Best small town.

[anthony.lippert]

What do you think are the best small towns in Kentucky, and why? (excluding Louisville and Lexington, but maybe their suburbs)

[Rural King]

Well by definition of small I would have to say Russellville is pretty darn nice, I really like its downtown and old neighborhoods. I also think Murray (progressive growing town), Cadiz (nice downtown), Marion (small hidden town in a great scenic area), and Mayfield (great old courthouse) are really nice as well, but for differing reasons.

As you can see, thats based largely on the towns in the regions I know best.

I consider Paducah, Hopkinsville, Owensboro, heck even Henderson to be more small city-ish.

[Lexy]

*hometown bias talking here* Central City, Kentucky. Population 5,600. The best in the state because I grew up there. LOL!!!

[rocket9561]

Berea, hands down.

[ironchapman]

Winchester and Stanton are nice little towns. Especially Winchester.

Cave City-I don't know if I'd say it's nice, but certainly is an interesting place.

[krazeeboi]

From what I've seen of Paducah, I'm sure it's one of the nicest towns anywhere.

[Nashnoize]

It depends on how you define small. If you consider Paducah small then I say Paducah. As far as rural small, then I have to go with Benton. This is of course a little bias, but I don't care. Murray is a surprise for people to visit. If your talking one stoplight small, then I will say Possum Trot, and then get laughed out of the forum. enjoy!

[Rural King]

Possum Trot!! Aww yes with its grocery (which is small and old, but nice)....gas station....ummm isn't there a hunting related outfitter there.... thats all I can think of. LOL.

Benton is also a nice town. What is the festival they have, Tater Day? That pretty much shuts down town still on the day they have it.

Nashnoize I have the same issue with defining small town, to me Paducah is a small city, but to many folks from other regions it would just be a large town, or town, I suppose. I thinks its relative to the region your in, which for Kentucky, Paducah is a small city IMO. Either way its very nice and very urban.

[AceMentor]

Bowling Green. Jacksons orchard to Beech bend makes it pretty tough to beat

[Lexy]

Ace, I like Bowling Green, but it's not exactly a small town. It has almost 60,000 people. LOL!!!!!

[Nashnoize]

I would agree, and thats why I didn't mention it. Bowling Green, Owensboro, and Frankfort are all very nice looking cities, but there just not small. Glasgow would be an example of a nice looking small city IMO. By the way what is the population of Frankfort now a days. I always loved the drive into that city. Very beautiful.

[Rural King]

I think Frankfort had about 28-29K the last time I saw numbers, which is almost the exact same population as Paducah proper.

[Lexy]

Just a heads up, I am going home to Central City tomorrow (Turkey-day). I will get some pics if I can and post them since there seems to be no pics on the net of the place. Once you see them, you will understand why there are no pics on the net of it. LOL!!!

[Vertigo]

Places that I have visited....

Bardstown - Historically speaking, the most documented small town in Kentucky. Home to such institutions as My Old Kentucky Home and the several distilleries. The dinner train is nice too.

Russellville - One of the finest historical districts in the state (including the big cities). Amazing range of homes dating from the early 1800's through the 1920's featuring virtually every style imaginable.

Harrodsburg - There's a fort right in the middle of town. How cool is that! Also, Highway 68 that runs between Harrodsburg and Lexington is absolutely gorgeous.

Maysville - IMO, this town edges out Paducah as the state's finest river town. If you were to look up 'Quaint River Town' in the dictionary, this is what you would find.

Anchorage - Although it is now surrounded by Louisville, this peaceful rural town has remained unchanged for over a century. Driving down the narrow lanes, it's hard to imagine that you are in a metro area of over 1 million

Honorable mention...

Murray - The university has really boosted the stature of the community

La Grange - Gotta love the train running down the middle of Main Street

Franklin - Nice downtown square and lots of pretty old homes

A few overlooked towns....

