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The reason for the decline in wool was because cotton become more popular, which would you rather have against your skin so the cotton mills were built in the south where cotton was grown. The reason the woolen mills were in New England was due to the local shep herds and many rivers offering a way to power the mills, from hence we get mill ponds which were the result of the dams built to store the water and increase the head to the generators and water wheels. If you walk the hills of Vermont you'll find stone walls everywhere and running in every direction, those were the fences that enclosed the pastures. Can you imagine the work it took to build those walls and clear the land in a time before tractors and chain saws? Vermont was a rugged landscape with a long harsh winter and the people had to work hard and basically make hay when the sun shines just to stay alive in that environment. That's where Vermonters got the work ethic and reputation for being hard working, independent people. No one told them what to do nor did they tell their neighbors what to do, it was their property and individual property rights meant something then, now we're all mearly leasors of the land we call our own when in fact the state owns everything. If you don't believe me stop paying your taxes and see what happens, or try putting up an addition or a garage without government approval. No one really owns land anymore, it all belongs to the government, and we all now that the government is made up of everyone...so it answers to no one. It wasn't just the woolen mills, we also had numerous tanneries and shoe factories, those all went overseas in the 50's and 60's, and don't blame it on big business the real reason is that the average US citizen will buy the cheapest item in the store with no concern to it's origin. An instructor once told me many years ago that US citizens are not nationalistic like so many foriegn countries. He said not to confuse that with patriotism as we're very patriotic, but when buying we care more about price than where it came from and that was what caused the demise of so much of our manufacturing industries, not big business, in truth we gave away our own jobs by choosing to buy foreign made products. I think you'd find until fifty or sixty years ago people were hard workers like that, the Vermont farmers, the fishermen along the Mass coast or loggers in Maine, many still are. Those are the kind of people I think about when I think about Vermonters.
We live in a constantly changing world. I, too, lament the loss of past lifestyles and pursuits, but it has always been this way. As our economy and consumer needs have changed so has the the way things are produced, processed, and delivered. Perhaps Vermont's best days, as far as being economically viable, are behind it, for various reasons. Aside from unique, entreprenuerial companies a la Ben and Jerry, Green Mountain coffee, I think Vermont has been relegated to a tourist-dependent economy with a little farming on the side.
It's actually not an ideal agrarian area. The soil isn't that good, the winters are too long, and the growing season too short. Yes, farmers can still graze animals, but suitable open land is expensive and hard to come by. Plus, caring for livestock is very expensive and often times not economically viable. There are so many regulations, etc. and going organic is worse. Have any of you read the book, "Mad Sheep" about small livestock farming in Vermont? If not, I highly recommend it.
The problem is that you have a lot of trust fund babies, and those who have made a ton of money in their previous careers, and have come to Vermont to live out their back-to-the land fantasies. They dabble in organic farming so they can feel they are making a positive contribution to society or whatever. But they also know they have the bucks in the bank to tide them over in case things go wrong, so they are in essence subsidizing themselves. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with this, as they trying to keep Vermont rural, and retain some of its past cultural heritage. But by the same token, they are perpertuaing this false image of Vermont from a bygone era. They are keeping fantasies alive because it happens to fit into their own about living a simpler life, getting off the grid, being green, etc. It seems as if they are effectively saying "I'm a wealthy out-of-stater who is tired of the rat race, so I'm living out my dreams in Vermont but if you threaten those dreams with ambitions of your own, you will be stopped." Like everything else in this world, it's about money, or as the old saying about the Golden Rule goes, "those who have the gold make the rules."
OK, well I revisited the thread out of curiousness. I see we are getting deeper into the subject and know some true heartfelt feelings of local residents are heating up. Now that is what I like to see and hear - the voice of the real people. In my last visit to Vermont, I did notice a great deal of Conneticut and Ex New Yorkers living up there. I'm sure they bring a certain sense of their own ideals to the local area, but unless they run for public office, they can't "change anything". I rather doubt that the state is going to change overnight regardless. I have applied for jobs up there and believe me I know. I like the whole "green energy" theme, but you have to really market that idea to the right people or it wont happen.
Seems like New England is suffering economically in all the states. There is no utopia anywhere. You have to stop and look at other factors like the quality of life for your family. Even though VT's job market isnt the highest in pay, and the cost of living is rather high, SO IS RHODE ISLAND and MASS, and CT. Its all relative really. I have friends that are stock brokers and we discuss the economy on several topics all the time. We both agree that it is the small businesses that are the economic engines not the big corporations. Your big corporations take work away from Americans and give it to foreign people for 3 pennies a day lol. When people say, "there is no work". That is vague in itself. Does VT have alot of small businesses? Not as much as it could have, but don't forget that Vermont didn't begin that way. Vermont was known for scales or measurement and argricultural products, hunting, outdoor sports, and harvesting of lumber and other early forms of early American Industry. Of course younger people would want to stay close to home and find work. Would'nt that be a perfect world? Some of the statesments being made are just too vague. Why do people have to leave? Well, If I own a landscaping company and I live in the middle of the desert how much work do you think Im going to get? Maybe you should be looking proactively at what the job market is calling for and reinvent your strategy to adapt, IF you want to stay close to home.
