12 Top-Rated Small Towns In Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania's top-rated towns each commit to a different defining feature. Gettysburg holds the most studied battlefield in American history. Punxsutawney watches a groundhog forecast weather every February 2. Ohiopyle hosts whitewater rapids on the Youghiogheny. Lititz makes the country's oldest hand-rolled pretzels. The twelve communities below each carry a unique story across the state's hills and river valleys.
New Hope
New Hope sits on the Delaware River about an hour north of Philadelphia, where a 1904 wooden footbridge crosses to Lambertville, New Jersey to form a small twin-city downtown. The Bucks County Playhouse occupies a 1790 gristmill on the riverbank and runs a year-round program of musicals and plays. The New Hope Railroad runs vintage diesel and steam excursions from the 1891 station for sightseeing, dinner, and seasonal rides. Stockton Avenue and West Mechanic Street hold the bulk of the gallery and boutique scene including The Art Gallery and More and Monique's Art Jewelry. The Aaron Burr House operates as a bed and breakfast in a restored Victorian a few blocks from the river.
Stroudsburg
Stroudsburg anchors the southern Poconos as one of the gateway towns to the region's lakes and mountains. The downtown sits along Main Street with restored 19th-century brick storefronts and the Sherman Theater (1926) as the centerpiece for live music and film. Pure Day Spa on Main Street draws weekend visitors from Philadelphia and New York for full-day treatments. Glen Park along Brodhead Creek covers seasonal picnic and hiking ground a short walk from downtown, with the larger Big Pocono State Park 20 minutes north for summit views. The Penn Stroud Hotel operates as part of the Ascend Hotel Collection in a building dating to the 1830s. Stroudsburg is consistently ranked among the best Poconos main streets in the region.
Mifflinburg
Mifflinburg occupies the Susquehanna River Valley about two hours west of Stroudsburg. The town manufactured carriages and buggies at industrial scale through the late 1800s, earning it the local nickname Buggy Town. The Mifflinburg Buggy Museum on Green Street preserves the original William A. Heiss Coach Works including the carriage shop, paint shop, and family residence. Hassenplug Covered Bridge spans Buffalo Creek just north of town as one of the oldest covered bridges in Pennsylvania, built in 1825. The Mifflinburg Christkindl Markt has run every December since 1989, making it one of the oldest German-style Christmas markets in the United States.
Gettysburg
Gettysburg holds the location of the largest battle ever fought in North America. The three-day engagement of July 1 through 3, 1863 produced over 50,000 casualties and turned the course of the Civil War. Gettysburg National Military Park preserves more than 6,000 acres of the battlefield with over 1,300 monuments, the largest collection of memorial sculpture of its kind in the country. The Seminary Ridge Museum and Education Center occupies the building that served as a Union signal station on day one and a Confederate field hospital after the Union withdrawal. The Jennie Wade House marks the home of the only civilian killed during the battle, struck by a stray bullet on July 3. The Dobbin House Tavern (1776) and Gettysburg Hotel (1797) operate as the oldest continuously running establishments in town.
Punxsutawney
Punxsutawney runs the country's most famous weather forecast every February 2. Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog, emerges from his burrow at Gobbler's Knob to a crowd of tens of thousands gathered before dawn to see whether he sees his shadow. The tradition dates to 1886 and predicts six more weeks of winter if Phil sees his shadow. The Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center on Mahoning Street runs hands-on weather science exhibits and lets visitors meet Phil's family in their custom climate-controlled habitat. The Allegheny National Forest north of town covers more than 513,000 acres of hardwood forest, with the Tionesta Scenic and Research Natural Area protecting some of the largest remaining old-growth black cherry and beech stands in the East. Local history exhibits at the Punxsutawney Memorial Library document the town's coal-mining and railroad past, including its Groundhog Day connection from the German immigrant Pennsylvania Dutch tradition of Candlemas.
DuBois
DuBois sits about thirty minutes from Punxsutawney at the convergence of Juniata Run, Beaver Run, and Sandy Lick Creek. Treasure Lake to the northeast covers a 13,000-acre private community around Bimini Lake and other ponds, with the Treasure Lake KOA Holiday operating 130+ campsites and twenty cabins for public use. The Beaver Meadow Trail follows Sandy Lick Creek for just over four miles of rail-trail walking, biking, and dog-friendly access from the city parks complex. The Hitching Post serves home-style breakfasts including their signature sausage gravy and biscuits. The city's Heritage Park downtown traces the local timber and coal-mining history through preserved equipment displays.
