Alpine

You'll want to catch this place in spring, when ten straight miles of apple blossoms line the roads and turn the whole township into something worth pulling over for. Alpine Township has been apple country since the early days—75% farmland devoted mostly to orchards and corn—and that rural identity still runs deep, even as Alpine Avenue has grown into a proper shopping corridor that keeps things from feeling too remote. The orchards are the heartbeat here; you'll find farm stands, agritourism spots like Ed Dunneback & Girls Farm (brewing beer and serving food on the same property since 1922), and Schwallier's Country Basket, where you can literally shoot apples out of a cannon. For trails, Wahlfield Park has seven miles of multi-use paths for mountain bikers and cross-country skiers depending on the season.