Athens

Athens, Ohio is an amazing place. USA Today named Athens the #1 Best College Small Town in America in 2016! In 2017, Discover Ohio named Athens the Best College Town in the state. The Odyssey Online has named Athens, Ohio The Most Beautiful College Town There Ever Was. Athens has also been featured as one of 12 Great Places, one of five small cities that millennials are flocking to, and of course, once again, one of the 10 best college towns in Ohio. And lest you think it is only a place for students, Collegeranker.com has actually named Athens, Ohio the #4 Best College Town in America to Live in Forever.

So what is so special about Athens, Ohio?

Nestled in the Appalachian foothills, the nature here is breathtakingly beautiful.
Eco-friendly local businesses sell things like fair trade coffee, fine art crafted by artists with disabilities, craft/microbrewery beer, wine, and spirits, and the best pastries you've ever tried.
Athens is home to Ohio University, which was founded in 1804, just one year after Ohio became a state!
It is one of the ten most haunted cities in America. Locals have plenty of ghost stories to tell about the five cemeteries that can be connected to form a pentagram, as well as the site of the former Athens Lunatic Asylum (now known as "The Ridges") which has some... very... creepy... characteristics. <-- Reader discretion is advised for these last two links!
Halloween is the biggest holiday of the year here. On the Saturday evening nearest to Halloween, uptown Athens is closed to traffic and the entire area becomes one huge costume party, complete with live music on multiple stages! Bring your Halloween costume and join in the party on Saturday, October 27 once the CALT Conference wraps up!
All of this is just one hour away from Columbus, the state capital, which has an international airport.

Try something new while you are in Athens! Go geocaching, rent a bike and cycle along the 21-mile Hockhocking Adena Bikeway, climb aboard a train and travel down the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway, see an exhibition at the Dairy Barn Arts Center, or learn some fascinating local history.

Did you know...

The Ohio Valley was the site of major developments during the Revolutionary War.
Appalachian Ohio is home to the mixed-mesophytic forest, one of the most biodiverse temperate forests in the world, found only here and in parts of China.
Ohio University is the oldest public institution of higher learning in the state of Ohio, and the first in the Northwest Territory.
The Ohio Program of Intensive English (OPIE), founded in 1967, is the oldest university English language program in Ohio.
Appalachian English has its own phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax.