My family lives in Barnard. Good elementary school that moves into the Woodstock district for middle and high school, fast ec fiber internet, not terribly far from Killington or the Upper Valley. We have local family here that are black and biracial and in-laws/friends from Haiti that are here often. Demographics are heavily white in the area, and the whole state, but attitudes appear to be mostly welcoming. I suspect you'll experience less overt racism from actual bigots and more accidental stereotyping from people who are well intentioned but inexperienced with diversity. To my knowledge my black family members in town haven't had any bad experiences, and they aren't the only non-white people in town by any means.

Our local theater in Barnard is doing a production of The Addams Family that sold out all last weekend if you're into local theater. There's a bar in Bethel called Babe's that does fun events on the weekends like karaoke or themed dance parties. In Woodstock there's a few good places for food and a relatively easy hike up Mt Tom from Faulkner Park. Even more good food in White River Junction. Be prepared to drive around the various small towns in the upper valley area if you want to see and experience different things. Everything is 20mins from everything else.

TX was the absolute worst. I never felt more unwanted and out of place as I did there. Everyone was so fake nice, if they bothered to fake it at all, it was awful. This is a sweeping generalization, but they were legitimately some of the worst people I've ever had contact with.

The difference I noticed in New England hospitality vs Southern (born+raised in ME, college in GA, 6mo in TX, now in VT) is that in New England we seem rough on the outside but we'll genuinely help anyone with anything. Southerners are more focused on manners than actual kindness or be neighborly. NE holds genuine hospitality above politeness and in the South it's the other way around. Lots of fake smiles and not a lot of real kindness. That said, I still loved my time in GA and the people that are genuinely kind beyond the Southern polite facade are wonderful!