Stillwater

Stillwater is a city of about 19,400 people in Washington County, Minnesota, on the west bank of the St. Croix River opposite Wisconsin, half an hour east of St. Paul. It calls itself the Birthplace of Minnesota, because the 1848 convention that set the territory in motion met here, and its wealth came from the river: Stillwater was one of the great lumber towns of the north, where logs from the northern pineries were rafted, milled and shipped. The mills are gone, but their money remains in a downtown of brick blocks, iron fronts and steep residential streets of Victorian houses climbing the bluffs.

Main Street is the main event, several blocks of antique shops, bookstores, galleries and cafes in 19th-century commercial buildings along the river. The Stillwater Lift Bridge, a 1931 vertical-lift span at the foot of downtown, now carries walkers and cyclists into Wisconsin and anchors the riverfront at Lowell Park. The Historic Courthouse, Minnesota's oldest standing courthouse, and the Warden's House Museum, home of the old territorial prison's wardens, tell the town's story from the hill above. Paddleboats still cruise the St. Croix from the downtown docks, and the river itself is a National Scenic Riverway, protected on both banks, which is why the valley still reads as wild this close to a metro area. The Brown's Creek State Trail runs from the riverfront up the creek valley toward St. Paul.

Stillwater has the deepest bench of restaurants of any town its size in the region, from white-tablecloth rooms in historic buildings to brewpubs, wine bars and ice-cream counters along Main Street, many with river views. Evenings are lively in summer, when the patios fill and the boats come in. Lumberjack Days, running since the 1930s, is the year's peak, a July weekend of logging contests, a downhill derby and a parade in Lowell Park, with the Bavarian Sommerfest in June and the Fall Colors Fine Art and Jazz Festival in October around it.

Stay downtown in the historic inns and hotels if you can, including a grand 1870s hotel that anchors the riverfront, or in the bed and breakfasts of the North and South Hill neighbourhoods; chain hotels line Highway 36 a few minutes west. Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport is about 45 minutes away, Metro Transit express buses connect Stillwater with downtown St. Paul, and there is no rail service. Downtown is compact and flat along the river, but the hills behind it are steep, and a car opens up the St. Croix valley in both directions.

May to October is the season, with river weather, festivals and the fall colour cruise trade at its best in September. Winters are cold and snowy, and the town settles into a quieter local rhythm of shops and restaurants. Two days covers downtown, the courthouse and a river cruise; add a third for the valley towns up and down the St. Croix.

Stillwater sits on State Routes 95 and 36 at the edge of the Twin Cities metro, with Hudson, Wisconsin, across the river, Taylors Falls and the St. Croix dalles half an hour north, and St. Paul half an hour west. On a road trip it is the historic river overnight of the St. Croix valley, the natural base between the Twin Cities and the run north to the lake country or south along the Great River Road.