The Most Charming Town in Illinois is...

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Hi it’s Leslie Harris, and the online magazine afar.com came up with its list of the 51 most charming towns in the country, one for each state plus Puerto Rico. Their definition is that each of them had to have less than 25,000 people, which would rule out quite a few of our suburbs. (afar.com sounds intriguing, doesn’t it?)

One of the things I love about hey this list is that each of these towns is unique. For example, in New York state they chose Hudson because “it’s artistic and full of unexpected, delicious dishes.”

In the state of Maine, Belfast was chosen for its “pulpable hippie meets hipster energy.”

And in Illinois, the prize for the most charming town goes to Galena.

Just two and a half hours from Aurora, Afar describes Galena with a jam-packed Main Street with historical experiences to boot. There are more than 100 places for shopping, eating and wandering, and the only public Museum of Root Beer in the world. Civil war buffs will want to check out the former residence of Ulysses S Grant, and a trip to the old blacksmith shop with its still working forge is a must-see.

You can read a bit more about Galena as well as the other most charming towns in the US, according to Afar, HERE

Have you ever been to Galena? Do you agree? What do you think is the most charming town in Illinois? Let us know in the Facebook comments.