Search for Stars Hollow: Cumberland, MD

You've probably noticed that most of my Search for Stars Hollow posts are focused on the Mid-Atlantic. Don't get me wrong, I'm not convinced my mythical town is nestled between the Appalachian Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay. I've just discovered that, in order to really know a town and be able to tell you about it, I need to get in more than one visit. And, despite how much I get around, most of my repeat visits are in and around my adopted state.



Cumberland is a small, historic town in western Maryland nestled beside the Potomac River. Rounding a corner on I-68, the city suddenly unfolds before you. Wander too far and you'll find yourself in West Virginia or Pennsylvania.

Initially, Cumberland was a town I blew through on my way to elsewhere. The church steeples caught my eye, but I would soldier on. I had bigger fish to fry. However, as a work project in the area began to take off and I found myself spending more and more time in the town, its charm and quirks began to burrow under my skin. Sitting around a table, sharing a drink with a few locals a couple of months ago, I was struck by the undeniable fact that Cumberland was as close to Stars Hollow as I'd ever come.



Unlike most of the other small towns I've highlighted, Cumberland lacks some of the big box retail that is a drain on my soul. There are no Wal-Marts or Targets. There is no Starbucks. Instead, I grab my dirty chai from the cozy, well-appointed Cafe Mark or walk a few blocks over for the old-fashioned soda shop feel of Queen City Creamery. It's not the most vegan, vegetarian-friendly town, but if you indulge in the meat from time to time, you can grab a casual meal at The Crabby Pig (awesome crab cakes) or Curtis' Famous Weiners.

Luckily, Cumberland has also become somewhat of a hotbed for outdoor recreation. Situated along the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal Towpath, it's the perfect overnight stop for biking from DC to Pittsburgh, as well as a good place to launch a day excursion. If I have my way, it's also going to a place to go for water recreation.



The people of Cumberland?! You guys! I wish I could tell you all about them, but I don't want anyone I'm working with there to take it the wrong way. Let me just say that the town is full of awesome, quirky characters. I've met Taylor Doose, sat through the town hall meeting, and talked squirrel hunting over bbq. While I haven't spotted a troubadour (the dream), the guys of Grand Ole' Ditch provide for lyrical storytelling. The Allegany Museum even has creepy dioramas.

Now let's talk festivals. The hottest ticket in town is the annual Delfest, three days of music, camping and adult beverages. I've yet to attend, but almost everyone goes. Two weeks later and folks were still talking about the after parties and late night venues (and these weren't folks in their 20s). Cumberland is also home to the Tri-State Wing-Off and Heritage Days festival.

Seriously, Cumberland just may be the Appalachian version of Stars Hollow.

Search for Stars Hollow: Hagerstown, MD

Not to knock on the fine folks of Hagerstown, but we should probably get something straight right up front. Hagerstown is no Stars Hollow.

Still, even if it's not my mythical Shangri-La, Hagerstown has some good things going for it. Hands down, best reason to visit Hagerstown is for the antique malls.



Clustered right down historic Route 40 are three solid places. Antique Crossroads is my favorite. While there are certainly some overpriced booths inside this massive building, they are definitely in the minority. You're almost guaranteed to find some great pyrex, mid-century tins and cake carriers, blue ball jars for $2/piece, and so much more. You just have to know which booths to visit. On a recent visit, I walked away from an amazing unicycle and the above dresser.

If you make it through Antique Crossroads and still have energy left, you can head to either Beaver Creek Antiques and A & J Antiques to continue shopping. If you head into downtown Hagerstown, you can get your craft on at the Potomac Bead Company or find a show to watch at The Maryland Theater (though I can't say I saw anything that piqued my interest).



One of my better finds on a recent trip was Hempen Hill BBQ. The venue is fun, waitstaff friendly and the food was fantastic!


They give you enough food for leftovers. And, yes, please forgive the lighting.

Even better is the fact that they have a great selection of vegan and vegetarian fare. As someone who inadvertently begins to crave barbecue when hanging out with vegan friends, this place is downright miraculous. Do yourself a favor and get the smoked mac and cheese.

After you've had a good meal, go for a stroll through some of the Civil War battlefields near Antietam or rent a canoe and paddle down the river.

Search for Stars Hollow: List Love

Tuesday was a good day for lists (and my quest for the perfect small town). Both Smithsonian and Travel + Leisure released lists highlighting some of America's hidden gems.  

Smithsonian magazine provided a list of The 20 Best Small Towns in America that features one of my newer loves, Staunton. I was also stoked to see that Marfa made the list. I've had it on my to-visit list for the past five years, and my mom and I are determined to road trip there this year. I dare you to tell me the gazebo in the photo accompanying the Brattleboro* writeup doesn't look like the Stars Hollow set.  

Travel + Leisure focused on America's Greatest Main Streets and also featured some towns I now need to visit. I'm going to give these guys the benefit of the doubt and overlook the fact that they included Denton, Texas on the list. I see a brilliant road trip in the making!

