An aerial view of Jonesborough, Tenn. (Courtesy of Jonesborough Tourism Department)
There’s nothing quite like a sunny day in a small Southern town. Whether you’re on the coast, the bayou, or the rippling mountain ranges, these places are special. It’s the smiles and hospitality and history, and so much more, that set them apart. Here are five of the very best, most charming Southern towns.
Historic Port
(Chris Rogers/Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce and the Hammock Coast)
Roughly halfway between Myrtle Beach and Charleston on South Carolina’s Hammock Coast, a visit to Georgetown is like a trip back in time to Colonial days. Stroll under oak-shaded streets in the well-preserved downtown. Then head to the Harborwalk to spot boats and sea birds while you settle into a waterfront restaurant, tucking into some of the freshest seafood you’ll find anywhere.
Horse and Hunt Capital
(Visit Middleburg)
Although the historic district in the small northern Virginia town of Middleburg is under a mile long, you’ll find plenty to explore along its cobblestone sidewalks and amid great stone buildings. Backdropped by the Blue Ridge Mountains, it was established in 1787 between Winchester and Alexandria (that’s the “middle” in the name). Browse art galleries and antique shops, and indulge in excellent food and local wine. If you’re lucky, watch an equestrian competition—Middleburg is the nation’s horse and hunt capital.
Tales of House and Home
(Madison-Morgan CVB)
While Madison, Georgia, about an hour east of Atlanta, is very small (population: about 4,000), it has one of Georgia’s largest historic districts. Picture it: spreading magnolias and some 50 antebellum homes, their Victorian and Greek Revival beauty carefully preserved by local residents. The best part? In some cases, you can go inside. The town has a number of house museums, which tell not only an architectural tale, but also the stories of those who lived within.
Appalachian Beauty
(Courtesy of VisitNC.com)
One of the highest-altitude towns east of the Mississippi, Highlands, North Carolina, lives up to its name, sitting on a picturesque plateau deep in the Appalachians at above 4,000 feet elevation. Short hikes take you to beautiful views, like the vistas off the paths of Whiteside Mountain. Waterfalls abound, too, including the famous cascades in nearby Cullasaja Gorge. Breathe in the fresh air, then come back to town for a delectable Southern meal and a night at a historic inn.
Louisiana Getaway
(Launch Media/Visit St. Francisville)
St. Francisville, Louisiana (population about 1,000), was once one of the most important river ports between New Orleans and Memphis. In 1810, it served as the capital of the Republic of West Florida, an unrecognized state that lasted just 74 days before it was annexed by the United States. Today, it is peaceful and beautiful, all shady paths and Spanish moss. Browse the shops and galleries, then enjoy a meal at a restaurant serving up Cajun, Creole, or Southern cuisine.
Storytelling Roots
(Peter Montanti)
Established in 1779, Jonesboro, Tennessee, a postcard-perfect town set on the rolling edge of the Appalachians, claims two major titles. The first—Tennessee’s Oldest Town—works well with the second, the Storytelling Capital of the World. Indeed, there are centuries of tales to tell, and they invite you to come listen. The town is home to the National Storytelling Festival and the International Storytelling Center, which hosts performances and preserves oral traditions from across the globe.
The former Hotel Alcazar now serves as the Lightner Museum and St. Augustine’s City Hall. (FloridasHistoricCoast.com)
Legend has it that Juan Ponce de León discovered Florida while searching for the Fountain of Youth. While that tale is probably untrue, the lovely southern state certainly feels effervescent with its ocean-scented air and its flourishing, year-round greenery. At least, it feels that way to a Wisconsinite visiting the state after a long winter, which I did this spring, hungry for the promise of warmth and life.
Whether or not he was motivated by the tantalizing tale of water that bestowed unending life, Ponce de León, governor of Puerto Rico and former companion of Columbus, waded ashore on the peninsula around 1513, somewhere near the present-day city of St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in the United States. He claimed the land for his king and faith, naming it “La Florida” because he came to it during the Easter season, known in Spain as “pascua florida”—“feast of flowers.”
