years ago.
I had to resist the urge not to buy one of each of these.
Nothing is more American small town than hand-dipped ice cream. I know you can get it in the city, but it tastes different.
And the houses. Why is it that tiny towns have the best houses? Ones with character. I wouldn’t mind coming home to this every evening. I am sure there would be a fight for who got the room in the round tower.
Front porches. Why don’t houses have big front porches like this anymore?
Look at this one. I think it’s perfect. Boxwoods, window boxes, a stone wall. All that’s missing is the little white picket fence in the front yard.
Oh and let’s not forget the wagon shop. Now days it’s a museum.
There is no doubt about it. Small towns rule and I could totally see myself living in one in a few years after the kids are off to collage {as long as there is internet of course}. 😉
How about you, are you in love with small towns too? Are there any I just have to visit?
~Mavis
Cecily says
I would recommend Roslyn (visiting the cemetary is a must, if that kind of thing doesn’t freak you out) and Winthrop.
Dawn says
Hi Mavis,
I recently relocated to Southern California, which is home to me, but from 2004-2011 I lived in Royersford, PA. It had it all: Old-time main street with two stop lights and one neon sign, bridge over the river that defines the town divide between Royersford and Spring City, lots of old houses and a couple of gorgeous old churches. I lived in an 1885 4-story Victorian with awesome woodworking and a view over the town. With all that lovely historic feel came the kicker – – it’s expensive to live in a house like that!!! I loved it for a few years, and then it was time to come home.
robin says
Roslyn is very nice to visit. I would also suggest you seek out Plain, Washington, near Leavenworth.
Kim L says
If you ever come to Michigan come to Mason. Small town that has quanit and charming homes, just like your pictures. We have lots of smaller towns a few miles away . . . Leslie, Dansville and yes the capital Lansing is 25 miles away to the capital. I am lucky enough to live in Mason and yes I drive to the capital 4x a week for employment. I can’t wait for that drive home!! I love my little town and my rural oasis!
marcia says
The small towns on Whidbey Island. I get on the ferry to visit family and it feels like coming home, the peace washes over me dropping the weight of everyday life on the short ride. They a bit touristy in summer but since all seasons are beautiful to me, I accept it.
Susan says
The San Juan Islands, too! Especially Orcas, Shaw and Lopez. So laid back and beautiful!
Anna says
I live in a small town (pop. ~1,800) in Minnesota — not as classically picturesque as Steilacoom, but I love it. I grew up in a big suburb and then lived in London and Minneapolis as an adult, but small town life is really where it’s at for me. With freeways, it’s easy enough to get to a big shopping area in 45-60 minutes, but I’m glad to not have big box stores much closer than that. I think you have to be happy to spend most of your free time at home and be okay with people knowing who you are!
Amanda says
Where are you at in MN? I am in Small Town, MN too!
Mavis, as far as Minnesota is concerned, I’d recommend Northfield and Stillwater for historic/tourist areas, but really, Minnesota is sprinkled with tons of little towns. (Also, I have to say…life IS simpler in small towns, in a lot of ways.)
Have you been to Victoria, B.C.? The gardens and houses and architecture and character of that town made my heart dance.
Sherry in Sumner says
If anyone is looking for an adorable small town, take an afternoon and visit Sumner, Washington. There are cute shops on Main Street, and walking around the surrounding neighborhoods will make you swoon with all the charming character-laden houses. Instead of getting my daily walk in on my own street, I often drive to Sumner just to walk the area. I always come back with a smile on my face.
Melissa says
Next time you head to San Diego, take an afternoon and head to Julian. It is in the mountains about an hour east of SD. When my husband was stationed at MCRD San Diego, we loved going to Julian for their apple pies and buffalo burgers.
JennH says
We just moved away from the Atlanta area to small-town Colorado. We are now in Bayfield, population 1800 and LOVE it! Durango is about 30 minutes away (as is the nearest Walmart). Our nearest Target and Sam’s Club is almost 1.5 hours away in Farmington, NM. The nearest Colorado city (or decent-sized NM city) is 3-4 hours away. BUT… the scenery is amazing, the people are friendlier and happier than any other place I’ve lived or visited, and there are tons of opportunities for outdoor activities. My kids love their schools (only one elementary, middle, and high school here) and have actually had more opportunities here than in their huge Atlanta-area schools. Our family definitely seems better-suited for small-town life.
Marcy says
Seward Alaska. No stop lights. A great candy store where you can see them making the candy…mmmm. Actually, no stop lights after Anchorage all the way down to Seward and it’s on the ocean. Gorgeous drive all the way.
