Your Favorite Progressive Small Towns in America.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Because it is good to remember that there are inviting and welcoming areas of America that foster openenss, that not all the small towns are 'backwards and full of rednecks'.

Recently I have beeing using google Earth to take "tours" of several mor liberal small towns, (as I plan to vacation one of them later this year). Of what I have read and seen, my favorites are:

Ithaca New York
Northampton, Massachusetts
Burlington, Vermont
and..
Prescott, Arizona

Because since a kid, I have loved "small towns" I lvoe being able to walk through a downtown, I LOVE the Turn of the century and victorian Architecture, and all of the old brick buildings. The use of "shops on the first floor, homes on the second floor" mixed buildings that you virtually don't see at all any more in modern cities (well in many American cities in anycase).

And most of all, to know that there are places that buck the "smalltown = Conservative" trend. Burlington after all was voted the second most gay frinedly city in the US (by Advocate Magizine).

I am curious how many on the bored are from "small towns" or have visited other well known progressive areas of the US that are worth mentioning.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

Prescott Arizona is not liberal. I don't even know where you got that idea. The only thing liberal in Prescott is meth use.

[Night_stalker]

I would hardly call Burlington small. Given about 33% of Vermont's total population lives there, I believe that disabuses it of the title of small.

I will not however, argue that it is a VERY progressive city, in a very progressive state. *sigh*, God, I miss Vermont. Best state I've ever lived in.

[rapidsquirrel]

I would hardly call Burlington small. Given about 33% of Vermont's total population lives there, I believe that disabuses it of the title of small.

I will not however, argue that it is a VERY progressive city, in a very progressive state. *sigh*, God, I miss Vermont. Best state I've ever lived in.

I don't think I would call any of those town small. I wouldn't call them towns either. Small cities maybe. You want a small Vermont town, look at my former hometown Peru, VT.

Though since you seem to be looking for slightly larger progressive towns, my current hometown is quite nice, Decorah, IA. Small, massive amounts of progressives, a nice organic food coop and lots of old Victorian-era buildings.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Prescott Arizona is not liberal. I don't even know where you got that idea. The only thing liberal in Prescott is meth use.

Well to be fair, I am thinking of what is usually called "historic Prescott" which is a 'town' of about 8,000 or so. What most of the rest of the country thinks of as Prescott is "Precott Valley" which is much more modern and indeed rather rednecky. But the older Prescott is a haven for Progressive, art shows and new agey shops.

Though since you seem to be looking for slightly larger progressive towns, my current hometown is quite nice, Decorah, IA. Small, massive amounts of progressives, a nice organic food coop and lots of old Victorian-era buildings.

Thanks for that one as well. Iowa is a bit of a surprise to me, Iowa city is also listed as a very progressive and Gay friendly city and I would love to visit both if give the chance. Really what I want to plan is a good old fashion road trip, take a month or so visiting many of these places.

[LadyTevar]

Lewisburg, WV. Voted "Coolest Small Town" for 2011. or, just an hour's drive away, Fayetteville, WV, voted "Coolest Small Town" a few years back

[Bob the Gunslinger]

Arcata is a nice, liberal small town. As a bonus, it probably has more used book stores than Alaska.

[Alyeska]

Missoula, Montana

Most progressive town in Montana. The state legislature saw fit to pass a state law specifically to prevent Missoula from recognizing anyone beyond the approved Federal protected persons list when it comes to racism and bigotry. Missoula passed a law allowing transgender to use the bathrooms that are appropriate to their mental sex as opposed to forcing them to use bathrooms of their biological origins. Conservatives get up in arms about predators staking out bathrooms to rape children. State legislator passes a law to prevent any local government from recognizing anyone not on the Federal protected persons list.

What was that about government interfering with the will of the people? Oh, right, it only counts when its against Conservatives.

[irishmick79]

I would hardly call Burlington small. Given about 33% of Vermont's total population lives there, I believe that disabuses it of the title of small.

I will not however, argue that it is a VERY progressive city, in a very progressive state. *sigh*, God, I miss Vermont. Best state I've ever lived in.

I live in the Burlington area, and I wouldn't classify Burlington as very big. At most, it's a mid-sized city. That being said, there are quite a few towns around Burlington which certainly fall into the 'small' category. Colchester, St. Albans, Essex, all pretty little satellites.

