Just east of Morehead City, Beaufort, North Carolina is a charming and friendly small town of about 4700 by the sea. Pronounced Bow-furt, it is not to be confused with the South Carolina city of the same name, pronounced B'yoo-furt (see the Retirement Guide to Beaufort, SC). The Hatteras barrier islands sweep away to the east, and ferries will take you…...

The friendly, historic city of Hot Springs makes an excellent retirement community. Hot Springs Reservation was the first country’s Federal Reserve (1832) and became a National Park in 1921 (the nation's smallest by area). Its downtown Historic District protects the thermal waters and the historic and opulent buildings on Bathhouse Row. Fordyce Bath House is the centerpiece and museum headquarters.…...

Columbia, Missouri is the home of the University of Missouri and rapidly becoming a popular retirement community. The population has grown to just over 126,000 people (2020). Columbia is nicknamed “College Town” or “The Athens of Missouri” because it has so many colleges in one town. Columbia was listed as one of the “Top 10 Value Towns” of 2007 for…...

Magnolia is a very small town of less than 1,000 near the Delaware Bay in southern Delaware (Kent County). Picture of the John B. Lindale House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places courtesy of Wikipedia and Jack E. Boucher, (public domain), photo of  Magnolia Fire Company, with Town Hall and water tower in background courtesy of Wikipedia and…...