What are your favorite fictional American small town names on media?

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ebastacosi@reddit

Bedford Falls, New York (vs. bad old Potterville)

Cabot Cove, Maine

Cicely, Alaska

Shelbyville, [unknown]

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PresidentRaggy@reddit

Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan!

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FloridaSalsa@reddit

Shelbyville Tennessee was known for breeding Tennessee walking horses.

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PresidentRaggy@reddit

Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan!

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BitchWidget@reddit

Castle Rock. I love the name, I love the stories. I love the creepy underbelly of it all. Also, Jerusalem's Lot, also known as Salem's Lot. King does fantastic small town horror.

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

Between King and Lovecraft they kind of nail place names in New England.

I like lying to non-Mainers and telling them Derry is a real place.

It’s right next to Kenduskeag but they leave it off maps because of everything that happened there.

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ADHDisabeach@reddit

A few years ago I met people who were from Derry, New Hampshire and I was so excited because close enough lol. I had no idea that there was a real New England Derry

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

Well there are two Derry’s in New England. Maine just suppresses one off the maps. 😉

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There is a real Castle Rock in Washington but probably not the same one as in Stephen King as it's a very small town in semi rural Western Washington between Vancouver WA and Olympia along I-5 and the nearest actual town to Mt. St. Helens.

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

Did not know that.

I just like the Derry joke because some people think I’m not joking. There’s a Derry and Londonderry in NH but no Derry in Maine and Kenduskeag is a real river and town so it kind of adds to the idea it’s real.

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Rochesters-1stWife@reddit

There’s a real one in Colorado too!

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anneofgraygardens@reddit

that's the one that inspired Stephen King. He lived in Colorado for a few years (hence the setting of The Shining).

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BitchWidget@reddit

Very cool!

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kayyxelle@reddit

Ayuh!

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Mr_Feces@reddit

Before I started reading replies, Castle Rock was the only example I could even pull up in my head.

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CtForrestEye@reddit

Petticoat Junction, Hooterville

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GrannyTurtle@reddit

You’re dating yourself - those were black & white shows.

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IHaveBoxerDogs@reddit

They eventually were in color. I used to watch them on Nick at Night or similar.

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WillGrahamsass@reddit

Crabapple Cove Maine

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thatgirlsthings@reddit

So kinda backwards of what you asked but Geona City.

The Young and the Restless portray it as a bustling city larger than Madison or Milwaukee. But in reality it's a village of around 3,000 people.

I believe they picked it because on a map it's smack dab between Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago, but wasn't a known place like nearby Rockford.

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JasperStrat@reddit

Even though it's supposed to be the same, Forks, WA is little more than a convenience store with a gas station and since the Twilight books, a gift shop. There are a few thousand people closed enough to the area, but it's not anything like the books and I've yet to hear abta twilight fan who wasn't disappointed in the area.

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thatgirlsthings@reddit

I dunno? When visited in 2008 I had a great time! I flew into seatac, rented a car, drove to Forks and stayed for about a week.

I stayed at a motel that looks like it's been updated since, bought groceries from the market nextdoor, drove around sightseeing all the places on the map the visitor center made up for everyone who stopped in. Got desperate enough for fast food and drove into Port Angeles twice, was almost convinced to move out to Forks to work at the flower shop. I was a full time floral designer at the time. All in all had an amazingly relaxing and fun ,solo spring break back in 2008. But, I did know what type of town I was staying in and was pleasantly surprised with how bustling it was. I hope there's still some hustle and bustle out there sometimes. The surrounding area is beautiful.

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redonkulousness@reddit

Heådltston, Oklahoma

Seymour's Bay, New Jersey

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tooslow_moveover@reddit

Cicely, Alaska

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DavyDavisJr@reddit

Just stay clear of Cabot Cove Maine. Its murder rate likely surpasses south Chicago.

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Tacoshortage@reddit

Southpark...duh?

