Kinney, MN

Home to about 150 people on Minnesota's Iron Range, Kinney is a quiet, tight-knit community with a great local story. In 1977, after struggling to get state help for failing water pipes, the mayor and city council playfully voted to secede from the United States and apply for foreign aid. The stunt made national headlines, helped them secure their funding, and put the tiny town on the map. Today, Kinney offers peaceful northwoods living where neighbors look out for one another and still smile about the year they declared independence.