Mount Vernon one of 5 ‘Midwestern towns to visit now’

August 20, 2013

Mount Vernon, Iowa, is one of the five Midwestern towns to visit now, according to Fodor’s.

Cornell College students congregate and socialize at Fuel, Mount Vernon's locally-owned coffee shop. Fodor's named Mount Vernon, Iowa, one of the five Midwestern towns to visit now.
Cornell College students congregate and socialize at Fuel, one of Mount Vernon’s locally-owned coffee shops. Fodor’s named Mount Vernon, Iowa, one of the five Midwestern towns to visit now.

The travel site includes Mount Vernon as one of the five towns people should visit, with reasons including the Lincoln Café—with its James Beard-Award semi-finalist chef, Matt Steigerwald. Also included on the list of reasons to visit is nearby Palisades-Kepler State Park.

Other attractions in town include shops like Alice’s Wonderland, Polly Ann’s Antiques and the Purple Elephant Boutique, and Fuel, one of the town’s coffee shops.

And of course, Cornell College was mentioned in the article. Many of Cornell’s faculty and staff, along with its nearly 1,200 students, live in Mount Vernon.

This isn’t the first time Mount Vernon has been recognized as a great destination. In 2009 Budget Travel  named the town, with a population of 4,500, one of America’s top 10 coolest small towns.