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bouquetofashes@reddit

There is a South Park. It's in Colorado. We also have a Castle Rock. South Park inspired South Park and Castle Rock here inspired Steven King. He also used the Stanley Hotel from Estes Park as the basis for the hotel in The Shining.

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Tacoshortage@reddit

It's a river valley but not a town. The town, evidently, is Fairplay, CO.

I've tried looking for it but it's just grassland. I tried to go to Casa Bonita once in Dalton? (I think) but they were closed.

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bouquetofashes@reddit

Ah that is true, my bad. We've only ever driven by and I just remembered the name on a sign.

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GoddessOfOddness@reddit

The only answer is Lake Woebegone

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devilscabinet@reddit

Cut and Shoot, Texas.

It's not fictional, though. There really is a town named "Cut and Shoot."

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jakerooni@reddit

Schitt’s Creek =)

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Donald_J_Duck65@reddit

Green Gables

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seifd@reddit

Scranton from The Office.

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_fenwoods@reddit

Not sure if you’re joking…

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

Joking in relation to the office? Who would dare do that?

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_fenwoods@reddit

To be honest, I assumed Slough was an invention.

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

Heh

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

I was driving through PA back to Indiana and had to off and get gas in Scranton. I was stupidly excited I saw the places from the b-roll in the intro.

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liveinthesoil@reddit

Twin Peaks

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Chicago_Avocado@reddit

I like the Stephen King place names, like Castlerock. Or HP Lovecraft names like Arkham, Innsmouth, Kingsport, and Dunwich. They are all very appropriate for New England.

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KittyCat723@reddit

Stars Hollow

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ATLUTD030517@reddit

Pawnee, Indiana

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jcstan05@reddit

When your here, than your home.

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FallenEagle1187@reddit

And least favorite would be those snooty bastards up in Eagleton

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ogreblood@reddit

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, or Texas?

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ATLUTD030517@reddit

I thought about excluding Indiana in my post to set up this reference.

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ogreblood@reddit

I actually started drafting my response before I saw you included the state name 🙃

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AwesomeOrca@reddit

Home of the Paunch Burger.

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ATLUTD030517@reddit

Put it in your body or YOU'RE A NERD!!!

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claudiatiedemann@reddit

St. Olaf, Minnesota from The Golden Girls

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Comedeorologist@reddit

There is a school by that name in New Ulm, MN. It's near Mankato. Dontcha know.

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_fenwoods@reddit

That’s a good one. There is a college in Minnesota called St. Olaf. It’s said to be one of the best smelling colleges in America, owing to its proximity to the Malt-o-Meal cereal bakery.

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tenehemia@reddit

Gravity Falls.

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Kanya_Mkavry@reddit

My family loved Gravity Falls. We drove from Phoenix to Cannon Beach on vacation right before the pandemic, and made sure to stop on the way at Confusion Hill to see the Bill sculpture. We also drove into Portland and hiked to the Witch's Castle in Forest Park. Good times.

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Fire_Mission@reddit

Smallville

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szayl@reddit

Lake Wobegon

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ATaxiNumber1729@reddit

Twin Peaks

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ATaxiNumber1729@reddit

https://gifer.com/J7uW

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Silkies4life@reddit

Derry, Maine

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

They asked for fictional towns not the real towns we leave off the maps because so much awful stuff happened there.

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Silkies4life@reddit

Sorry, I was trying to get directions to Salems Lot

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

Oh it’s just down the road from Misery Gore, but ya cahnt get there from head.

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TeaAndTacos@reddit

Night Vale

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Ok-Ambassador8271@reddit

Agrestic

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FreeStateOfPortland@reddit

Radiator Springs is a good one and so is Castle Rock

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LongOrganization7838@reddit

Castle rock Colorado or castle rock Washington? Lmfao

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degobrah@reddit

I think Arlen is funny because it sounds exactly like it would be a DFW suburb

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Ok-Ambassador8271@reddit

I never questioned but what it was a real town.