Lebanon

Columbia

Greenville (sorry Lexy)

Wow, I guess Kentucky has a lot of nice small towns.

[Lexy]

Places that I have visited....

Bardstown - Historically speaking, the most documented small town in Kentucky. Home to such institutions as My Old Kentucky Home and the several distilleries. The dinner train is nice too.

Russellville - One of the finest historical districts in the state (including the big cities). Amazing range of homes dating from the early 1800's through the 1920's featuring virtually every style imaginable.

Harrodsburg - There's a fort right in the middle of town. How cool is that! Also, Highway 68 that runs between Harrodsburg and Lexington is absolutely gorgeous.

Maysville - IMO, this town edges out Paducah as the state's finest river town. If you were to look up 'Quaint River Town' in the dictionary, this is what you would find.

Anchorage - Although it is now surrounded by Louisville, this peaceful rural town has remained unchanged for over a century. Driving down the narrow lanes, it's hard to imagine that you are in a metro area of over 1 million

Honorable mention...

Murray - The university has really boosted the stature of the community

La Grange - Gotta love the train running down the middle of Main Street

Franklin - Nice downtown square and lots of pretty old homes

A few overlooked towns....

Lebanon

Columbia

Greenville (sorry Lexy)

Wow, I guess Kentucky has a lot of nice small towns.

I understand. Greenville has the old money while Central City has accumulated some of the newer money. Greenville also is a more "traditional" small town while Central City was the 'Big city that never happened'. I love Greenville though, and I too would vote for it.

[anthony.lippert]

Harrodsburg - There's a fort right in the middle of town. How cool is that! Also, Highway 68 that runs between Harrodsburg and Lexington is absolutely gorgeous.

Agreed.

I live about half way between Harrodsburg and Lexington on Highway 68 and it is gorgeous. I live near Shaker Village, and it is amaizing. I am a runner and they have miles of beautiful trails to explore.

If I can consider Shaker Village a town, it is a good one.

Has anyone been to Danville? I go to Centre College there. The campus is green and spread out. Main Street Danville is one of the best main streets in America. Danville has two movie theaters, bowling, lots of shopping, and most of the things a big city has without actually being a big city. It's not too far from Lexington to be considered isolated. Currently, Danville is spending millions of dollars to renovate parts of Main Street.

I've also been through Georgetown. The college is pretty and it's main street is very nice. Speaking from a Central Kentuckians point of view, Danville is one of the best.

[alslex1]

^ I've heard Danville is nice, 45 minutes south of Lexington. I've heard it is a nice little town, with Centre.

[LA_TN]

I'm from Princeton orginally and have traveled through most of the state. Here's my picks, but not in any order:

I have to say Danville is very nice. History breams from the streets and gorgeous churchs.

Cynthiana with a population of 5,000 is not the most pretty town, but very impressive in offerings for its size. Nice court house, beautiful churches, Licking River, old tobacco floors, and getting a new Walmart Supercenter.

Paris - the drive from Lexington passing all of the horse farms is one of a kind in the whole US - even after widening Paris Pike to 4 lanes. Nice court house and downtown square. Shows off small town style in a big way.

Pineville/Middlesboro/Harlan - must see in the Fall. All roads are engineering marvels in the Pine Mountain/Cumberland Mountain passes with undescribable beauty - even if all three cites are 'not much to look at'.

Somerset/Burnside - growing, growing, growing

Harrodsburg is nice. Bowling Green is growing a little, Owensboro less; both are nice small 'cities'. Frankfort has beautiful location, yucky town. Murray is a college town, but very nice. Local eateries are great and an Ice Cream Festival to boot.

Paducah has a lot of history, some very nice historic buildings. Must see fireworks on Ohio river bank. Downtown making a comeback??? Just off of downtown is not great - really all the way out to I-24. But for some reason, I still like a lot...go figure...

Georgetown is nice, Versailles okay, Lexington is the finest city for its size in the US - hands down, no doubt about it.

