8 Adorable Small Towns In Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania's most adorable towns are little worlds built with intention. They are home to century-old storefronts with hand-painted signs and brick sidewalks that lead to family-owned bakeries and perhaps an indie bookshop or two. Their main streets are designed to slow you down instead of rushing you out of one big brand store and into another. Each of these American towns feels stitched into the landscape that surrounds it. These places are filled with somewhat quirky annual events that are entirely wholesome and welcoming to you on your travels. From Jim Thorpe, home of the World's Greatest Athlete, to Lititz, famous for its pretzels, uncover Pennsylvania's most adorable towns.
Jim Thorpe
Jim Thorpe has that lovable storybook quality that comes from real life rather than some marketing gimmick. 19th-century rowhouses lean into steep Pocono foothills, and the Lehigh River cuts right through town. The whole place looks like it never stopped dressing for the holidays, which is why December feels tailor-made for it. The annual Olde Time Christmas festival turns the downtown block into a Victorian-themed swirl of carolers, horse-drawn carriage rides, a gingerbread house contest, and tree-lighting nights in Josiah White Park that pull families back year after year.
Weekends in October are also pretty enchanting when the Fall Foliage Festival is in full swing. This is when artists line the sidewalks, food stalls take over the corners, and kids drag their parents toward ghost tours and craft tents. Throughout the year, the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway sends restored coaches rumbling out of town. If you want something quieter, the Jim Thorpe Trolley Company rolls around in open-air cars with live narration, giving the Pennsylvania town this small-scale, old-fashioned energy.
Lititz
Lititz is another town in Pennsylvania that's really continued to embrace its history, and for that reason, it both appears and feels adorable. This is especially true for the Moravian Church Square, which dates back to the 18th century and has a stunning Moravian design. The Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, founded in 1861 on Main Street, still lets visitors tour the historic facility and watch bakers twist soft pretzels by hand, while sampling the original recipe.
Nearby, the Wilbur Chocolate Store draws crowds for its signature Wilbur Buds, which have been made in Lititz for over a century. Every February, the Fire & Ice Festival turns downtown into a winter playground with ice sculptures on Main and Broad Streets, a chili cook-off, and live carving demonstrations.
New Hope
Just north of the Delaware River in Bucks County, New Hope's cozy streets are adorned with history and are recognized for the creativity they foster. The Bucks County Playhouse, active for nearly a century and housed in a storybook-like building, hosts musicals and plays, and makes the town feel undeniably wholesome. This energy is carried through to the New Hope & Ivyland Railroad, which sees an adorable 1925 steam locomotive rolling through town and the countryside.
The Oldestone Steakhouse, formerly Marsha Brown Restaurant, sits inside a stone church that was built back in 1872. It's both exceedingly cool and pretty endearing.
Lewisburg
The Lewisburg Fall Festival and Woolly Worm Winter Weather Prognostication embodies how cute this Pennsylvania town truly is. Not just because of the somewhat whimsical name of the annual festival, but because part of it entails the examination of woolly bear caterpillars to predict the severity of winter. The festival also includes live music, craft vendors, and shopping at downtown Lewisburg's shops.
The downtown area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, featuring several buildings from the Victorian period. Guided walking tours through downtown Lewisburg show off these buildings. The charming Campus Movie Theatre is approaching its hundredth year and remains a popular spot for date nights or family outings. While the town is home to Bucknell University, it feels undoubtedly small, in part due to the presence of the homey Lewisburg Farmers' Market, which is open every Wednesday throughout the year.
Doylestown
In the middle of Bucks County, Doylestown's cuteness comes with a concrete twist thanks to archeologist, collector, and designer, Henry Chapman Mercer, who is like the town's unofficial eccentric 'uncle'. His Fonthill Castle, with 44 rooms, over 200 windows, and tile-covered everything, feels like a giant handmade scrapbook, giving the town an endearing, slightly whimsical personality that people don't expect from suburban Pennsylvania.
A few blocks away, Moravian Pottery & Tile Works keeps Mercer's old-world tile-making alive, and the fact that you can actually watch artisans pressing clay the way they did a century ago only adds to the town's irresistible, handcrafted feel. Downtown, the County Theater, an Art Deco landmark from 1938, glows blue at night as if it were the centrepiece of a romantic 1940s film. Things get really adorable during the annual Doylestown Arts Festival, when the streets fill with tiny booth setups and families wandering between live art demonstrations.
Stroudsburg
Stroudsburg, on the Pocono edge of Monroe County, is particularly delightful in the wintertime when nearly 60 life-sized, artist-painted snowmen appear all over downtown. The Snowmen of Stroudsburg project is unmistakably local, with each snowman designed by a regional artist and moved around town through the season, giving Main Street a playful vibe. The Monroe Farmers Market sets up in Courthouse Square every Saturday morning, and the whole thing feels like a weekly neighborhood reunion with growers hauling in crates, bakers unloading warm loaves, and families weaving between the stalls.
Even without events, Stroudsburg has "adorable" built into its bones, in part because of the downtown murals clustered around Main and the side streets. Then there is the Sherman Theater, an early 1900s vaudeville house that now hosts concerts and community events.
Bellefonte
This creekside town along Spring Creek has a quaintness that comes from the very things that never got scaled up or smoothed over. The Centre County Courthouse sits right off High Street, facing a downtown that still moves at the original 19th-century pace, with Victorian homes and Queen Anne storefronts stacked along narrow blocks. Everything feels close-knit because it is.
The truly adorable Talleyrand Park runs directly behind the historic district, following Spring Creek with footbridges and the old Freight House now used by the Bellefonte Historical Railroad Society. During the holiday season, the annual Bellefonte Victorian Christmas pulls locals and tourists alike back in time to the 1800s with horse-drawn carriage rides, children's tea events, and a winter market.
Ridgway
Ridgway's appeal comes from its preserved streets and approachable historic architecture, not to mention an array of annual events and businesses that are both a little whimsical and cute. Strolling through the Ridgway Historic District, more than 700 Victorian-era buildings line narrow streets, with the red-brick Elk County Courthouse being one of the standouts. It may not exactly be "cute," but it helps set the vibe for the tiny borough in Elk County.
The Bella Mansion Bed and Breakfast, formerly known as The Towers Inn, is beautifully furnished and a great place to stay if you are in town for October's Harvest Daze Festival or Elk County Blizzard Fest (February to March). Both are great examples of how contained and welcoming Ridgway is, and exude seasonal charm.
Some of Pennsylvania's best small towns truly deserve the label of being "adorable." In Stroudsburg, families wander among life-sized painted snowmen during the winter. Bellefonte's streets host Victorian Christmas horse-drawn carriages. The end of summer brings a quaint arts festival to Doylestown. Then there is Lewisburg, where locals and tourists alike turn to fuzzy caterpillars in hopes of determining whether it will be a long winter or not. None of this is put-on. It is all authentic, utterly adorable, and ready to welcome everyone from the rest of Pennsylvania and well beyond.