I, too, arrived in Florida with my wife and daughter during the Easter season. This was our second visit to St. Augustine, after our first a few years ago, when the town’s antiquity, beauty, and vibrancy first won our admiration. The historic district of the city resembles a colonial period settlement, and when you walk the winding, Spanish moss-adorned streets—some of which are brick, and all of which reveal their age by their narrowness, built for foot traffic and horses and carts, not cars—the mind naturally roves back over the centuries to those first settlers.
The Spanish Mission-style Cathedral Basilica is the oldest Catholic parish in the country. (GianfrancoVivi/GettyImages)
Centuries of History in St. Augustine
Ponce de León’s explorations helped identify Florida as a desirable place for settlement and missionary activity, which gave rise, in time, to the establishment of St. Augustine. That task fell, 50 years after Ponce de León’s activities, to Admiral Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, who was sent to secure Spanish holdings in the region and expel French settlers. On September 8, 1565, Menéndez and his water-weary companions landed in a small natural harbor and founded a fort and settlement, named for the saint on whose feast day they had first sighted land. One member of the expedition, Father Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales, recorded the triumphant moment in his diary:
On Saturday the eighth the General landed with many banners spread, to the sounds of trumpets and the salutes of artillery. As I had gone ashore the evening before, I took a cross and went to meet him, singing the hymn Te Deum Laudamus. The General, followed by all who accompanied him, marched up to the cross, knelt and kissed it. A large number of Indians watched these proceedings and imitated all that they saw done.
Then, under an open, wild sky, with ocean winds blowing through the encampment, the same winds that had borne the explorers so many miles from home, Father López celebrated the first parish Mass in what is now the United States. Today, this location is called the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche, a peaceful patch of parklike greenery under gently rocking palms. Old, sun-blanched gravestones rest among the ferns, bearing names all but worn away by time and nearly lost to memory. In the middle of this place, nicknamed “the sacred acre,” nestles a small chapel, so covered in ivy that it has become a part of the landscape. Inside is a statue of Mary nursing Jesus. The visitor center at the shrine contains an informative and well-run little museum with authentic artifacts that tell of the desperate, early days of settlers and missionaries laboring under the blinding sun and weathering ocean-flung hurricanes, pirates, and British soldiers.
The historic district of the city retains much of the colonial period’s look and feel. (Yijun Wang)
In fact, conflict with the nearby British intensified to a degree that the Spanish determined to build a permanent stone fortress. They began construction in 1672 and completed it toward the end of the century. The Castillo de San Marcos stood ready none too soon—a British force from the Carolinas attacked the city in 1702. The Brits could not take the fort, and they eventually retreated after razing the town. Years later, the town and fort came under British control due to the Treaty of Paris at the end of the French and Indian War, but a second treaty after the American Revolution returned the city to the Spanish.
The fort still stands at the edge of town, defying the ocean, looking much as it has these many centuries, impenetrable and unyielding. An art exhibit at the Governor’s House Cultural Center and Museum in downtown St. Augustine revealed many paintings of the fort over the years—a testament to the castillo’s ability to capture the imagination of generations of resident artists. In each picture, even as the town itself grows more modern with time, the fort remains the same.
The intricate stylings of Spanish Renaissance architecture inside Flagler College. (Carlos Smith)The exterior of Flagler College. (Joe Shlabotnik)
The fort is well worth a visit. It was built in a star shape, the “bastion system,” to help counter the (then) new technology of gunpowder. The shape could better withstand or deflect incoming cannon balls. Another advantage against cannon fire is that the biological history of the region is embedded in the fort’s walls in the form of “coquina”—a rare type of limestone made up of the shell pieces of ancient mollusks, trilobites, and other invertebrates. The rock’s porous nature better absorbed the shock of a projectile than a more solid material would have. The temporary docking of a full-size, seaworthy replica of one of explorer Ferdinand Magellan’s ships enhanced our experience of the waterfront. The view of the 17th-century fort and 16th-century vessel beside it easily transported us back through three centuries of history until we felt almost as though we had just come to port in a strange new land after treacherous weeks at sea.
