Cultural Escape
by Ashley Ball
Towns with a reputation for having "culture" are a dime (or centime, or yen) a dozen. They're letterhead cities: Paris, New York, Tokyo, Milan.
They're also crowded, polluted and full of the kind of people who would boast that their city has culture — making them hotbeds of pretension.
Who needs that? Culture is where you find it, and it's most potent when it's unexpected. Like in the Red Rooster Playhouse of Door County, Wis. Or the astonishingly good Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Ore. — superb acting delivered straight to your picnic blanket.
We've picked a selection of the most surprisingly cultural towns in the United States, diverse places with blue lakes, green mountains and white-sand beaches that support and inspire their artistic communities. Ditch the letterhead; send out some postcards instead.
Featured Culture Towns:
Ashland, OR
Biloxi, MS
Branson, MO
Canmore, Alberta, Canada
Door County, WI
New Orleans, LA
Raleigh, NC
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