Erie, PA
Ferncliff is a collection of 21 late-19th century former fishing shacks turned into cottages bluff on Presque Isle Bay. The houses originally housed fisherman and dockworkers and their families, then became a bohemian/hippy enclave in the 1960s, then a rather seedy drug scene in the 70s and 80s, were nearly demolished in the late 80s, and now a mix of small simple and luxury beach houses.
There's only one access road to get there (which it shares with the Erie Yacht Club), so unless you're a boater, you would have no clue that this little chunk of Great Lakes history exists.
Another offbeat "village" in Erie is
Horseshoe Pond in Presque Isle State Park, where 24 floating houses are anchored. These houses date to the 1890s, and were once plentiful as early immigant dock and factory laborers built floating shacks all along the bayfront and peninsula shorelines, as they could not afford other accomodations. Once the state park was established in the 1920s, the state demolished hundreds of them and allowed only 24 to be anchored in one pond. They now serve as summer lake houses for the fortunate few who were grandfathered in long ago.