Boats on the Matanzas River, with the landmark Bridge of Lions in the background. (Vasilis Karkalas/Unsplash)
Old-World Charm
Today, St. Augustine offers a great deal of amenities that our forebears didn’t get to enjoy. Along the waterfront and in the historic district, you’ll find many restaurants, often situated inside old, restored buildings and with ocean views. Old-fashioned wooden signs protrude above the narrow streets, announcing gift shops, galleries, and coffee houses. Half-hidden from passersby, walled-off gardens overflow with lush vegetation while majestic fountains spray water like liquid diamonds into the air of courtyards and plazas beside ornate, 19th-century hotels. The city has the most European feel of any American town I’ve visited.
The Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fortification in the country. (CharlesLeRette/ GettyImages)Built in the late 17th century to protect the Spanish territory from invaders, the fort looks out at Matanzas Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. (FloridasHistoricCoast.com)
A walk through the Colonial Quarter will take you past the intricate, Spanish Renaissance architecture of Flagler College, the magnificent facade of the Spanish Mission-style Cathedral Basilica, and the twin, red-roofed towers of the Lightner Museum, formerly a Gilded Age resort. Unsurprisingly for the oldest city in the continental United States, there are at least a dozen museums, including the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum, which offers visitors a view of the town and the surrounding beaches at the end of a 219-step climb.
What draws us to St. Augustine? I suppose it is the history, and our old-world sympathies, the serene natural beauty, and the distant crash and stir of the ocean in the background, the waves kissing the shore again and again, running over the sand like the years passing over the city, that draw us to St. Augustine. To me, the city is a link to a deeper past and an older story than most locations in this country reveal. At only 250 years, we’re a young nation, but St. Augustine reminds us of our roots and the inheritance that we carry with us from more than one European nation.
Flagler College was founded by Henry Morrison Flagler, a 19th-century oil and railroad tycoon. He helped to develop much of Florida’s Atlantic coast. (Brent Moore)
While I stood under the great cross that has been erected where Menéndez first landed and kissed the symbol of his faith, I thought of the early adventurers, wayfarers, villains, and heroes who make up the early history of our country. They couldn’t find the magical Fountain of Youth, but something of their culture and their spirit lives on. Without their story and their struggle, a struggle written into the walls and bricks of St. Augustine, America would not be possible.
The Montana mountain air was cool and fresh, and as I breathed it in, something inside of me awakened: evasive like magic or childhood. I pulled on my rain boots and walked quickly to keep up with my daughters, who had already raced off the porch and through the mud to the purple sky in front of us.
Alpenglow was a word I never heard before my trip to Dancing Spirit Ranch, but it’s one I won’t soon forget. As the sun sets, mountains exposed to the direct sunlight undergo an optical phenomenon and assume a color wheel of orange, yellow, and finally violet, creating an illusion of the air being tangible enough to reach out and grab a handful of it.
Enjoying the mountain views in northwest Montana in good company is a pastime at Dancing Spirit Ranch. (Courtesy of Dancing Spirit Ranch)The Alpenglow effect of late-day sunlight bouncing off the mountains, clouds, and lake at Dancing Spirit Ranch. (Courtesy of Dancing Spirit Ranch)
In the northwest corner of Montana, at the edge of the Mountain Time zone, it was half-past eight in the evening in the middle of March and I could still see my parents, children, husband, and sister walking around the water in a hazy pool of light that reflected off the mountains behind them.
I paused, scanning the jagged horizon formed by movements in the earth’s foundation, punctuated by swans taking off in unison from the small pond in front of me. After a year of far too few visits with my family, we were together again, lost not in worrisome, despairing talks about our nation or the pandemic that have become commonplace in the past year, but simple, soul-filling wonder.
Birds in flight with the mountains in the background at Dancing Spirit Ranch. (Courtesy of Dancing Spirit Ranch)
Dancing Spirit Ranch is a family-owned retreat center and vacation rental outside of Whitefish, Montana, America’s playground for skiers, nature lovers, hikers and fly fishers. On the edge of Glacier National Park and boasting 150 acres of gardens, ponds, walking trails, and mountain views, the ranch is a place layered with beauty.
