Vermont

For many Americans, Vermont still seems what the United States at least in myth once was--a bucolic landscape of wooded hills, neat farms, and handsome villages--before modern forces transformed our agrarian nation into an urban-industrial giant.

Vermonters have long been respected as sturdy Americans who prize hard work, honest dealing, town-meeting government, and dry humor. Their way of life, along with the beauty of their Green Mountains and quiet valleys, remains immensely attractive to...