Vermont definitely earns its stripes as progressive. Currently, we're getting ready to establish a single payor health care system in the state, and Chittenden county (according to a Pew research poll) is the least religious county in the least religious state in the United States. Most of the churches here are actually quite liberal in their outlook, at least comparatively.

[Sam Or I]

Davis California

[Rogue 9]

Huntingburg, IN has the art shows and historic shopping district and so forth, and the population is majority Democrat, but I don't know that you'd call the politics "progressive" in the sense that you probably mean. I wouldn't pick a vacation spot based on the political situation, personally, but to each their own. I'd say Bloomington (again, IN), but thanks to the presence of Indiana University, that's really stretching the "small" part, though it doesn't really feel like it.

[Mothman]

Lewisburg, WV. Voted "Coolest Small Town" for 2011. or, just an hour's drive away, Fayetteville, WV, voted "Coolest Small Town" a few years back

These are nice towns to visit. So is Point Pleasant. Lot's of history there.

[Raptor 597]

Davis California

Davis seems like a great place to live. I'm an avid cyclist and would to be in a town that has more bikes and more people traveling on bikes than cars.

[LadyTevar]

Lewisburg, WV. Voted "Coolest Small Town" for 2011. or, just an hour's drive away, Fayetteville, WV, voted "Coolest Small Town" a few years back

These are nice towns to visit. So is Point Pleasant. Lot's of history there.

Heh... you just want them to come visit your statue
Amusingly enough, while I've been *through* Point Pleasant, I've never had the chance to stick around and see the sights.

[Jaevric]

My stepmother is from Ithaca, NY, and I've been there a few times. While it's certainly progressive, especially with Cornell University, I don't remember being terribly impressed with the town -- admittedly, that was 15 years ago and I was 14-15 at the time so my standards may have improved since then. There's some pretty scenery, with Cayuga Lake and various waterfalls in the area. The economy isn't great, as I vaguely recall, but my parents are both hardcore Republicans and at the time I was drinking the Kool-Aid so I may have believed them too much about how the Evil Liberals destroyed the town's (and state's) economy and left PhDs pumping gas at the corner store.

Most of what I remember is lakes, waterfalls, some decent fishing, and a lot of T-Shirts in stores around Cornell extolling the virtues of alcohol abuse.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Well, seeing quite a few members in some of these towns leads me to ask.
What is life like there?

What do you think you miss from a big City? What do you find is better/worse?
What do you go to a "big city" for when you need to, and what do you, for the most part, find you have close at home?

Part of the reason for my Interest is, and part of why I am planning this trip, is small towns are kind of a "hobby" for me. Some people do bonsai trees, some people do boats in bottles, I (using SimCity4) try and recreate small towns as accurately as possible.

Naturally I find myself limited by game mechanics most of the time, usually in balancing jobs out (the engine for SC4 has a very short tolerance for commute times, while in the real world people don't mind commuting up to 30miles or more to work)

Sor for me, It is nice to get a run down from inside these places and see how I can use it to more accurately do my own maps

[irishmick79]

Burlington, vt
nice - Lake Champlain is goregous. Mountan views of the Adirondacks across the lake to the west, and the Green Mountains to the east can be spectacular. The Winooski River snakes its way southeast from Mallett's Bay just north of Burlington, limiting development and expansion to the north, which is dominated by the town of Colchester anyways. Essex sits just to the northeast of Burlington, Williston to the southeast, and Shelburne sits just to the south. A lot of the towns have been around since the 1780's.

Burlington is a city of about 40k. Chittenden county, according to a pew poll, ranked as the least religious county in the least religious state in the entire United States. There are lots of parks and bike trails, and there are some major ski resorts about 45 mins to the southeast in Waterbury and Stowe. Consequently, Burlington residents spend a lot of time out doors and Vermont ranks as one of the healthiest states in the country. The terrain here is definitely rugged.

I89 is the major highway which serves the Burlington area, approaching from the Southeast and turning Northwards towards the Canadian border. Most every other road is a smaller two lane highway or street. Montreal is the closest major city, and it's an hour and a half away. Boston is about three and a half hours away, and New York City is about 7 hrs away.