Ohiopyle
Ohiopyle is one of the smallest incorporated boroughs in Pennsylvania with about 59 permanent residents and a footprint dominated by the surrounding state park. The Youghiogheny River runs the borough's eastern boundary with Class III and IV whitewater that draws roughly 100,000 commercial rafting trips a year. Ohiopyle State Park covers more than 20,500 acres of the Laurel Highlands, with the 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage rail-trail running directly through the borough. The Ferncliff Peninsula Natural Area on the river loop preserves a botanically unique mix of southern Appalachian species at the northern edge of their range. Fallingwater, the 1937 Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece, sits eight miles north for tours through the cantilevered house above Bear Run.
Lititz
Lititz sits at the north edge of Lancaster County with the country's first commercial pretzel bakery still operating. Julius Sturgis opened the bakery in 1861 and twisted his pretzels in a tunnel-shaped brick oven that visitors can still see on the tour. The town's main square holds Lititz Springs Park, a privately owned community park that has hosted the country's longest continuously running Fourth of July celebration since 1818. Wilbur Chocolate operated a working factory tour and store on West Main Street, producing the bud-shaped Wilbur Buds since 1894. Rock Lititz, the production campus just outside town, handles staging and equipment for global arena tours and runs the Hotel Rock Lititz for traveling musicians and crews. The General Sutter Inn (now operating as The Wilbur) on Main Street has stood since 1764, making it one of the oldest hotels in Pennsylvania.
Strasburg
Strasburg sits in southern Lancaster County, anchored by what is widely cited as the oldest continuously operating standard-gauge railroad in the United States. The Strasburg Rail Road was chartered in 1832 and now runs steam excursions on its original 4.5-mile line through Amish farm country east of town. The National Toy Train Museum operates next door with five large operating layouts and one of the country's largest collections of antique tinplate trains. The Choo Choo Barn down the road runs an animated 1,700-square-foot model train layout depicting Lancaster County scenes. The Amish Farm and House on Route 30 west of town offers guided buggy rides and farm tours. The Strasburg Inn operates as a Colonial-period bed and breakfast on the main square.
Zelienople
Zelienople sits along Connoquenessing Creek about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh, immediately south of its sister town Harmony. The two towns share Harmony Society history. The German religious sect founded Harmony in 1804 and built the 1805 stone Harmonist Barn that anchors the National Historic Landmark District. The Zelienople Historical Society runs the Passavant House and the Buhl House as living-history museums showing 19th-century professional and craftsman home life. The town's downtown carries late-Victorian and early-1900s commercial architecture along Main Street, with the annual Horse Trading Days each summer drawing collectors and traders to Front Street.
Bedford
Bedford served as one of the last outposts before the western frontier through the late 1700s. The town's downtown carries one of the densest collections of Federal and Georgian architecture in western Pennsylvania along its National Register historic district. The Omni Bedford Springs Resort, restored from the 1806 hotel complex, runs the historic mineral springs and an 18-hole golf course where US presidents took summer cures during the 19th century. The National Museum of the American Coverlet operates from a former school showing the country's most comprehensive collection of handwoven hand-loomed bedcoverings. The Fort Bedford Museum stands at the original 1758 French and Indian War fort site, with the current museum building constructed in 1958 to mark the bicentennial.
Bryn Athyn
Bryn Athyn sits 15 miles north of Philadelphia in Montgomery County as a planned religious community founded by the General Church of the New Jerusalem. The borough incorporated in 1916 and took its name from Welsh words meaning hill of cohesion. Bryn Athyn Cathedral, completed in 1928 in a hand-built Gothic and Romanesque style, anchors the town as one of the most distinctive religious structures in Pennsylvania. The Glencairn Museum occupies the former home of Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn next door, displaying their private collection of medieval Christian art and religious artifacts across cultures. The Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust preserves 38 acres of riparian forest along Pennypack Creek for walking trails and watershed protection.
Across Pennsylvania
The twelve towns above each commit to a defining identity. Gettysburg keeps the Civil War. Punxsutawney owns the groundhog. Ohiopyle holds the whitewater. Lititz makes the pretzels. Mifflinburg runs the Christmas market. Bryn Athyn maintains the Welsh-Gothic religious campus. Across the state's hills and river valleys, these places make a strong case for skipping the major cities.
