Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia
Mention “Annapolis” to most people and they think you’re talking about the capital of Maryland. But there’s another Annapolis in North America, one a lot older than the city on Chesapeake Bay. It’s a lot smaller, too—but favored by an equally lovely waterside location.

Annapolis Royal—this Nova Scotia town’s full name—stands at the head of an arm of the Bay of Fundy called the Annapolis Basin. The French sailed into the basin in 1605 and set up the first permanent European enclave north of Florida (their “Habitation” has been faithfully re-created by Parks Canada, and is a popular local attraction). Over the next century, the settlement changed hands between the French and British seven times, eventually acquiring its present name and status as the British capital of Nova Scotia in 1710.

In 1749, Halifax became the colonial capital, and Annapolis Royal gradually settled into life as a grandly named backwater. But it would be difficult today to find a townsperson who wishes things had turned out otherwise. Halifax, with its superb Atlantic harbor, got the glory and the bustle, while Annapolis, with its stupendously variable Fundy tides, got to mellow in relative obscurity as a center for shipbuilding, fishing, and agriculture. Today, it’s a popular haven for retirees, artists, and artisans, several of whom showcase their work in local galleries. A busy cultural schedule revolves around King’s Theatre, a vest-pocket venue for plays and live music including Nova Scotia’s signature Celtic-oriented ceilidhs (kay-lees).

For such a small town, the housing stock is impressive, with a rich amalgam of historic architecture and four of the oldest frame buildings in Canada. Few towns in Atlantic Canada are better set up for walking, with views of the broad basin and its forested shores at nearly every turn, and the parklike grounds of Fort Anne flanking the water side of busy little Saint George Street. A special treat is the 10-acre Historic Gardens, with plantings representing the area’s past, as well as 2,000 bushes of more than 230 varieties of roses.

It’s almost become a cliché among American visitors that much of rural Nova Scotia resembles the New England of two generations ago. Considering the architecture, the setting, and the slower pace of life here, they may have a point.

what the locals know
Paul Stackhouse and Val Peterson, who run the Hillsdale House Inn in Annapolis Royal, like to hike the trails at scenic Delap’s Cove, along the Bay of Fundy just 15 miles from Annapolis Royal. Two trails, totaling more than 4 miles, meander through 130 acres of canopied forests and along bay shores. A special highlight of the area is a 43-foot waterfall.

Population: 550
Median Home Price: $100,000 Canadian; $85,056 U.S.
For More Info: annapolisroyal.com

Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Beer was just one of the products that made Milwaukee famous. In fact, this was the quintessential American factory town. Like Carl Sandburg’s Chicago, 90 miles south, it was a melting pot on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Some manufacturers still thrive here: Milwaukee remains the home of Miller Brewing Company and a firm started in 1903 by Messrs. Harley and Davidson. But beer and motorcycles are shipped by rail and truck nowadays, leaving the once-hardworking lakefront largely to pleasure boaters. The county-operated McKinley Marina is one of the largest in Wisconsin, and the South Shore Yacht Club hosts a number of annual races and regattas on the big, breezy lake.

To take advantage of all that water, Milwaukee began construction of the RiverWalk downtown in 1999. Today the pedestrian pathway connects the historic Third Ward to Schlitz Business Park, and provides a striking setting for art, especially sculpture.

Further burnishing the city’s image are the financial and service behemoths based here (Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance has long been a downtown presence), and the continuing influence of Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. UWM’s sprawling East Side campus anchors an upscale neighborhood with a student-quarter edge, tucked along the lake between downtown and a gold coast of beer barons’ mansions.

The German immigrants who built Milwaukee were a civic-spirited lot. They brought with them a sense of community that still manifests itself in a superb county park system (with much of its acreage along the lake), and a devotion to institutions such as the Milwaukee Symphony; the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, with three theaters in a rehabbed power plant; and the Milwaukee Art Museum. The museum’s new home is a striking 2001 building featuring a soaring pair of winglike sunscreens that can be repositioned to take advantage of changing light conditions.

Tour the galleries to enjoy temporary exhibitions, or just stare through the windows for an instant reminder of the reason Michigan’s a great lake. (Keep an eye out for a feature story about the Milwaukee Art Museum in an upcoming issue of Coastal Living.)

what the locals know
John McGivern, a Milwaukee actor, writer, and comedian, suggests that new arrivals head south from downtown on Water Street to Walker’s Point, a neighborhood filled with late-1800s Cream City brick homes (so called because of the creamy color of the bricks) that stretches from Lake Michigan approximately to Sixth Street. First Street is lined with antiques shops, including the eclectic, three-story Fox Skylight Gallery of Antiques.

Population: 578,887
Median Home Price: $159,000
For More Info: milwaukee.org