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What Makes Vermont DifferentVermonters and regular visitors to the state often comment about the particular, invariably pleasant feeling they experience as they cross the border into Vermont. The shift in landscape may be subtle, but it is somehow tangibly different.
And it’s not just the absence of billboards, though that in itself contributes a great deal to Vermont’s sense of place. The legacy of 200 years of hard scrapple agriculture is a significant piece of the visual experience. Many of the pastures once cleared for hillside farms have re-forested over the past 50 years, many with sugar maples that make Vermont’s autumn foliage so distinctive. But the valleys remain mostly open meadows and cultivated fields even as agriculture diversifies from its once singular commitment to dairy farming.
Follow one of the roads or a river winding through one of these Vermont valleys or over a mountain gap, and you’ll find yourself in another village, hamlet or town about every eight or ten miles.
Vermont’s entrepreneurial tradition finds expression in an array of quality products, from artisan goat and sheep cheese or finely crafted wood furnishings to innovations in microchip production and snowboard design and manufacture.
Vermont is also distinguished by its commitment to the arts and literature. This small state has not only sustained the oldest state symphony orchestra in the nation, it was the launching place for the rock phenomena of Phish. The Vermont writers section of Vermont libraries and bookstores reveals a collection of renowned novelists and poets.
Higher education gets high marks in Vermont. There are 23 colleges here, the most per capita of any state, attracting students from across the United States and more than 100 countries. And there’s lots of individual attention: The average class size has fewer than 16 students.
Recreational activities in Vermont reflect a similar commitment. Vermonters are passionate about outdoor recreation, consistently score among the highest rates of participation in the nation. You can exercise a whole new set of passions with every season!
We have developed a set of links to help you learn more about the reasons people live and work in Vermont.
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