Ever stumbled into a place so charming it feels scripted? The kind of town where you half expect a snowflake to land on your latte while someone in a flannel offers to fix your flat tire? That’s the vibe I got the first time I visited this small Illinois town that looks straight out of a Hallmark movie, according to onlyinyourstate.com .

Where Illinois Hides Its Fairytale

Just 90 minutes west of Rockford, Galena wraps around the Galena River like it’s posing for a postcard. Main Street winds between 19th-century brick buildings, antique shops, and cafés that smell like cinnamon rolls and nostalgia.

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History You Can Walk Through

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More than 80% of Galena

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