Goodbye Vermont

Submitted by Greenleaf737 t3_z6y6mn in vermont

I grew up in the Rutland area (~30 yrs ago), and drive from Maine to visit family there and in the Woodstock area about once a year. This year the drive and experiences made me feel like the Vermont I once knew is gone forever. Too many people moving in from other places and changing the character.

I was tailgated constantly (by VT plated cars), had a guy in a brand new truck with VT plates swerving behind me and yelling things out the window because I was going the speed limit. Went out to eat a few times and everyone was mean and in a hurry. I always thought I might move back someday when my dad decided he wanted to live somewhere warmer, but it just makes me sad there now. If I wanted the NY/NJ/MA lifestyle, I'd live there, not VT. It's a beautiful state, but the people just aren't the same.

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Most_Expert_8080 t1_iy3styk wrote

This isn't an airport no need to announce your departure.

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cpujockey t1_iy40f7u wrote

I think this post serves as a gauge of how things have changed.

Our state isn't what it once was, it was unaffordable before, but now it's reached new heights and continues to push out the common vermont born resident.

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Corey307 t1_iy3qmkv wrote

This sounds like the nation in general, the pandemic and political insanity of the last few years has made people shortsighted and angry. Folks are struggling financially too both due to the pandemic and now due to inflation and corporations exploiting consumers with unnecessarily high prices for basics like food and fuel. odds are you’d have a similar experience in many parts of the country.

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Greenleaf737 OP t1_iy3sf7k wrote

Perhaps, but VT is elevated. Lots of people moved in after/during the pandemic. Such a large change in population dynamics isn't going to be negligible.

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Corey307 t1_iy3tpwk wrote

Less than 5000 people moved here during the pandemic if I remember right. I moved here about four years ago well before the pandemic and I’ve tried to integrate. Mostly keep to myself because that’s who I am but I’m friendly, don’t bother anybody and don’t care about what people do on their land. The problems I’ve had in this state were caused by locals doing dumb shit like not leashing aggressive dogs and letting them bother me on my land or riding ATV’s across my land in mud season. I let it go because again trying to integrate.

My favorite might be one I first bought my place and some neighbors came over and were more interested in making sure I wasn’t going to turn it into an Airbnb than knowing my name. Or when another neighbor decided my lawn was getting too high so they scalped it not understanding that I let it grow a bit on purpose. Talk about passive aggressive, I bought a house in the country so I wouldn’t have to worry about HOA type bullshit. Yeah transplants bring their own problems by the locals cause plenty.

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alwaysmilesdeep t1_iy3xmno wrote

Agree with all of this. I was born and raised between nh and vermont.

The transplants yards aren't filled with trash most business in my area are owned by transplants Whenever we do seem to have crime it's a local, not some outsider. We want to say drugs come from other states...sure it's true...but they are be distributed by....locals.

Now I'm not disagreeing with issues with outsiders...atv and snowmobile trails closed for no reason/shutting down huntjng areas...constant bitching about vermont's more traditional ways of life...

I feel like most transplants are cognizant of it and work twice as hard just to be treated as normal.

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Corey307 t1_iy42k5l wrote

It’s funny you talk about yards, my land was a junkyard before I bought it and now it’s a lot better. No derelict vehicles, piles of car parts and all that. I don’t care if my neighbors are on my but if land unless it damages the land or endangers me.

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alwaysmilesdeep t1_iy3wcd0 wrote

https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2022-08-24/long-known-for-its-dwindling-population-vermont-sees-a-recent-uptick-in-new-residents?_amp=true

5000 people across the state isn't a big deal.

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cpujockey t1_iy40slc wrote

it is when you think about how many people actually live here. it's not small potatoes. there are plenty of towns where "everyone knows eachother" and those towns are the most effected by the great flatlander migration.

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gmgvt t1_iy5r7bo wrote

There was an earlier (and absolutely larger) "great flatlander migration" in the 1960s-80s and somehow we all survived it. People moving here isn't the problem. Bad financial incentives and policy around home building are the problems.

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dropkickninja t1_iy3w10c wrote

yes, people have changed in the last 30 years.

not all of us are assholes. if you have to ask who is...

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gmgvt t1_iy4126a wrote

We're similar age/area of origin -- lol, we might even know each other but happy to not go there -- and yes, "middle-aged road rage guy in a big truck" is a thing in Vermont now that absolutely did not exist when we were kids. But my experience is these guys aren't the newcomers, they are the natives. They're our old schoolmates, or thereabouts. Some of them are also my relatives, so best believe I am speaking from close-at-hand experience. They are still here and they, too, are mad that the place has changed. (Who thinks that there's some magical place that is exactly like it was in the 1980s, btw? Who would WANT that even if it did exist?) TBH I think they are just being constantly riled by whatever media they consume.

Old woodchucks weren't teed off all the time about everything. Sure, they'd get exasperated with the flatlanders, but they had a low-key way of showing it. They were men and women of few and well-chosen words, with dry senses of humor and quiet compassion. I don't know how the woodchucks of my age group ended up like this but I'm pretty sure too much reality TV had something to do with it.

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Trajikbpm t1_iy3wo35 wrote

Woodstock area huh

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valhallagypsy t1_iy3srxv wrote

So much Maine and VT back and fourth, this has been my life for a while now. What region in Maine do you live in? I thought I had finally settled in Maine but I guess life had other plans for me.

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Greenleaf737 OP t1_iy4mf4e wrote

SW area of Maine. I have had the same issue for a while. I think some folks are just meant to wander.

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murrly t1_iy4sig1 wrote

Same thing I've said about twitter users leaving twitter.

no one cares bud

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