Idaho is quite literally made up of hundreds of amazing small towns and ghost towns, each with their own unique claims to fame and award-winning cultures. While many charming places across the state are home to specific landmarks and nationally-known attractions for Idahoans to visit, there’s one small town that has an appeal all its own. It might be tiny, but it’s vibrant, full of life, and totally unique; once you’re there, you might just find yourself turned around in the best way possible… and a few delightful surprises along the way.
New Plymouth, ID (Pop. 1538) is one of those welcoming, charming small towns that makes the Gem State such a special place to live.
City of New Plymouth
Home of the Pilgrims and tucked away in rural Payette County, acres and acres of farmland will greet visitors in a scene of peaceful green warmth. It’s full of history, like many of Idaho’s small towns.
J. Stephen Conn/Flickr
But it has more than a few claims to fame that few people know about.
Wikimedia Commons
As the city sign states, New Plymouth is actually the largest horseshoe-shaped town in the world.
Google Maps New Plymouth was also a colony town, bought and planned before it was settled or incorporated.
While the map makes it obvious, the unique horseshoe shape also allows the town to be wonderfully easy to navigate for visitors.
City of New Plymouth Appropriately enough, S. Plymouth Road runs straight through the center of town, while the entire city arcs around it. In fact, if you follow Ada Road, it’ll wrap you around almost the entirety of the horseshoe. Or, more interestingly, follow West Blvd. as it wraps around to become Southwest Blvd. and finally East Blvd.
How simple is that? No directions needed.
By Ian Poellet (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
But New Plymouth is also hiding something else truly special.
City of New Plymouth
While traditional irrigation in the Gem State looks something like this…
Laura Gilmore/Flickr
Irrigation in New Plymouth looks a little more like this: a beautifully rustic trail of century-old water wheels set right the outskirts of town.
Linda Hoxie But uniquely, in this small town, these old fashioned beauties are still in use today.
Each historic water wheel dates back to the mid 1920s.
Linda Hoxie Around this time, a national irrigation council met and decided to design a small farm town based on old-fashioned townsite models to prove that big city development wasn’t always the way to go. Thus, in 1896, New Plymouth was born and aptly named, harking back to the Mayflower’s original landing and rural development near Plymouth Rock.
The town plat was intentionally designed in its unique horseshoe-shaped arch, with the community facing in to the center of town where (at the time) local gatherings were held.
Linda Hoxie Small farms of equal acreage surrounded the center, with the water wheels set in place as a means of sustaining an agricultural community that was the first of its kind.
And judging by the area’s bounty of orchards and successful berry production, I’d say the experiment was a success.
espie (on and off)/Flickr Do take caution, however. Many of the water wheels are on private property, and the canals can be dangerous.
Ready to see one in action?
City of New Plymouth
J. Stephen Conn/Flickr
Wikimedia Commons
Google Maps
New Plymouth was also a colony town, bought and planned before it was settled or incorporated.
Appropriately enough, S. Plymouth Road runs straight through the center of town, while the entire city arcs around it. In fact, if you follow Ada Road, it’ll wrap you around almost the entirety of the horseshoe. Or, more interestingly, follow West Blvd. as it wraps around to become Southwest Blvd. and finally East Blvd.
By Ian Poellet (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Laura Gilmore/Flickr
Linda Hoxie
But uniquely, in this small town, these old fashioned beauties are still in use today.
Around this time, a national irrigation council met and decided to design a small farm town based on old-fashioned townsite models to prove that big city development wasn’t always the way to go. Thus, in 1896, New Plymouth was born and aptly named, harking back to the Mayflower’s original landing and rural development near Plymouth Rock.
Small farms of equal acreage surrounded the center, with the water wheels set in place as a means of sustaining an agricultural community that was the first of its kind.
espie (on and off)/Flickr
Do take caution, however. Many of the water wheels are on private property, and the canals can be dangerous.
(A special thank you to Stephen Smith for the YouTube video!)
What a charming historical landmark! While New Plymouth’s vintage water wheels are the most photographed cluster in the state, Idaho has plenty of these wonderful pieces of history hidden around our rural areas — all you have to do is explore.
It seems like Idaho is full of towns with world records! Check out this article for yet another one of Idaho’s hidden secrets — this one might just get your heart pounding.
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