The US covers an enormous range of geography and culture, and its smallest towns often show that diversity more clearly than its cities do. A weathered fishing village on Maine’s Acadia shoreline and a pastel red-rock community in Arizona can feel like they belong to different countries. A German-themed alpine town in the Washington Cascades and a Mayflower-era tip of Cape Cod share nothing but their charm. The twelve towns below each earn a spot on any shortlist of the cutest small towns in the country, spread coast to coast and border to border.
Highlands, North Carolina sits at an elevation of 4,118 feet in the southern Appalachians, about 20 miles south of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and entirely within the Nantahala National Forest. The town is defined by the thick, rainforest-like foliage surrounding it. Popular hiking trails around the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust include the treks to Whiteside Mountain and Sunrise Rock. Waterfalls including Bridal Veil Falls and Sequoyah Falls are clustered along the nearby Cullasaja River Gorge. Popular family outings include a trip to Bust Your Butt Falls, a Cullasaja River waterslide spot where visitors scoot down natural rock chutes, or an afternoon at The Bascom: Center for the Visual Arts. The best wide-angle scenery is at the Big View Scenic Overlook just off US Highway 64.