Lana says
We have the best of both worlds! We own a vacation house in a tiny town, Walhalla,SC. We can escape the bustle of home anytime and as far as we are concerned it is our other home. By the time we come home we just feel so totally relaxed!
m @ random musings says
I grew up in wa and am now in ia – frankly, I think small towns near large populations and small towns in the middle of nowhere ar two very different animals. Both have their charms, but a lot of what is stereotyped as small-town is really geared to capture spending money from visitors……
Kristina says
I grew up in the same small town I live in now, which is rural, cute, etc, and I could hardly wait to get out of here when I graduated high school. My husband and I came back to the family farm after graduate school. Here, if you aren’t comfortable with being just like everyone else around, it can be stifling, especially to a developing teenager who values individuality over conformity. I think it’s partly because when there’re only a few hundred people in your school, it can be hard to find like-minded friends if you’re not the usual sort of kid. My own kids, who attend the same high school as my father and I both did, can hardly wait to fly the coop (though I think that someday they might come to appreciate the value of being a big fish in a little pond). I am mostly glad we came back, though the insular, hidebound nature of our town still gets under my skin sometimes. I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s a nice place to stop for lunch and a stroll, but that’s not the same as living here.
m @ random musings says
@Kristina this too! if the small town is in close proximity to a larger area, it is possible (albeit with extra work) to meet up – in the tourist section of town, at school competitions, on weekends, after work (if you commute) – with people that have a variety of perspectives. When the small town is in the middle of nowhere, the logistics & economics of the situation can really limit opportunities. I only became aware of this difference myself after talking with classmates of Native American heritage, both in WA (where the heritage is usually celebrated) and here in the midwest (where it’s shorthand for very, very poor). In areas of greater density, the needs unmet by the tribe (e.g. safe housing, jobs, basic utilities) can be met by the non-tribal community.
Catherine Foster says
I moved to Ashland, OR (pop: 20,000) six years ago from Boston and highly recommend it. It’s been voted one of America’s top small art towns and has a really charming downtown, parades at 4th of July, Thanksgiving (when the mayor throws a switch and all the holiday lights downtown turn on at once), and more. It has a world-class theatre company (The Oregon Shakespeare Festival), plus, just one block away from said festival, you have a mountain road that leads into a huge and lovely park. Its own mountain. Lots of vineyards, lakes and rivers. Go rafting during the day, see Shakespeare at night. It’s smack in between Portland and San Francisco (about 5 hours from each), has a Mediterranean climate (with some snow). Ashland HIgh is in the top 3% in the country. Southern Oregon University has a bucolic campus and is pretty decent.
Laura says
Small towns aren’t for me! Oh, big cities aren’t either, so I live somewhere in the middle!
If you like your privacy, small towns are not the place to go! I lived in a small town in the mountains of CA for a while. When I think “small town” I don’t think of places like Ashland, OR (not far from where I live now!), but towns with populations of a few thousand. (I find the traffic of cars and pedestrians brutal in Ashland!)
I happened to live out a peninsula of a lake, so there was even less privacy. Everyone knew who had driven in or out of town since you drove right past the houses lining the one main road down the peninsula! Everyone knew everyone’s business. There was nothing for teens to do, so they got up to trouble!
Small towns are fun to visit, but I won’t live in one again!
Patrice says
Heather and Jeremy were married in Steilacoom. Everyone got to ride in a horse-drawn carriage all around town. Very fun! The Steilacoom historic homes tour is this Saturday. Don’t forget their farmer’s market, too.
carol says
I love my small town, here on the Olympic Peninsula. It happens to be quite the cultural center with all the offerings at Fort Worden. etc. But what I like most is that I can walk to downtown or the fort or the beach from my house. As there aren’t as many choices in my little town compared to the city, the lifestyle is simpler, more casual and more relaxed. It’s big enough that you can play your cards pretty close to your chest, without everyone knowing your business.
Magic and Mayhem says
This is funny to me because the town in your pictures looks big to me. 🙂 I live in a town of 700 and really like it. Crime is nearly unheard of. Nobody locks their doors. People leave casseroles on your back porch when you’ve had a baby, and you’re not even sure which neighbor it was. It’s quiet and most people are very friendly. There are definite drawbacks, especially for my oldest child (who is a liberal, artistic, UU homeschooler who craves the big city life), but it’s been pretty awesome for us. We moved here almost 20 years ago because we got a chance to buy our house (a large, 2 plus story house on a corner lot) for $2,000. 🙂 We are just down the highway from Walnut Grove of “Little House” fame and our family picnics on the banks of Plum Creek. My kids can ID herons, bald eagles, vultures and pelicans from a distance the way others can ID Pokemon (and they can ID those too, of course!). BUT our silly small town still won’t allow chickens and there are too many rules for me. I would prefer a house in the country if I had my druthers, but this is pretty great.
Stacey says
I live in an indisputably small town – population 150, last I was told. It has its charms, and its annoyances. We are 40 miles from the nearest grocery store, though we do have a local gas/convenience store that has “saved” me several times. I have always lived in small communities and love them, but wouldn’t mind finally living in a place where things are closer. Since we’re in the desert, I have trouble growing things here and would LOVE to have a real garden again!
Heather says
Life in a small town. I was raised in a small town…that really wasn’t, because it was a college town (Clinton, NY, where Hamilton College is). I few months of the year it would be a small town and then a few thousand college students would come back and it would be a bigger town. It was great, the best of both worlds. The I went to college in a small town (Greencastle, Indiana, where DePauw University is) and loved it for the same reasons. From there, it was city life for me, until I met my husband and we started having children. We have choose two different small towns to live in, both with Universities. We feel that they really give us the best of both worlds.
Elisa says
I loved growing up in steilacoom. I miss it soooooo much. It really is perfect in my eyes, especially now that I’ve been living in Southern California for the past eight years. Everybody was so nice there with great neighbors!