Dancing Spirit Ranch is a retreat and event space owned and operated by the Cross/Singer family. (Courtesy of Dancing Spirit Ranch)
Katherine and Gordon bought the ranch nearly 30 years ago, but only in the past few years has it been opened up for retreats and vacations. Guests can stay in three of the carefully built or renovated houses on the property. The Bunkhouse, a perfect accommodation for a larger family reunion, sleeps up to 14 in high-end rustic style, while The Schoolhouse is perfect for a couple or solo retreat.
From our windows in the Cedar House, a four-bedroom cabin on the edge of a 14-acre pond, we watched birds and deer navigate the early Montana spring against the stunning backdrop of the mountain range.
Executive head chef Ananda Johnson prepares a meal for guests at Dancing Spirit Ranch. (Courtesy of Dancing Spirit Ranch)
The food at Dancing Spirit Ranch sits in a league of its own. Ananda Johnson, the head chef, has a seemingly endless repertoire of healthy, delicious, plant-based recipes: rosemary paleo biscuits, garden lasagna, made with layers of zucchini, butternut squash, and eggplant between lentil brown rice noodles, oatmeal energy bites, and buckwheat granola, to name a few.
Enjoying a meal in front of the fire in the Barn at the Dancing Spirit Ranch. (Courtesy of Shalee Wanders)
Prepared and served with gracious hospitality as we ate in the dining room of the Barn, next to a crackling fire while the sun beamed through the large windows, Ananda—full of humor, stories, and warmth—made us feel like old friends by the end of the week.
There are more food plans in the works. By the end of 2021, Dancing Spirit Ranch hopes to be completely farm-to-table. They’ve built gardens and greenhouses to this end, thoughtfully arranged in geometric patterns. Dancing Spirit Ranch takes pride in its working relationship with the land—caring for the soil correctly and planting sustainably so that the ground remains fruitful for years to come.
Enjoying the fire pit, s’mores, and family time at Dancing Spirit Ranch. (Courtesy of Dancing Spirit Ranch)Family time around the fire. (Courtesy of Rachael Dymski)
We could have gone the entire week without leaving the property of Dancing Spirit Ranch, enjoying the bubbling of the Whitefish River, the first signs of buds along the walking trails, sitting around the large communal fire pit where we enjoyed s’mores after dinner in the sunset, the white, sugary fluff of the marshmallow sticking to my daughter’s chin.
Gordon Cross, owner of Dancing Spirit Ranch enjoys spending time teaching his grandson to fish at Dancing Spirit Ranch (Courtesy of Dancing Spirit Ranch)
We did venture off, to ski Whitefish Mountain, which still had an ample snow base of 100 inches in March, and then to Glacier Park, where we drove 10 miles alongside the clear waters of Lake McDonald. But every time we turned back toward Dancing Spirit Ranch, it was with the anticipation of coming back home.
Venturing off property for some spring skiing at Whitefish Mountain Resort in northwest Montana. (Courtesy of Shalee Wanders)Skiing at Whitefish. (Courtesy of Rachael Dymski)
Katherine told me that the ranch has a way of bringing in the people who need it, a sort of magnetic pull. That might be true, but I think equally crucial to the equation is the way visitors are received when they arrive at Dancing Spirit Ranch. I think it matters that Dancing Spirit Ranch is family-owned and -operated because the staff and owners know inherently what visiting families and guests most need.
After so much time apart, my family craved a beautiful, relaxed setting to enjoy one another and the world around us, and the ranch delivered tenfold.
The serenity of the ranch is a balm for the soul. (Courtesy of Rachael Dymski)The serenity of the ranch is a balm for the soul. (Courtesy of Rachael Dymski)
Watching my dad swing my daughter up onto his shoulders as they walked through the grass in the evening light, my mom laughing with my youngest as they ran in circles, my husband and sister standing together, talking about how good their dinner was, I decided that Dancing Spirit Ranch was a place I could return to again and again.
