Ashland, VA
Ashland, Virginia, the self-styled Center of the Universe, is a Hanover County college town about 15 miles north of Richmond where CSX and Amtrak trains roll straight down the middle of downtown. Randolph-Macon College faces the shops across the tracks, the Strawberry Faire fills the campus each June, and the paved Fall Line Trail begins at Carter Park. Come for the trains. Stay because they keep coming.
Covington, GA
Covington centers on a courthouse square where restaurants, shops and galleries sit within a few walkable blocks. Beyond that compact downtown, the town spreads out, so expect to drive between neighborhoods and everyday errands. About 35 miles east of Atlanta, it balances a recognizable small-town center with access to the city. Television fans know the square as Mystic Falls from The Vampire Diaries; residents use it for dinner and catching up.
Boone, NC
Boone sits high in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina — a college town with the bones of a mountain town and the pulse of a place that never quite empties out. Appalachian State University anchors downtown, the Blue Ridge Parkway curves just south, and three ski resorts are inside a 30-minute drive. It's about two hours to Charlotte, one hour to Winston-Salem, and a world away from either.