What's the prettiest village in each state/province/area?
 

What's the prettiest village or little town in each state or province?

While all of this is subjective, I think there are some parameters to stick to

~ By "village" (or small town or other similar distinction), I mean some place small enough that you can walk around and see pretty much the entire thing in a couple hours. So while there's no real population criteria, a town of 40,000 is basically too big.
~ A village or small town should be an independent municipality. So, a pretty neighborhood in a city, like Beacon Hill in Boston, or Old Town in Sacramento, or the Garden District in New Orleans, are not villages, but neighborhoods.
~ The pretty area should cover a good amount of the village. So, a couple streets with nice houses, and the rest is Everytown USA, is probably not enough, unless it blows you away.

Some of my suggestions, by state:

Woodstock, Vermont
Deerfield, Massachusetts
Bristol, Rhode Island
Essex, Connecticut
Cape May, New Jersey
New Castle, Delaware
St. Michaels, Maryland

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario

Galena, for Illinois.

https://imagesvc.meredithcorp.io/v3/...03168714_w.jpg
source: https://www.midwestliving.com/travel...lena-illinois/


But it's also a 100% "tourism town" now.

So it's really pretty and historic, but it's basically nothing without all of those tourists and their wallets.

Niagara-on-the-Lake is very nice but with Ontario being geographically enormous, there could be a few more.

For the eastern part of Ontario, I would say Perth.

For the western part of Quebec, I would say Wakefield.

Nashville, Indiana

Not really sure about Missouri - Hermann, maybe?

Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Jim Thorpe, PA

Natchitoches, LA

Fredricksburg, TX

Harpers Ferry, WV

Winchester, VA

Mackinac Island, MI

Annapolis, MD

Athens, OH

Skaneateles, NY

Probably Sedona:

https://upload.travelawaits.com/ta/u...33-800x800.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/79/99...688a2c6087.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e9/42...dc80c58100.jpg

https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/...3a6b7fbcaf.jpg



But Also:
Flagstaff

https://a0.muscache.com/pictures/3d6...924f635603.jpg

But Also:

Bisbee:
https://media.istockphoto.com/photos...iFggVa4gmo8Ug=


Jerome/Cottonwood (near Sedona):

https://travelmamas.com/wp-content/u...432_m-2015.jpg

https://verderiver.org/wp-content/up...pringsdeck.jpg


But Also a few of the Phoenix suburbs are very lovely especially in the winter and spring.


Oh yeah if we are being truly strict on the Village:

Strawberry

https://www.alyssadawsonblog.com/wp-...hool-books.png

https://i0.wp.com/allforthememories....00%2C933&ssl=1

And Greer:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/43/54...f356d5c82b.jpg

https://greerredsetter.com/wp-conten...ome-Page-1.jpg

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N2SctLaWZ.../s1600/bl1.jpg

New York, there are so many but if I had to pick, probably Lake Placid but the ADK's and the Finger Lakes are filthy with them.

Some others:

Portsmouth for New Hampshire but also liked Conway, Peterborough (lived there), and Keene. In Mass, I was a huge fan of Provincetown.

In California, loved Carmel(-by-the-Sea)

I haven’t been to any of these places but I’m going to guess they are either overcrowded with tourists or exclusive to people with $$$

No thanks.

I can Promise you that Greer AZ and Strawberry AZ are certainly not "overflowing" with tourists

Jerome and Sedona. well What are you gunna do Sedona is world famous for a reason.

We have a few in the DMV:

Frederick, Maryland
https://i.imgur.com/Nn5WdWd.jpg

Fredericksburg, Virginia - THEN
https://i.imgur.com/9v5yuEE.png

Fredericksburg, Virginia - NOW
https://www.fredericksburgva.gov/Ima...cumentID=12643

Annapolis, Maryland
https://www.poppinsmoke.com/wp-conte...is-Getaway.png

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ry_at_Dawn.jpg

Staunton, Virginia
https://static.onecms.io/wp-content/...staunton-2.jpg

Lexington, Virginia
https://s3.amazonaws.com/lexingtonvi...nLexington.jpg

Pennsylvania - New Hope is the prettiest village or town I think in PA.... followed closely by Jim Thorpe

New Jersey - Cape May by far

Delaware - Rehoboth Beach by far

Granville, Oberlin, and Yellow Springs in Ohio.

Wellsboro in Pennsylvania.

Elora, ON


https://live.staticflickr.com/4525/2...85538ccc_b.jpg
Elora, Ontario, Canada🍁 by Mike McCumber, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...ffa83fc4_b.jpg
Elora,Ontario by sonicgregu, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...d179da49_b.jpg
Small-town charm in Elora, Ontario by Jack Tome, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a165452a_b.jpg
Elora, Ontario by Jack Tome, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/904/27...812fb21b_b.jpg
Elora, Ontario by angie_1964, on Flickr

Elora looks very charming! Looks like a village in Normandy or something. Why does the town have such a unique building style?

some of these strain the definition of 'village'.

Village is anything under 100k persons as far as I am concerned.

This isn't 1840 villages of 400 people just don't exist practically.

If you're in New York State, a 'village' can be any size. They just lack the autonomy of a full blown a city and rely on the town for some functions; fire, highway, codes, etc.

Elora is interesting, because you typically you don't see a lot of grey stone in Ontario until you're east of Cobourg-ish. There's a popular local attraction called the Elora Gorge which is a former quarry now filled in and used for recreation and swimming. I imagine that quarry contributed to the town's unique vernacular.

My favourite towns in Ontario tend to be those ones with a lot of grey stone. Perth is another good one.

https://i0.wp.com/ninanearandfar.com...size=775%2C514

https://i.imgur.com/VkYNbCZ.jpg

https://www.emcperth.ca/wp-content/u...th-Ontario.jpg

I agree re: Fredericksburg. There is zero town that even comes close to competing, but if I had to pick a second (on the chance that some might consider Fredericksburg too large), it would be Wimberley.