Today, the state has grown with people and the surrounding cities are over spilling and those people are spreading out to VT, ME, NH. In RI, I'm a tax payer and I can't go enjoy a local beach in the summer with my kids because all the free public areas are overloaded with people from Conneticut and Massachusettes? Don't these people have beaches and parks in their own areas? They come and they wreck the areas act wild and unruly and they leave. This is only a few examples of what is going on all around the country. Why would VT be any different?
Quite candidly,Americans really need to start pulling together all across the board. It doens't matter who you are or where your from. What matters is how you proceed as an individual in your community. Life is what you make it. If things aren't working out, then try something else or a new idea? Look outside the box for a change and experience it from another perspective. People need to start working together all over the nation. You don't want jobs going over to other countries? Stop buying their products? The President is bailing out the banks and Auto Dealers with your tax dollars and your worried about left wing liberals trying to change old yankee values? Where is the checks and blanaces? When our leaders promise "change" and don't deliver, what is the penalty for not doing it? NOTHING.
It is just as much your responsibility as it is mine to wake up and realize the potential of uniting people and standing up for what you believe in. Vermont is a great state with problems that built up over time and poor leadership. Rhode Island and CT are going through the same thing. Did you know second to Detroit, RI is has the worst jobmarket? We have plenty of business and shops and malls and stores and a whole lot of everything and people still struggle. There is no industry here for anyone and old money keeps it right where it is. The key to make any real difference is realize the true facts and the gravity of the situation you are in. If people remember the statements made centuries ago, "UNITED WE STAND" than "WE" have alot of strength to make a difference. You have to work together to make the changes. Sitting in this forum venting out is NOT going to get the results you want. Educate yourself more and seek out the answers. They are there right in front of you if you look. We have to get back to "old fashioned values", but its the "new thinkers" that must come up with inovative ways to bring back to the people their independence. We can discuss into the realm of conjecture the many problems we all have, but I'm not going to do that here. It is what it is and that won't change without a miracle or revelation.
VT beaches(and swimming holes) overloaded with out of staters is precisely how VT is designed. Montpelier made the state a nature museum, folks in the state house used to joke about putting a fence around VT and charging admission. That is just the way it is and it is too late to change it in anyone's lifetime.
Sure, the popular swimming holes/lakes/ponds can get crowded on a weekend but the reason alot of folks vacation in Vermont is to get away from the crowds. If they could not do that they would stop coming. Thankfully there are plently of uncrowded places around the state.
Your right, half of the Vermont economy is based on tourism. Montpelier should be working on making that a better industry for employment and enjoyment.
The other NE states do charge an admission fee, it's called a toll everyone passing thru pays to enter, thankfully we don't do that.
Vermont is a tourist state but even that is a relative term in total amount of dollars brought in to the state. I live in Maine now but still have most of my family in vermont and visit often and over a weekend in july I was really struck by how poor even Vermonts tourism business is. A Saturday morning in July on my way to vermont driving through Maine and NH the weather was beautiful and the roads were packed with cars, cars towing campers, boats or filled with people, but when I crossed the Connecticut river into vermont I was amazed at how empty the roads were, even I-91. Tourism will not save vermont, I don't know what will but I do think the future is bleak for the state. Good private sector jobs gone and the smartest and most ambitious of the youth leaving to find a better life elsewhere. What does that leave Vermont, service industries, government jobs, wealthy out-of-staters who bought their piece of Vermont and insist nothing change now that they are here and an ever growing welfare segment.I don't have the answers. The leadership of the state is horrible, I doubt many in office have experience outside of government or service industries. Every state in the nation is competing to attract new companies and new jobs but you don't attract them with high taxes, ridiculously restrictive development laws, high energy costs and poor transportation for their products. The only result I've seen in the past forty years of government in Vermont has to place an ever increasing tax burden on an ever decreasing number of people. Vermonts government is more concerned with passing gay marriage legislation and cementing there fifteen minutes of fame in history than addressing the problems of the average citizen. I have three children, all smart, college educated and not one would ever return to Springfield to live, in fact all three are working and living in NH. There are a few ski towns that do well and Burlington which has the colleges and hospital and gets more state money than they rightfully should, but even in the ski towns look at the business, it doesn't get busy until Christmas and by the second week of April it's over. I like where I now live a lot, I would never move back to Vermont and like here there are many, many places that are beautiful and have more to offer. Yet there are people that have their Vermont dream and if they chose to try make a life there I wish them luck. The waters and winter sky are clear, the hills are great for walking and skiing and the leaves in the fall beautiful. And if you get the urge for a taste and variety of the city you can always make the drive to NH, NY or Mass.
NH draws more from Boston, VT from NYC so not surprising.
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