Why Vermont Hates Outsiders

Comments · 1.1K

• MA

  @margodoyle3557 · 3 years ago

  I left the city for the Scottish Highlands and lived beside a beautiful loch for 9 years. The locals could not afford to buy properties and the beautiful houses were only occupied for a few weeks each year. I rented to help the economy. I too have to say I resented the summer visitors. I wanted the peaceful lifestyle all year.  Best wishes from Scotland .

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• EY

  @EyeOfTheWatcher · 3 years ago

  The fact that someone said Toby dog was a trained killer was laughable and sums up how crazy the whole outside debate can  sometimes be. Also, old guy forget that his ancestors were not native to land that we call Vermont today, so I don't understand why he is trying to infringe on your right to move and lived where every you want.

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• MA

  @matthewm3912 · 3 years ago (edited)

  I am gonna take a minute to tell my relatable story. We came from southwest FL, Fort Myers to be exact. I had wanted to move to TN for years and finally got my wife on board after covid, and she finally opened up to my homestead dream. We started our home search in East TN and lost out on offers on 13 houses to cash buyers. We finally found a house, and were so burnt out we made an offer, sight unseen. We ended up purchasing our home in middle TN, a small town called Hilham filled with hollers and hills near Dale Hollow Lake. Everything started out great. While the house was smaller than we wanted, everything checked out and we loved the land. The guy we bought it from owned the home next door, and the 100 acres surrounding us. We started off friendly and we met his family and he would hunt the land around us. No problems at first. We were definitely outsiders though, and our intentions were pure. So we started getting more and more animals, chickens, ducks, turkeys. We eventually wanted pigs(which we got) and to raise a steer each year for food on our 2 acres. So, we decided we were going to fence OUR property and pasture. Well this is when things went bad. Fencing our property cut off a driveway he had to his home next door(there was no legal easment, he had no right to it)which we had let him use anyway. Well once the fence went up the problems started. During all this, he had rented his house next door out to an older woman he was friends with. He had started using her as a poking stick to push us out. She took me to court over my chickens going into her yard. She went outside on 2 occasions and shot at my chickens while my kids were outside playing(not directly in there direction). We would get into screaming matches, it was a night mare. There is so much more to the story. But after i called the cops on her for shooting at my birds, and the cop turned it around on me and made me the bad guy i knew something was really going on. Well come to find out, the sherriff was high school friends with this guy. We were literally in one of those small town horror films where everyone turns against the main characters...it was CRAZY. We eventually sold for a PROFIT THANK THE LORD. and we moved an hour south to Cookeville. It just sucks because we let someone else ruin our homestead dream. Now we are stuck renting and the market is so INSANE we can't afford anything else. Unless its a crappy double wide on 2 acres for 400k! I feel your pain!

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• AN

  @andersanden3221 · 3 years ago

  This makes me think my hometown in Sweden. When my parents moved they came from Stockholm. The locals wasn't happy. They didn't like outsiders. After 30 years we help the community, we have become stars in the community.

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• JE

  @jeanieschrag5378 · 3 years ago

  It's everywhere.  My mother was a Newfoundlander (Canada). I grew up in upstate New York and ended up living in Newfoundland  for 20 + years.  I was considered a mainlander until I left. They are friendly and welcoming to people as long as you don't move there.

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• MO

  @monbearpig · 3 years ago

  We moved to a small town in Wisconsin and we were treated like outsiders the entire time we lived there. Everyone who lived there had lived there all their lives and we just didn't fit the bill.

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• EB

  @ebthepurple · 3 years ago

  "It's not about the opportunity to make a buck, it's about the opportunity to help." HERE HERE, well said alfred!

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• MA

  @marekknieshtschav6391 · 3 years ago

  No matter where you go, you will be considered outsider and likely looked down upon. It's just easier to blend in with the vast population of a big city. On the other hand, city folk do have that holier-than-thou vibe when they move to countryside, often  trying to turn the place they moved to, into a place they came from.

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• SO

  @sosuemetoo · 3 years ago

  I grew up in the suburbs, got married and moved to my husband&apos;s hometown in rural Illinois.<br><br>It&apos;s been 37 years and I still &quot;Ain&apos;t From Around Here,&quot; in this town.<br><br>Folks don&apos;t want new people or businesses, &nbsp;but complain when the old ones shut down. 🤷‍♀️

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• TI

  @timreigns6099 · 2 years ago

  Being a lifelong Maine/New Hampshire resident, I can relate to this. Maine is a lost cause…the seasonal rich people own the coastline. I permanently reside in NH these days…it’s a little less touristy in the mountains. <br>Vermont is gorgeous, definitely my favorite New England state. Politically it’s not my climate, but it’s beautiful.

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• EY

  @eyelite7 · 3 years ago

  &quot;I&apos;m not interested in becoming a prop in someone else&apos;s vision of what New England living is.&quot; You Go, Alfred!!! 🎉❤

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• CA

  @carolinedudek12 · 3 years ago

  Love this! &nbsp;I really appreciate the thoughtful conversations, and the two different perspectives. &nbsp;I&apos;ve been in VT for 44 yrs, originally came as a student at UVM, and I saw much of the issues that students and out-of-staters can bring. &nbsp;I went to the School of Agriculture, so I really appreciate the states working farms, and everything that comes with them (like opening the window in Spring and knowing the farmer around the corner is &quot;spreading&quot; his fields). &nbsp;The pandemic has put a lot of stress on our VT communities with the influx of people moving here. &nbsp;Many can financially afford to pay cash for homes, and pay much more than locals. &nbsp;There&apos;s a huge increase in second homes which helped to create a housing crisis. &nbsp;I especially loved how Alfred stressed the importance of participating in your community...... I&apos;m originally for a part of PA that was mostly farms, but due to the area&apos;s proximity to NYC, the area has been &quot;discovered&quot; by New Yorkers. &nbsp;They built their Mac Mansions and then complained about the farm noise and smells, and systematically changed the zoning (the noise and smells where only some of their complaints). &nbsp;With the the increase price of land and zoning changes, most of the farms are gone. &nbsp;The area now looks like the generic suburban place they originally moved from.... I hope VT can find that balance between welcoming new residence, and the new comers appreciating what VT already has to offer (and what makes it special) while adding new ideas...... &nbsp;My advice to people moving to VT; appreciate VT for what it is, don&apos;t turn it into where you left.

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