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Kaakoii@reddit

It’s so close to being real it might as well be. Being from north east Texas, the show felt so realistic.

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hyooston@reddit

To the point that young me thought it was a real town before I looked it up.

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BabaMouse@reddit

Anybody else remember Eerie, Indiana?

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

I absolutely do.

Every time I think of it I think of this song.

https://open.spotify.com/track/5klTGjuQgyVcuxyZWTxCvb

Then I remember they’re spelled different.

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Idoe6@reddit

I've always been totally enamored with how both mythical and extremely ordinary Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County is. There's so many references to other stories within each story. It's, just rich with nostalgia for a nonexistent place.

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

Perfect. I am afraid not enough people read Faulkner these days.

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Chemical-Actuary683@reddit

Smallville and Metropolis (yes I know about the one in Illinois)

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

Now can we fight about whether Metropolis is meant to be NYC or better described as Chicago?

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MadMadamMimsy@reddit

Eureka!

I grew up in a town a lot like it. There is a real Eureka, but I'm talking the fictional one (Sci fi)

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int3gr4te@reddit

I live outside of the real one in California and it's pretty magical! This whole area is these deep mountain valleys cloaked in coastal fog, draped in moss, carpeted in ferns, and lit by sunbeams gleaming down between the tallest trees on earth. I love it here.

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RevolutionaryWeek573@reddit

We drove through the real Eureka years ago when the show was still running. I was disappointed.

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houseDJ1042@reddit

Which one? I went to Eureka College in Eureka Illinois 20 years ago

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RevolutionaryWeek573@reddit

I didn’t know about Illinois’ Eureka. It was Oregon, but I’m from Washington. My parents were from Illinois originally.

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SnooChipmunks2079@reddit

There’s a Eureka, Illinois, too. Home of Eureka College, Reagan’s Alma mater.

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houseDJ1042@reddit

Hey I went there! I was in his fraternity

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BabaMouse@reddit

If you mean the one in NorCal, I lived in the area for 3 years while in college. Very insular town. There were the Loggers, the Fishermen, and the Farmers; they all looked down on the college students. I would’ve preferred the Fictional town.

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ITrCool@reddit

That was such a good show. It even had James Callis of BSG fame!!

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ArkansasTravelier@reddit

I live near Eureka Springs Arkansas lol it’s a beautiful town

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doomed_candy@reddit

Derry, Castle Rock, and Jerusalem's Lot, Maine!

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

We just leave those off the official maps because of what happened in them.

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Weary_Capital_1379@reddit

Cabot Cove, Maine (Murder She Wrote)

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OrcaFins@reddit

Risking your life visiting that town.

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

Pawnee just because I’m from Indiana.

Also Derry because most people don’t know it’s a real town in Maine right next Kenduskeag but we have to lie about it so tourists don’t get eaten by evil clown monsters or sentient cars.

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mostlygray@reddit

Mount Rose from Drop Dead Gorgeous. It's based on the name Rosemount which is a real town.

The movie is filmed in Chaska primarily but also Eden Prairie, Waconia, Victoria, that whole area.

It's the best Minnesota movie. Not only is it actually filmed in MN, but the behavior is a perfect parody of Minnesotans. It's only slightly exaggerated. I've met all the people in that movie in real life. You could put my neighbor in that movie and you'd think she was one of the characters. Same accent, same behavior. She's got the stereotypical MN accent who was raised as a carney and a grifter. She's the sweetest person ever and she'll trick you out of your shoes if given half a second.

The only problem is the Howard Johnson's mentioned. There was never a Howard Johnson's by the airport. It would have been a Radisson or a Hilton.

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RightFlounder@reddit

Hill Valley, CA

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genialbookworm@reddit

That's an excellent choice and a clever city name to boot.