*We won't talk about the Siloam, AR photo and the fact that I see a potential project there. ;-)

Search for Stars Hollow: Scarlet's New England Edition

I'm so excited I was able to convince Scarlet to write up a guest post about part of her trip to New England earlier this month! She blogs here and here. You might want to check it out :-)


photo by Copepodo

In the epically important and fun quest of trying to find the Stars Hollows of the world, Serena has been all around Virginia, Texas, and Maryland documenting her visits to quaint towns and commenting on their livability. Livability for me, and also what makes a town a Stars Hollow, is its size, its distance from a major city, and its personality. A town should speak to you. It should say, “Live here and we will have a great time.” A town is not just a place where you pay a rent or mortgage, it is your home and it should feel that way.

About ten years ago I went on the ultimate quest to find the real Stars Hollow which took me and my sister to a tiny town in the middle of Connecticut. I will never forget finding our own version of Luke’s diner and even though we didn’t find a town with livability for either of us, the trip really did spark a desire to live somewhere awesome. I want to live in a town that is small enough to know the townspeople, yet where I don’t get bored and have the option of getting to a major city in about an hour or two. I love towns that have events like fall and spring festivals, where every November the entire place gets together to decorate for the holidays, and where the residents take pride in celebrating the lives they’ve made there.

New England seems to be the ultimate place for finding Stars Hollows and much of that is because of the proximity to both New York City and Boston. Personally, I am also a huge fan of the weather and have a desire that goes to the depths of my soul to live in a place with cooler falls and springs and very snowy winters. (Is it that obvious that Virginia’s unseasonably warm winter this year really disappointed me?)

Westerly, RI

   
photo by Nathanael Hevelone

Right on the border of Connecticut and Rhode Island, this town has it all: proximity to two major cities, a beach, a great downtown area and piers! They even have a great bar where, on the night we went there, they were passing out zucchini cake in honor of the guitar players birthday. If that doesn’t scream Stars Hollow, then I don’t know what does!

 Mystic/Stonington, CT

   
 photo by simoneladybug

Both Mystic and Stonington, which are near each other, are super cute little towns with a lot of pizzazz. Both are on the water so you get that nautical feel, which I LOVE, and both have great restaurants and several bar options. We were in Mystic on 17 March, a week before their St. Patrick’s Day parade and celebration. I giggled thinking about the town council deciding to celebrate the holiday a week later to get better deals. Such a Taylor Doose thing to do!


 
photo by Indiana Stan

Stonington was home to my favorite meal while on vacation. Milagro’s is a tiny little place with the best guacamole on earth, huge margaritas, and my very first chimichanga! The town is small and condensed, but feels like a city block. We were only there for dinner, but I spotted a couple bars and several people walking on the streets at night.

While I’m not packing up and moving just yet, I feel confident that anyone looking for their own Stars Hollow would be happy in any of these towns. I’ll be back north in the fall and will report back on any new findings.

Search for Stars Hollow: Staunton, VA

The first thing you notice when you get to Staunton is the way the buildings nestle into the surrounding hills, followed by lots of amazing old shit*. The second thing you quickly learn about this adorable town is that the locals pronounce it Stan-ton (and they will harass you if you say it wrong).

 

A potential Stars Hollow can't be judged by adorableness alone.


These people are serious about their history. A group of concerned citizens banded together in the early '90s to save this city from being bulldozed in favor of a major highway and a potential mining operation, and thank god they did. Instead, this Shenandoah Valley hub has pretty much anything you'd be interested in. Art? Numerous galleries. Theater? They're home to the Blackfriar's Playhouse, the only re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor theater. There are also the requisite number of antique stores (which I've managed to avoid...cute town tends to equal pricey vintage) and plenty of history, including but not limited to the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and the Frontier Culture Museum.


There is also plenty of the good stuff - coffee, restaurants, nature (lots of good people in local government making good things happen for the rivers and trees). Staunton has all the small, local stores covered, including stores for clocks, party, books, music, cameras, hobby, and many more.

Guys, this may be the closest Stars Hollow hit I've come across! They even have an ongoing campaign to save a local bridge. Flabbergasted.

*Honestly, I couldn't resist. It's the first thing that came to mind, and I have been promising to keep it real. ;-)

Search for Stars Hollow: Mason, TX

I feel like it's important to continue cataloging all misses in the search for my own Stars Hollow because maybe not quite right for me is perfect for someone else. On Friday evening, I drove through Mason, Texas en route from Austin to San Angelo. It was dusk, and as I rounded the central courthouse square, I was charmed by the bevy of shops lining the street. A banner strung across the street advertised an upcoming wild game dinner to benefit the community. Secretly, I vowed to convince my mom to come back with me, and true to my word, we were headed there Saturday morning shortly after breakfast at the Charcoal House.

Mason has a population just past 2,000, and like many small towns in Texas it is anchored by a central court house and square. We ended up haphazardly choosing a good day to visit as musicians and artists lined the square to hock their wares.