Sorry Lexy, Greenville and Central City just doesn't hold a candle in the light to the small towns around Lexington - I'd even pick Carisle with its 3 beautiful churchs first.

Don't overlook Campbellsville, Jamestown, Glasgow, Falmouth, and Maysville. Maysville is a nice town, although I'd suggest city folk pass on 'Court Days'

Bardstown - History, some yuck, history, some new, history, and Maker's Mark. Very nice buildings, churches, hospital, good roads, a lot of offerings for town of its size.

These are all nice towns, but for various reasons. Maybe Bloomfield...

[Rural King]

^ From Princeton eh? I'm very familiar with that historic town. Lots of history there with the Black Patch War and its rich historic past. Its sort in the boat with other towns in the region like Fulton and Mayfield in particular, where it is struggling economically and not nearly the place it was in days long gone by. I love its courthouse and downtown though, something esp. nice about downtown is its old Capitol Theatre is still is good shape and use.

Nice assessments of the towns you listed.

As for Paducah, downtown is on a very strong comeback, but as you say some of the areas between downtown and the mall area out at I-24 are not in the best of shape or character, but not horribly bad either.

[LA_TN]

Princeton has been ruled by old money for years - that means those in control do not like Bremner (cracker factory that moved from Louisville during the airport expansion. But Bremner brought new life to a town which saw Thompson Steel move to China, Arvins (electronics/automotive) close, hoisery mill close, and more close. People travelled to Hopinsville for years for jobs; but in the last 10 years we have seen new houses being built for the first time in decades and people actually travel to Princeton for work now. It's sad they couldn't keep Winn Dixie, and E. W. James is not doing well, but Walmart is rumored to expand to a supercenter in the future.

Walmart came in the early 80's followed by the demise of downtown. But today, the selection of speciality shops that have emerged in downtown, as a result, was unthinkable 20 years ago. Most people (anywhere) view Walmart as the necessary evil.

Visit Adsmore - much, much, much better than My Old Ky Home. Black Patch Festival is a classic small town festival, even though it isn't quite what it used to be IMO.

I've been to about 100 of the 120 counties in Ky - very diverse.

[Rural King]

^ That Winn Dixie was an amazing store, esp. for a town the size of Princeton. I hated to see it go. I have heard EW James is not doing the greatest. The More-For-Less in town does a heck of a business, and Food Giant does great on the other side of town, despite being a lackluster store in appearance and upkeep IMO. If a SuperCenter comes to town, which is almost a certianty since places like Camden (TN) are getting them, I think EWs will almost certianly be taken out.

It seems alot of the folks who travel to work to Princeton are from places with less industry than Princeton, ie Marion and Eddyville. Seems likes lots of folks from that area still commute to Hopkinsville and Madisonville to work, or if they're lucky enough Calvert City to one of those high wage chemical/industrial plants.

Princeton is a great place to visit for sure if your into history. Never made it to Adsmore, passed it many a time though.

[Lexy]

I only said my hometown because it is that, my hometown. To me, it is the greatest. While it is no Central Kentucky town, it is in the heart of western Kentuky and has a fascinating history that most of those towns would dream of having considering the city itself is rather young by most standards.

I will agree that those cities in the Lexington area are by far, the cream of the crop.

[Rural King]

We all have our regionalism! LOL Its not a bad thing, as I think most of us are up front about most of the time when it comes into play in our posts like these!! Plus it is just opinion, and in no way objective.

[Lexy]

We all have our regionalism! LOL Its not a bad thing, as I think most of us are up front about most of the time when it comes into play in our posts like these!! Plus it is just opinion, and in no way objective.

LOL, you are right RK. We all love our heritage and hometowns.

When I was a little boy, we used to have arguments on the school bus about which city was better, Central City or Greenville. Needless to say, my route was a predominatly Central City route. LOL!!!

[Ken Rose]

I would have to say.. Middlesboro (12,000 pop)