Franklin County is located in Northeast Texas, 72 miles southwest of Texarkana and 96 miles northeast of Dallas on Interstate 30.  Mount Vernon, the county seat, has been selected a Main Street City because of its historic preservation, museums, a diversified community of gifted artists, and a superb quality of life.  Franklin County (population just over 10,000) has been designated…...

Fredericksburg, Texas is a small town north of San Antonio with a population of about 11,000. Fredericksburg shares many cultural characteristics with New Braunfels, TX, a nearby town that also has a rich German-American heritage. Fredericksburg is justly proud of its pioneer heritage, which is celebrated in places like its Pioneer Museum Complex.  For a town of this size there…...

Tuscaloosa, located on the Black Warrior River in west central Alabama, is the seat of Tuscaloosa County and has a population of over 95,000 (2013 census). The city was named after Tuskaloosa, the chieftain of a Muskogean-speaking people who was defeated by Hernando de Soto in 1540, in the Battle of Mabila. The city is traditionally know as the Druid City,…...

Portland, Maine (population 68,000) has had a dramatic resurgence over the last 20 years. Always an important port and manufacturing center, Maine’s largest city is an ideal retirement community – in fact it is often mentioned as one of America’s most livable small cities. It combines New England history (founded in 1632), a vital downtown centered on the Old Port…...