Hope this is a good start. If you want to know anything else, let me know.

[Panzersharkcat]

Davis California

Davis seems like a great place to live. I'm an avid cyclist and would to be in a town that has more bikes and more people traveling on bikes than cars.

It's a decent enough place to live. A public transportation system (Unitrans) that actually functions helps. It's run by the students at UCD, if I remember correctly. The fares are affordable. A single ride is just a dollar and undergrads ride free. If you're looking for a place to eat out, I highly recommend Burgers and Brew on the corner of C and 3rd.

EDIT: Contrary to what you may have heard, the place does not smell like cow unless you're near Tercero during late summer/early fall.

[Losonti Tokash]

Ashland, Oregon deserves a mention. It's a great little college town with things like an effective bus system, lots of arts programs, and a fantastic park downtown.

[rapidsquirrel]

What is life like there?

What do you think you miss from a big City? What do you find is better/worse?
What do you go to a "big city" for when you need to, and what do you, for the most part, find you have close at home?

I'm not sure how to describe life in Decorah. It's fairly quiet. Probably not a lot different then most places. There are probably less controversies then large cities, but they get more coverage. Less traffic and less noise then a large city and travel around town takes less time.

What do I miss from a large city.... not much though I haven't lived in a large city for any length time past a college year. I guess it would be nice to have a larger chain stores in Decorah. Still La Crosse, WI and Rochester, MN are both less then a hour and half way and they both have a Menard's and Home Depot along with large malls. Otherwise, there isn't a lot you can't get here, it some times just takes longer as you have to order it in, but shops around here are perfectly happy to do that for you. Maybe I'm a bad person to ask as I'm very used to small town life and don't think I really want to live in a city.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Not at all Rapid, you and Irish's feed back are most welcome

Really you sort of confirm something that was a bit of realization to me. For a while I always assumed all aspects of a big city had to be somehow mirrored in a small town, but in a smaller fashion. The truth I find, is that the aspect of living in a small town makes many of these simply not needed at all

Traffic is something I try and wrap my head around. I live in Phoenix, and the idea of having a city with roads LESS the 5 lanes seems unthinkable. Looking at maps of places like Burlington and Decorah, I'm amazed the towns can function with mostly 2 lane roads of course as you say, if traffic is really that low, it isn't a problem.

I actually just started a new city based on Decorah's road map. Don't suppose the town has a map for tourists or something that shows individual shops and such I could use for recreating it

[irishmick79]

What is life like there?

What do you think you miss from a big City? What do you find is better/worse?
What do you go to a "big city" for when you need to, and what do you, for the most part, find you have close at home?

I'm not sure how to describe life in Decorah. It's fairly quiet. Probably not a lot different then most places. There are probably less controversies then large cities, but they get more coverage. Less traffic and less noise then a large city and travel around town takes less time.

What do I miss from a large city.... not much though I haven't lived in a large city for any length time past a college year. I guess it would be nice to have a larger chain stores in Decorah. Still La Crosse, WI and Rochester, MN are both less then a hour and half way and they both have a Menard's and Home Depot along with large malls. Otherwise, there isn't a lot you can't get here, it some times just takes longer as you have to order it in, but shops around here are perfectly happy to do that for you. Maybe I'm a bad person to ask as I'm very used to small town life and don't think I really want to live in a city.

How long have you lived in Decorah? My wife went to Luther College for two years.

[Alphawolf55]

I'm trying to decide if Portsmouth, NH should be considered a small town or not.

[Duckie]

I'm trying to decide if Portsmouth, NH should be considered a small town or not.

Portsmouth the city itself is about 20,000, which is damn big for New Englanders but is pretty small in comparision to everything else. Go a few miles north and you'll see York, which is 40k but still indubitably a small town. So I'd say "Yes". (As for how small town varies across areas, I'm told by a New Yorker that anything under 100,000 is 'small' and that mayor or not, you can't be a city until you reach a million).

Add pretty much everywhere in a straight line between Portsmouth and Portland to the list of nice small towns. I grew up somewhere in that range and it's nice- though granted it's kinda "Live here if if you like Boston but are terrified of large buildings".

[Pelranius]

Does Brunswick Maine count? It has about 27,000 people (I least from what I remember, must change my location someday) but you wouldn't really know given the population density.