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cryptoengineer@reddit

Pleasantville

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FaultCompetitive7760@reddit

Bon Temps, Louisiana

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Chemical-Mix-6206@reddit

I believe Bon Temps got translated 😆

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Man_Cheetah67@reddit

There's a town in The Stand (Stephen King book) called Shoyo, Arkansas and I like the sound of it.

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Aggravating_Anybody@reddit

Castle Rock, ME

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Littleboypurple@reddit

In my restless dreams, I see that town.

Silent Hill.

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bouquetofashes@reddit

It was sort of inspired by Centralia, Pennsylvania. There's an underground coal fire that's been burning there since '62.

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Littleboypurple@reddit

Centralia, Pennsylvania was the partial inspiration for the look for the town of Silent Hill in the movies from the early 2000s. However, the town present in the video games has no real known direct inspiration.

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jondoughntyaknow@reddit

Lake Woebegone, Minnesota

because all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average

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MegansettLife@reddit

Amityville - gonna need a bigger boat.

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Idontliketalking2u@reddit

Danville

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CobandCoffee@reddit

That one exists in at least two states that I know of.

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Mean-Math7184@reddit

Machine from Dead Man.

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dgrigg1980@reddit

Shelbyville

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StupidLemonEater@reddit

It's always tickled me that even though it stands to reason that a town named "Shelbyville" would be named after someone called "Shelby," the town was canonically founded by "Shelbyville Manhattan."

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eyetracker@reddit

Shelby isn't the name of a doer, only a Shelbyville can pull attractive cousins.

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basszameg@reddit

Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook.

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speaker-syd@reddit

Derry

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HorrorAlarming1163@reddit

Smallville, Kansas

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quietly_annoying@reddit

Frostbite Falls, MN.

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GrannyTurtle@reddit

It was poking fun at International Falls.

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GrannyTurtle@reddit

Hill Valley. It’s like they can’t make up their minds whether it is a hill or a valley.

Also Smallville. Sounds like they have one stop sign.

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Jasminegrace8527@reddit

Mystic Falls, Virginia from the Vampire Diaries!

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ITrCool@reddit

Twin Peaks, Washington.

Interesting show, quite strange, and psychological. I only ever saw the first series from the 80s, but never got to see the movie or the sequel series.

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NIN10DOXD@reddit

Smallville from Superman is a little on the nose.

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whitecollarredneck@reddit

We also have plain town names like Plainville, Pleasanton, Pretty Prairie, Gas, Bird City, and Bison, so I wouldn't bat an eye at Smallville

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2gecko1983@reddit

Delgany, VA.

From Rachel Wesson’s Hope House series ❤️ Her descriptions of the town are so vivid I wish it was a real place.

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idiot-prodigy@reddit

Mayberry was based on Mount Airy, North Carolina.

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N_Huq@reddit

Stepford, CT

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_fenwoods@reddit

Yes!! Definitely sounds more like an actual CT town name than Star’s Hollow. The only town name in CT I can think of that sounds anything like Star’s Hollow is Falls Village. But there are like av couple dozen towns that sound like Stepford.

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Boudleaux@reddit

Lake Wobegon.

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_fenwoods@reddit

My home out on the edge of the prairie.

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renegrape@reddit

Where all the posts are original, and all the comments are positive.

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BoSKnight87@reddit

“Fromville”

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No-Fix-614@reddit

Twin Peaks just sounds eerie and iconic, like you already know something’s off before the story even starts.

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Consistent_Donut_902@reddit

Possum Springs from Night in the Woods.

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tcspears@reddit

Raccoon City!

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Devious_Bastard@reddit

Springfield

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Current-Photo2857@reddit

Mystic Falls, Virginia Horseshoe Bay, Maine Bristol Cove, Washington (Yes, I watch too much WB/CW/Freeform) Cabot Cove, Maine Kingston Falls, Pennsylvania Hill Valley, California Sweet Valley, California

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