To quote the poet Wendell Berry, the place is full of the “peace of wild things.”
The author was a guest of Dancing Spirit Ranch.
Rachael Dymski is an author, florist, and mom to two little girls. She is currently writing a novel about the German occupation of the Channel Islands and blogs on her website, RachaelDymski.com
A statue of Olympian Jim Thorpe, 1888-1953, one of the most accomplished all-around athletes in history. He is buried and memorialized in a town with his name, Jim Thorpe, PA. (Karen Lee Ensley)
Crowned one of the “most beautiful small towns in America,” Jim Thorpe could also be called one of the most fascinating historical small towns in the country.
Visitors to this eastern Pennsylvania town will be charmed by its exquisite Victorian mansions, quaint shops, and old-fashioned passenger railroad. Yet Jim Thorpe is sure to thrill the history lover with fiction-like melodrama and an intriguing mystery.
Picturesque town of Jim Thorpe, PA. (Karen Lee Ensley)
Originally founded in 1818 as Mauch Chunk (pronounced Mock Chunk), meaning “bear mountain” in the native Lenni Lenape language, the small boroughs of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk merged and adopted the name Jim Thorpe in 1954.
A Famous Namesake
Intended to attract tourism, the town’s new name honored the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States. Though he likely never visited Mauch Chunk, his third wife, Patricia Thorpe, in a controversial move, arranged to have his body memorialized in this town.
James Francis Thorpe, a member of the Thunder Clan of the Sac and Fox tribe, was fittingly called Wa-tho-huck, meaning “Bright Path.” Born in May 1887 or 1888 in Oklahoma Territory, he was a direct descendant of the famous warrior Chief Black Hawk. But it was his athletic skills that made Jim Thorpe famous. When he attended Carlisle Indian School, a vocational school in Pennsylvania, he excelled in a diverse range of sports, including basketball, billiards, bowling, figure skating, golf, gymnastics, handball, hockey, lacrosse, rowing, swimming, tennis, and track and field. He even won a dance competition.
Thorpe Football Monument, Memorial Park, Jim Thorpe, PA. (Karen Lee Ensley)
But, he was best known for his football skills. After his team handily beat the No. 1 ranked Army team at West Point, Army’s left halfback, Cadet Dwight D. Eisenhower, described Thorpe: “He was able to do everything anyone else could, but he could do it better. There was no one like him in the world.”
His accomplishments were numerous. He played baseball for the National League champion New York Giants and football for the world champion Canton Bulldogs. He was the first president of the American Professional Football Association, the forerunner to the National Football League.
Harry Packer Mansion in Jim Thorpe, PA. (Karen Lee Ensley)
One of Thorpe’s greatest and most famous achievements was during the 1912 Olympics. He spectacularly won the five-event pentathlon and the 10-event decathlon by wide margins over his competitors. The king of Sweden, Gustav V, presented the gold medals, proclaiming, “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world!”
A Wealth of History, a History of Wealth
Beyond the famous namesake, the town of Jim Thorpe has a wealth of history. It also has a history of wealth, including millionaires whose legacies are still seen in the opulence of its Victorian mansions.
The 100-year old Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, Reading & Northern Railroad now takes passengers into Lehigh Gorge State Park. (Karen Lee Ensley)
The town was founded when the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, headed by Josiah White, began work on the Lehigh River to transport coal. Along with business partner Erskine Hazard, White created the 49-lock ascending and descending Lehigh Canal, a civil engineering feat of its time. They also opened the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway to transport coal from the mines. By 1873, this gravity-powered railway was converted to passenger use and became one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country. President Ulysses S. Grant and Thomas Edison were two of the famous adventurers to brave the hair-raising ride through the mountains. The Switchback predates the Coney Island, New York, roller coaster known as the Switchback Gravity Pleasure Railway by 11 years.
