looking for a new town to live in...

Looking for some suggestions here...
I am living in Central Pennsylvania right now. I am a full-time artist and the town I live in is NOT 'artist-friendly'... all hunting, fishing, sports...
I am looking to move to a small town in the Northeast US that is more accepting of the 'abstract-minded' of which I am one.
Any suggestions?
I guess my requirements would be:
-small downton with coffee shops and some art galleries
-NO WAL MART !
-maybe a bus or public transport (I want to give up my car)

Would love to hear from anyone!

Jim

 

Try northern Virginia (Winchester). I live 45 min's west of DC and I love it!!! It's a small town with alot of art gallery's, coffee shops and historic areas. Plus, it's not far from a mayjor city!!!! Good luck to you!

 

Sounds like Newark, Delware where i live. there is a wal-mart across the state line..but no need to go there. We have no car and can get around fine. Main street here is what you described. It's also a college town (uni of Delaware). There are at least five coffee shops on Main street.

 

Try Asheville, NC. I have a friend that lives their and he loves it. Right in the Applachian Mountains and he says the downtown is like a small San Fransico.

 

Portland Maine has a huge artist community and is freakin gorgeous, although it is a bit of a hike.

 

Thanks for the input folks. Think I'll start planning a few daytrips!

 

hey, try Makanda, IL. its a GREAT little town with an old boardwalk, its VERY VERY VERY artist friendly... in fact, thats pretty much the only people that live there. its such a beautiful place and its in the middle of giant city national forest, which is in the middle of the BIGGER shawnee national forest. its only got about 400 people living in it... but carbondale, IL is just about 10 minutes away, and its a college town.... so its kinda like rual, then city. great mix!

its such a great town.

 

I was just going to suggest this area...

 

Yellow Springs, Ohio is a cool place. Ultra liberal, hippy town. Big arts community. Several forests/parks within walking distance of the "downtown". Thriving Main Street with truely locally owned stores. Free range, free trade type vegi/vegan restaurants/coffee shops etc. "alternative" schools. REAL natural food/medicine stores. REAL community meetings. Definately worth a look.

 

Again, thanks to everyone for their input.

Will be going to Newark, DE this weekend (Aug 13, 14).
Any suggestions for specific places to look at are appreciated!

Jim

 

if you need the NE then i would hit st. johnsbury? or johns sumthin in vermont. if youre heading to delaware then youre probably out of luck
morgantown WV is nice too, and the wall mart is hidden up a mountain . .. .
ithaca new york might be nice for ya too.
good luck

 

I would suggest anything around the campus in delaware. Places to live, hmm..i can respond with that tomorrow. Places to check out..East End Cafe, Adria's Cafe, the Main Squeeze (juice bar), Homegrown (nice restaurant) Brew Haha. There are more, but I can't remember them all. All of these are on Main Street, so they are easy to find. There are other scattered, but not too far away. The thing about Newark is that is such a diverse place that you are pretty much guarenteed to find any type of people.

I should be at Adria's Cafe on Saturday almost all night. Maybe I'll see you there.

 

Continuing my search now that the New Year is here. Newark was actually a cool place, although I got there for only a few hours.

The search for the path continues...