North East Kingdom in Vermont is a great rural area (Burke Vt). I bought 10 acres in 1989 (when I was 29), and added another 8 acres just last year. Been building a house for 20 years now, mostly alone and with help from the wife and a few good friends. You can still buy larger parcels of land for $2K an acre if you look around. No local building inspector in my town and as an owner/builder I am even exempt from the building code (try that in Mass!). 34 HP tractor with a backhoe and I can dig out the biggest stumps in 2 hours (takes all day to burn it). Legal to hunt on your own property with no license (in season), legal to shoot on your own property until 10:00 pm. Good fishing, beautiful lakes and mountains. Small town, old school America for sure, love it!
40 acre parcel next to me with 2-3 bed house and great oversized outbuilding going into foreclosure soon (young guy died in motorcycle accident) will be about $225K (not on the market yet), views of Burke Mtn, apple trees, cedars with some mixed hardwoods, big deer & bear. House is a quarter mile in (at least) off the dirt town road, been vacant almost 2 years now.