Athens is an immensely successful (population just over 100,000) university town in the hills of northeastern Georgia. It is extremely popular as a retirement community. The University of Georgia has helped to create an unusually liberal community with a thriving artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual scene. The University of Georgia with its 38,000 students has a large and beneficial impact…...

Northfield Minnesota, located in the southeastern part of the state, is a lovely college town that boasts not one, but 2 thriving private colleges. Carleton College and St. Olaf are both located here and their student populations give a decidedly youthful feel to the town. Hence their motto - "Two colleges, one town". Northfield's population grew 14% in the past…...

The city of Lawrence is located near the northeastern corner of the state of Kansas. It is the home to the University of Kansas. The city was founded by an abolitionist from Massachusetts named Andrew Lawrence. Lawrence has 54 community and neighborhood parks including trails, cemeteries and nature preserves...

Westfield is a small city of 41,000 in western Massachusetts near Springfield and north of Hartford, CT.  This is a pretty agricultural area on the edge of the Connecticut River Valley that is quite hilly, thanks to the Metacomet Ridge. There are some nice parks in town, as well as Westfield State University. The parks are: Amelia Park Ice Rink…...