8 Small Towns In Rural North Dakota That Are Downright Delightful
By Leah|Published November 12, 2016
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Leah
Author
Leah moved to North Dakota when she was 12 years old and has traveled from the Red River Valley to the badlands and many places in between. She loves small-town life and currently enjoys living on a small farm in the ND prairie. She's always had a passion for writing and has participated in novel writing challenges such as NaNoWriMo multiple times. Her favorite part about this job is recognizing small businesses that deserve a boost and seeing the positive affect her articles can have on their traffic, especially in rural areas that might have otherwise gone overlooked.
It’s always fun to highlight some of North Dakota’s many little rural towns. We have beautiful sprawling cities and teeny tiny settlements, but our small towns are definitely one of our best characteristics. Being one of the most agriculturally-driven states, most of the area is considered rural, and there is plenty of delightful towns to find throughout it. Here are eight examples of the Peace Garden State’s picture-perfect small towns surrounded by beautiful farmland:
This town a little ways outside of the Bismarck-Mandan area was founded in 1883. Just under 950 people live there. It is home to "Salem Sue," a giant fiberglass sculpture of a cow that has the claim to fame as the largest holstein cow in the world.
The charming town of Riverdale was originally construction camps for the workers that were building the Garrison Dam, the dam that created Lake Sakakawea. After construction was complete, some of the workers and their families decided to stay and formed the town that stands there today.
Only 711 people live in Wilton. Its town motto is "A city rich in its past and future." Its past is indeed rich; it was built mostly by immigrant Ukrainians in the late 1800s and was officially founded in 1899 when the railroad reached that point.
This little town in Dunn County has 188 people happily residing there. The original location of the town was actually two miles north, but it was moved to be closer to a railroad line in 1914.
The peaceful town of Elgin is located in Grant County. The name of this town was inspired by one of the early settler's pocket watches. The town has been there since 1910.
Golden Valley shares the name with Golden Valley County in North Dakota, but it is actually located in Mercer County. It's a little town with a population of only 182, but nonetheless a lovely one!
With a town motto like "Friendliness lives here, you're only a stranger once," Grenora marks itself as nothing less than positively delightful. The colorful main street and the pleasant residents all contribute to the wonderful town.
This town is located right on the shores of Devils Lake and is the county seat of Benson County. It was founded in 1884 and continues to be a pleasant place to live with amazing views of the lake.
