Company: ePodunk.com

The American revolution that started in 1775 wasn't the only one.The industrial revolution began a few years later in cotton-ginning towns like Shirley, Massachusetts.Revolutionary changes in health and fitness emerged from the spas of Hot Springs, Arkansas.And the environmental revolution began when John Muir passed through El Portal, California on his way to Yosemite Valley.These are a few of America's most historic small towns, as revealed in a new national ranking from ePodunk.Inc., the nation's premier source of information about place.

The ePodunk Historic Small Towns Index uses four statistical measures to rank the historic character of small places in the United States.The Index is based on the number of buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places in a county, the size of National Register Historic Districts in a county, the age of a county's housing, and the number of county projects awarded a federal preservation tax credit.ePodunk researchers analyzed these numbers for counties and places that are nonmetropolitan or have fewer than 100,000 residents.Within the counties that came closest to a perfect score of 100, the researchers chose small towns with the most outstanding historic character, as measured by the number of listed historic buildings.The result is 138 guaranteed-wonderful destinations for historic travelers to every state except Hawaii, Alaska, and North Dakota.

Number one on the ePodunk Historic Small Towns Index is Shirley, Massachusetts (population 7,400), a rural enclave north of Boston that has preserved both a 1797 Shaker village and 19th Century textile mills.Number three is Wheeling, West Virginia (pop.34,700), site of the first bridge across the Ohio River and thousands of Victorian homes.Number six is Natchez, Mississippi (pop.18,000), the oldest settlement on the Big Muddy. Number ten is Quincy, Illinois (pop.40,000), another Mississippi River town where nine museums tell of the town's critical role in the Civil War. Every stop on the Index begs visitors to park, walk, and experience a unique sense of place.

For a complete description of the ePodunk Historic Small Towns Index, as well a complete list of the highest-ranked places, go to the company's site at http://www.epodunk.com The research team included Brad Edmondson, ePodunk's Vice President for content, and Laurie Bennett, CEO of the company.The company's Home Towns Index, released in February, was covered by 60 daily newspapers.

ePodunk, Inc.is the most comprehensive source of information about place in the United States.Its database contains profiles of 28,000 counties, cities, towns, villages and hamlets in all 50 states.By culling facts from thousands of sources, ePodunk has created a site that is unique to the Web. Its database lists the well-known residents of communities and includes hundreds of literary quotes about place.It also includes a comprehensive list of local museums, festivals, recreation areas, bookstores, parks, and much more.ePodunk also gives visitors an opportunity to send and receive free on-line vintage postcards from their favorite places.

The company is located in Ithaca, New York.Its founders are four veteran journalists.Laurie Bennett is the former director of new media for The Detroit Free Press, and an investigative reporter.Brad Edmondson is the former editor-in-chief of American Demographics magazine and a nationally recognized expert on demographics and social change.John Decker, vice president for design, is former multimedia editor of The New York Times on the Web.Michelle DeChant, vice president for ecommerce and business development, is the former publisher of Marketing Tools magazine and former advertising director for American Demographics.

For more information on the ePodunk Historic Small Towns Index, contact Edmondson at (607) 272-1832 or brad@epodunk.com.For information on ePodunk, Inc., contact Laurie Bennett at (607) 256-1233 or laurie@epodunk.com.

Top-Ranked Towns (and Counties) Nationally:
1.Shirley, Massachusetts (Middlesex)
2.Woonsocket, Rhode Island (Washington)
3.Wheeling, West Virginia (Wood)
4.Bristol.Connecticut (Hartford)
5.Montpelier, Vermont (Washington)
6.Natchez, Mississippi (Adams)
7.Deadwood, South Dakota (Lawrence)
8.Hudson, New York (Columbia)
9.Newport, Kentucky (Campbell)
10.Quincy, Illinois (Adams)