I hate to admit that the art was mediocre, but whatever, it was. I love bluebonnets and windmills, but I get tired of seeing so much West Texas art feature these symbols in such typical ways. What was truly heartbreaking (to me) was how hungry these guys were for sales. It was awkward to walk down the sidewalk and be pitched so actively. As I passed the work of one artist who caught my eye, I picked up the painting out of curiosity to find out what it was priced and felt so bad for the girl as she stumbled over herself to tell me the price was negotiable. She would have been so much more affective had she stuck by her price and been more confident.

The square itself is lined with an antique mall, a few gift shops, a museum and a couple of cafes. I got the impression the main street economy was geared toward tourists like us as the antique mall was way overpriced, and the other stores along the way had nothing really unique to offer.

Despite some of the Stars Hollow similarities I saw when passing through, I knew Mason wasn't for me when we walked within earshot of some local electioneering at the court house. I didn't linger to find out if the political leanings were right or left, but experience and common sense leads me to believe we would have been at opposite ends of the political spectrum.

In a region where cactus outnumber people, "cool" Fall temperatures are a balmy 82-90 degrees, and the politicians are likely conservative, my Stars Hollow I will not find.

Search for Stars Hollow: Ellicott City

Navigating the curving road into the Patapsco Valley, I couldn't help but notice the houses getting older, the architecture more distinct. Finally forced to stop at the Main Street intersection at the bottom of the hill, the quaint downtown took my breath away. I discovered Ellicott City, located outside of Baltimore, only through work, but after driving down Main, I fell a little bit in love. By the time I crossed the Patapsco River and noticed the swiftly moving, rocky water I knew this town had the potential to be something special.

















(Photo by: daveb_md)

This enclave of Ellicott City embraces its history, honoring the B & O Railroad and Ellicott's Mills for their role in founding and growing the city. Modern day Ellicott is peppered with restaurants, antique shops, a wine bar, local brewery and historical tours. Like any good Stars Hollow wannabe, it also has its share of festivals, ranging from the Fall Arts Festival to the Chesapeake Shakespeare Festival. There is even a cast of enthusiastic residents ready to envelope you into the fold.


















(Photo by: citron_smurf)

Unfortunately, the quaint village I consider Ellicott City is surrounded by Ellicott City proper with all the modern conveniences provided by urban sprawl. Once you escape the valley, you are affronted with any number of big box stores, chain restaurants, and McMansions. Don't get me wrong. I tend to take advantage of these conveniences as much as the next girl. I live in the suburbs of DC. My Stars Hollow...it's the mythical unicorn I seek, and I have every right to continue my quest for that perfect, magical combination.
























Still, don't turn your back on Ellicott City. Head to the Spring Wine Festival, wander the ruins of the haunted Patapsco Female Institute and don't leave without sticking your toes in the Patapsco.

Search for Stars Hollow: Shepherdstown, WV

You may or may not know of my love for Gilmore Girls. One of the many things I love about the show is the sense of community they have in Stars Hollow. Here is a (albeit fictional) town that has a number of thriving small businesses, the right amount of quirky characters, that quaint charm that seems so hip now, and an amazing assortment of community events. While watching the show, it slowly began to dawn on me that I want a town where I can walk to my local diner and they'll have the diet coke on the counter before I get there. I want to know all of my neighbors and be able to help plan a 24-hour dance-a-thon for charity or throw a parade just because it is Tuesday. I want small galleries and local theater and to be assured that growth will be capped*, and I want all of it within 2 to 3 hours of a larger metropolitan area.

So, for the past year or so, I've been on a quest for my own perfect Stars Hollow. I google-stalk the hometowns of people who seem to lead cool or interesting lives and venture off major thoroughfares in my travels in the hopes of coming across some hidden jewel. In an effort to get myself blogging again, I thought I would share some of my finds every now and then. I don't know everything under the sun about the towns or consider myself an expert. It's just fun to share!

Over the past couple of days, I ventured to West Virginia with a group of friends and stumbled into Shepherdstown. I've been to WV a few times (and even think I hit the corner of Shep once) but surprised to realize I'd never explored Shepherdstown (and know the least about it). I'm a sucker for a well-utilized downtown area, so was immediately taken with the number of cute shops (they put out cookies for visitors on the weekends...it's the details, folks) and restaurants taking up residence in the town's historic buildings.


















This little town is nestled along the Potomac River and a hop skip and a jump from Harper's Ferry.



















In addition to having great places to play in the water, it boasts the most adorable public library and the Four Seasons Bookstore with the entire upper floor dedicated to children's titles.
















Theater is not lost on the denizens of Shepherdstown either. This little pocket of WV is also home to the Shepherdstown Opera House, the Full Circle Theater and is host to the annual Contemporary American Film Festival.

Personally, I recommend making a dinner reservation at the Bavarian Inn next time you're in town and settling in for tasty German fare (word is it's pretty authentic). The stunning views of the Potomac don't hurt.

Again, I was only in town briefly, but it was enough to peak my interest enough for future visits. Another selling point...I do believe they do not have a Wal-Mart.

Source:

1. Kyle Walton 2. thisisbossi 3. ChelseaMarieRoberson

*Even if it means I can't move there.