Woonsocket

Gritty Woonsocket, population 43,000, sees very few tourists and offers little in the way of sightseeing. However, it is home to one of the best museums about immigrant factory life and textile milling in the country, and this compact city on the Blackstone River also has a prolific French Canadian community. A steep hill on the city's northern edge looks down on the Blackstone River, which makes a dozen turns in its 5-mi course through town. The river's flow spawned textile mills that made the town a thriving community in the 19th and early 20th centuries.