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New Jersey’s Top Small Towns
These small towns pack more personality per square mile than anywhere else in the state, from America’s oldest seaside resort to a village that’s basically a living art gallery.
Cape May
America’s first seaside resort hasn’t changed much since Victorian-era vacationers arrived by steamer. The entire town is a National Historic Landmark with 600 preserved Victorian buildings – the largest collection outside San Francisco. The morning fleet still brings in scallops at Fisherman’s Wharf, while Cape May diamonds (pure quartz crystals) wash up on Sunset Beach alongside chunks of WWI shipwrecks.
Lambertville
This Delaware River town boasts more antique dealers per capita than anywhere else in the country. The 1816 canal path now serves as a birding hotspot where 150 species nest. Artists started taking over old factories in the 1980s – now the town claims the highest concentration of art galleries in the state.
Clinton
The Red Mill Museum, possibly the most photographed building in New Jersey, sits on a limestone cliff above a 200-foot waterfall. Seven covered bridges still carry traffic across the town’s waterways. The town’s 1763 stone arch bridge ranks as the oldest working bridge in New Jersey.
Frenchtown
A 19th-century haven for French-speaking Swiss immigrants now serves as New Jersey’s unofficial cycling capital. The Delaware River Rail Trail starts here, running along cliffs where bald eagles nest. The town’s Art Deco theater from 1939 still shows first-run movies on original projection equipment.
Chester
Black River flows past 40 buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The town’s historic district includes rare examples of Egyptian Revival architecture from the 1850s gold rush era. Streets remain unpaved in the historic district – by law – to preserve the town’s 19th-century character.
Red Bank
Count Basie’s hometown now hosts 23 live music venues in just two square miles. Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash (Kevin Smith’s comic shop) anchors a downtown where Prohibition-era speakeasies operate as modern restaurants. The Marine Park pier marks where steamboats once brought Manhattan tourists to “the Beverly Hills of New Jersey.”
Millburn
Paper Mill Playhouse, built in 1795 as an actual paper mill, now ranks as one of America’s leading regional theaters. The South Mountain Reservation preserves 2,110 acres of wilderness where Washington’s troops hid during the Revolution. Hemlock Falls drops 25 feet into a pool that powered the town’s first industries.
Haddonfield
The world’s first nearly complete dinosaur skeleton (Hadrosaurus) was unearthed here in 1858, sparking America’s dinosaur craze. Kings Highway, laid out in 1681, remains the main street, lined with 500 buildings on the National Register. The Indian King Tavern hosted New Jersey’s first state legislature in 1777.
Princeton
Beyond the ivy-covered walls lies a revolutionary war battleground where Einstein once walked. Morven, home to five New Jersey governors, showcases three centuries of American furnishings. The Princeton Battle Monument, sculpted by Frederick MacMonnies in 1922, depicts Washington’s victory in rare pink marble.
Bordentown
Bonaparte Park marks where Napoleon’s oldest brother built a mansion after fleeing France. Thomas Paine wrote parts of “The American Crisis” in a house that still stands on Farnsworth Avenue. The state’s oldest weekly newspaper has operated here since 1837.
Collingswood
The nation’s longest-running Scottish-American festival has celebrated here since 1870. Knight Park, designed by the Olmsted Brothers in 1888, features rare specimen trees from around the world. The town banned alcohol in 1873 – now it’s famous for dozens of creative BYOB restaurants packed into a single walkable mile.
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