Where would you start rebuilding?

[Mortblanc]

One of the differences between England and the US is that most English cities are so ancient that one can only look at them and say "It must have been for .....whatever".

In the US we still have record of WHY the cities were placed where they were.

In many cases we have the record of the decision, know who made it and for what reason.

The big cities were almost always at river confluences, good harbors, points where land trails forded rivers.

By the mid 1800s cities were springing up along rail lines as whistle stops and rail hubs.

And aptly enough, some of the oldest villages were established by Native Americans at salt springs.