Burgs, villages, small towns, here are the many communities that call Southern Minnesota home. And communities they are. You will find tiny little clusters along Highway 14, a handful of burgs and a few small towns. The main urban areas are Mankato, Rochester, Faribault, Nortfield, and Owatonna, on the southwest end of the shore. Scenic 61 is the stretch from the eastern edge of Duluth to the western edge of Two Harbors and is punctuated by a cluster of homes, shops, lodging and dining at Larsmont and at Knife River, old fishing villages from back in the day. Two Harbors is the biggest town on the shore, county seat of sprawling Lake County, mixed industry, larger population, more local goings-on. Moving northeast up the shore, you come to Castle Danger, that little gathering on Highway 61 just southwest of Gooseberry. Next is the shore’s oldest village, Beaver Bay, founded in 1856 by fishing families, followed by it’s youngest town, Silver Bay a town established in 1954 to process and ship taconite.