The economic boom generated by the coal company interested carpenter and farmer Asa Packer, who moved to the town and used his carpentry skills to build canal boats. Over time, he believed there was a better way to transport the coal. He risked financial ruin when he purchased nearly all the controlling stock for an unfinished railroad. Later, the line became the prosperous Lehigh Valley Railroad.
Asa Packer Mansion, an example of Italianate architecture, Jim Thorpe, PA. Soldiers and Sailors Monument in the foreground, 1886. (Tito Slack/Shutterstock)
A philanthropist, he founded Lehigh University, donated millions of dollars, and left an estate valued over $54 million. Today, visitors can tour the family’s elegant three-story, 18-room Italianate villa, complete with original contents. Approaching the mansion, visitors pass Gothic window arches and gingerbread trefoil motifs trimming the verandah. Inside, guests are treated to fine woodcarvings by European artisans and glistening stained-glass windows. Designated a National Historic Landmark, the mansion sits on a hill overlooking a picturesque view of Jim Thorpe.
Harry Packer Mansion in Jim Thorpe, PA. (Karen Lee Ensley)
Nearby is the former home of Asa’s son, Harry Packer. The mansion is currently a historic luxury inn decorated in the elegance of the Victorian era. Surprisingly, it has a most unusual claim to fame. The exterior of the home was the inspiration for Walt Disney World’s “Haunted Mansion.”
Secret Society
On another hill in Jim Thorpe is a supernatural mystery. The story reads like fiction but is true.
It begins in the coal mines. The same coal mines that brought great wealth to the region also brought hardship and danger. Conditions in the mines were terrible. Boys as young as 6 years old worked picking slate. Families lived in poor company-owned homes. They were paid in company money, which was worthless except in company stores. Foremen frequently abused workers.
A secret organization retaliated against the coal and railroad companies. Between 1861 and 1875, there were arsons, violent assaults, and murders blamed on the secretive Irish-American group known as the Molly Maguires. A Pinkerton detective infiltrated the group, befriended the members, and then betrayed them. Seven Irish coal miners proclaimed their innocence but were hanged in the Old Jail. But that was not the end of this story. Before his hanging, one miner placed his dirty hand on the wall, saying, “This handprint will remain as proof of my innocence.” Despite washing, painting, and replastering, the handprint has remained to this day.
Plenty to Do
Today, Jim Thorpe is a charming small town. Many of the Victorian buildings have been renovated and turned into shops, eateries, museums, and galleries. Adventurers enjoy the walkable downtown, biking and hiking through scenic Lehigh Gorge, or whitewater rafting.
Historic hotel. Jim Thorpe, PA is also known as “The Switzerland of America,” or “The Gateway to the Poconos.” (Karen Lee Ensley)
Theater lovers attend live performances at the historic Mauch Chunk Opera House, one of America’s oldest vaudeville theaters.
Delightful events lure visitors year-round. There’s a Running Festival with 7-mile, half-marathon, and full marathon options. Winterfest brings horse-drawn carriage rides, ice carvings, and a luminary stroll, while autumn brings the Fall Foliage Festival, featuring arts, crafts, children’s activities, and ghost tours. It’s the perfect time to enter the Old Jail Museum and see the mysterious handprint.
Afterward, visit the Molly Maguires Pub & Steakhouse on Hazard Square. Enjoy a meal while relaxing on the outdoor heated deck. Listen to the nearby 1893 courthouse clock tower chime, and watch the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway depart the historic downtown station. Riders on the narrated round trip are treated to views of Pennsylvania’s woodlands. In autumn, a tour is a visual feast of colorful foliage.
Be sure to wander to Josiah White Park and see a 15,100-pound piece of anthracite coal. The enormous black diamond is a monument to Josiah White and Erskine Hazard. Have a seat in the quaint gazebo overlooking the park. Then, with the setting sun, watch the strings of lights sparkle as they decorate the nostalgic train station. Jim Thorpe truly is a charming small town with an extraordinary wealth of history.
Karen Lee Ensley is a writer and photographer. Her work has been published nationally and internationally in books, magazines, newspapers, brochures, and calendars. Find her work at KarenLeeEnsley.Pixels.com
