Frankly, I’m not sure any of the Ivy League schools is necessarily a great fit for you. They are all very academically selective, and they all have a very high share of extremely hard-working and extremely ambitious kids. Brown is usually rated as one of the least stressful Ivies, but I agree that Brown’s reputation is just relative. In fact all of these colleges can be very stressful, and they really only make sense for people who actually thrive in that sort of environment. And it is totally fine if that is not your idea of a great college experience.
Off hand, it seems to me like a well-chosen Small Liberal Arts College might be a better fit for you. In fact, you might well consider some of the women’s colleges. I think they can still be stressful in their own ways, but I think some women like the vibe better anyway. Including as to things like sports, partying, drinking, and all that–not that they have none of that, but it can feel different to some women at a women’s college. In short, nerdy, literate, academicky women have been finding great college experiences at these places for a long time.
If that doesn’t sound quite right, I think you can look at some co-ed colleges and universities that are maybe along those lines anyway. Vassar, a former women’s college but now long co-ed, is a popular choice for people looking for that sort of vibe. William & Mary and Carleton also are schools where the nerd pride is very high, although those are starting to edge back toward being a little on the intense side. Still, maybe not quite to Ivy levels.
WUSTL and Rice are also worth considering. Rice is a little more intense maybe, but not necessarily in a bad way. For a considerably more likely admit, you might want to check out Pitt, which actually has a top Philosophy department (like, in the world). I would not overemphasize that for undergraduate purposes, but it is a distinguishing factor among more likely admits.
OK, so up to now I have been ignoring your location and setting preferences, because frankly they are problematic. Old in the US is not the same as old in Europe. Like, the closest you will get to real old is probably William & Mary, but that is Colonial old because of course what became the US was just a colonial backwater until relatively recently by European history standards.
But there is a lot of interesting history in some US cities, just different. Like, I think cities like Pittsburgh and St Louis have a lot of interesting history, lots of interesting historical architecture, and so on.
Of course some cities on the East Coast are like that too, but they are generally very big-feeling cities. I think if you like the feel of a Providence–a metro area with about 1.7 million people, a little under 200,000 in Providence itself–you may well be better off in a Pittsburgh (about 2.4 million metro, 300,000 city), or St Louis (2.8 million metro, again around 300,000 city), than say a Boston (4.9 million metro, 700,000 city) let alone a Philly (6.2 million metro, 1.6 million city), or New York (20.1 million metro, 8.3 million city).
Or you can be in the suburbs, or a smaller town, which nonetheless has a lot of US history. Vassar is in the historic Hudson River Valley, a couple hours by train from NYC. Again, William & Mary is in colonial Williamsburg, but really not that far from DC and such. Wellesley is in an older, affluent town of the same name in the Greater Boston area. Smith and Mount Holyoke are in the historic Pioneer Valley, close to Springfield and not too far from Boston. Bryn Mawr–with a really lovely campus–is in the Philly “Main Line” suburbs a short train ride from Downtown.
Another great city (really two) with a lot of history is Minneapolis/St Paul. I mentioned Carleton, which is in a nice historic small town, Northfield, about 45 minutes outside the city. But there are a lot of great LACs in that area you might like. Macalester has a great location in the heart of the cities between the two downtowns, with a bunch of lovely old homes and such in the immediate area. St Olaf, a forum favorite for good reasons, is also in Northfield. And so on.
Anyway, hopefully this all gave you some ideas. I do think maybe your best fit in terms of the actual college may not end up checking all your other boxes. Definitely not the Ivy box, but possibly not the city box or East Coast box either.
But if you want a nerdy, literate, academicky college in a US-style historic area that is not quite Ivy-intense . . . that is very doable.