Vermont's Pomfret: The town with the best autumn colors that forbade influences

 Vermont's Pomfret: The town with the best autumn colors that forbade influences

Locals of a tiny, rural hamlet fought back against swarms of photographers who were encroaching to capture its spectacular October colors, and they prevailed.

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When one enters the Vermont-based town of Pomfret, they are immediately impressed by its pastoral beauty. Howe Hill Road descends in a series of gradual bends from the north, each sweep showing lush agricultural fields scattered with sheep or stretches of woodland where the crimson and orange fall leaves cling to boughs. One house has an apple tree that leans over a well-kept stone wall, its slate top covered with rotting fruit. 

In this 900-person village in early October, more than half of the vehicles on the road had out-of-state license plates. One, a Florida resident, abruptly stopped on a route with a 45 mph speed restriction, obstructing one of the two lanes. The cause? to photograph a farm's silo with a background of changing foliage.

Pomfret is often a quiet, inconspicuous village with just a small number of enterprises, including a general mercantile, an art center with a gallery and a theater, and a few pick-your-own apple or pumpkin farms. But that all changes in the fall, when "leaf-peepers" from all over the globe converge on the area's undulating hills and charming tiny villages to take in its multicolored beauty.

Up until recently, Pomfret saw more trickles than torrents of leaf-peepers. Locals claim that things have gone out of hand ever since pictures of Sleepy Hollow Farm, a 115-acre private property situated on a country road, started becoming popular on social media a few years ago. A short search of Instagram finds millions of pictures of the farm's meandering dirt driveway, which leads to a graceful 1700s Cape Farmhouse on Cloudland driveway, being framed by majestic maple trees and illuminated in October reds and jack-o-lantern oranges. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that this unexpected farm has earned the reputation of being among "the most photographed places in the state". 

It's a lovely place. everything's really awful that everything has been spoiled for everyone, said Deborah Goodwin, the center's exhibitions coordinator. "It's been out of control for the last few of years. People were being dumped outside by tour vans.

According to Goodwin, social media celebrities would often open a gate that was covered in "No Trespassing" signs, erect changing rooms for all of their costume changes, get their "city cars" stranded on the winding dirt road, and deposit human excrement by the side of the road. "It was bad," she remembered. "The residents went to the [local government] and said, 'We are prohibited from having this anymore.'" 

Law authorities briefly converted the road beyond Sleepy Hollow into a one-way highway during the 2022 fall foliage viewing season. It was insufficient to stop visitors from misbehaving. Locals this year attempted a new strategy: crowdsourcing fundraising.

In a request on GoFundMe, the organisers "[We have] experienced a record-breaking rise in Instagram and TikTok-fuelled tourist those with influence ... [who] have damaged roads, experienced crashes, required towing out of ditches, trampled landscaping, defecated on private property … and physically assaulted residents." The request has received 103 contributions thus far, totaling $16,068. 

As a consequence, town council members decided to ban non-residents from using the roads leading to the farm from 23 September to 15 October, which infuriated tourists who had traveled there in search of the ideal autumn scene. 

One Instagram user with 20,000 followers mocked, "It's a hotel and theme park." "Bring all your friends and RVs." 

The majority of Pomfret locals emphasized that they are not anti-tourist; rather, they only want visitors to treat their town with respect. Concerns for the inhabitants on Cloudland Road and the visitors themselves are more disturbing than the private property problems that have been brought up.

Sheriff Ryan Palmer of Windsor County said, "This is not a route that is built to have many automobiles on it. [In 2021 and 2022] the route was blocked by long lines of parked cars, making it impossible to pass a fire truck or an ambulance. The local infrastructure was just overloaded. 

WHEN VISITING A SMALL TOWN DURING A BUSY SEASON OR YEAR, CONSIDER CALLING THE TOWN OFFICES OR THE LOCAL CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE. There may be someone there who can direct you to tourist-free attractions.

• Reserve a table, then show up! When they are certain of the precise number of guests they will be feeding or lodging, hospitality firms prosper.

• Go to establishments that depend on and welcome travelers, such as farms that give tours, independently owned shops, and special mom-and-pop eateries.

In the bustling neighboring town of Woodstock, where Cloudland Road finishes, things were different. There, crowds of tourists wandered in and out of adorable stores with mum pots and warty winter squash as window decorations. Customers waited outside the Au Comptoir cocktail bar by draping themselves over the rocky walls. People stopped in mid-step on the town's sidewalks to take picturesque pictures of the Rockefellers' opulent structures. The town's restaurants were also crowded. There was only space for guests of the inn in the restaurants of the Woodstock Inn & Resort, whose head chef Matthew McClure is a seven-time James Beard Award semifinalist.    

In contrast to Pomfret, Woodstock is a town that benefits from and is prepared for tourists. The Vermont Flannel Co.'s main shop on Elm Street reported having its biggest weekend of the year, according to Lori Crowningshield, retail manager. She said, "We really, really need the tourists here after a shockingly rainy summer that was really hard on everyone."

But not everything that benefits Woodstock also benefits Pomfret. Pomfret is just one of many locations around the world attempting to curb overtourism and fight back against the strangers at a time when officials in cities like the city of Venice are poised to impose a tourist tax on visitors as well as when trendy restaurants are banning influential individuals and their phones from dining. However, it has come at a cost.

Palmer claims that maintaining Pomfret's road closures costs money in addition to the time it takes for law officers to do so. Palmer estimates that inhabitants of Cloudland Road paid upwards of $10,000 so that authorities could put up road restriction signs and conduct patrols, which unintentionally increased the town's image as news spread. 

Palmer wants the Pomfret saga to be a "one-and-done" affair. To assist handle the tourist influx more responsibly, locals have floated the notion of establishing a reservation or ticketing system for trips to Sleepy Hollow, but as far as he is aware, that choice isn't being given real thought.

"We enjoy having people here as well it's a big part of the Vermont economy, and nous want people to enjoy the natural beauty, visit the small businesses and the shops, and drive around," he said. "The most important thing is to respect people's homes and property... Please come by, but remember to be kind.