While Australia is soaking up spring, the Northern Hemisphere is heading into autumn, with trees shifting into orange, red and brown, pumpkins appearing for Halloween and dry leaves crunching underfoot. Few places are more closely linked with the season than Vermont, which attracts more than 13 million tourists each year, many of them during the spooky season.
One of the biggest drawcards is Pomfret, a tiny town with a usual population of just over 900. When fall arrives, that number can blow out into the thousands as visitors pour in for the foliage, especially around the famous Sleepy Hollow Farm on Cloudland Road, a narrow dirt and gravel road known for its sweeping views of farms, hills and vivid seasonal colour.
For years, the area was a favourite with nature lovers and photographers. Now, locals say the kind of visitor turning up has shifted sharply. Instead of out-of-towners staying in local B&Bs and quietly admiring the scenery, residents say Pomfret is increasingly drawing social media creators chasing the perfect viral post.
That tension has been growing for years, and in 2023 locals banded together to try to curb the yearly flood of tourists descending on their community. It did not do much to stop the crowds. Influencers are still arriving in big numbers, despite mounting frustration from residents who describe some visitors as rude, disrespectful, impatient and selfish.
Mike Doten, whose family has lived in the area since the 1700s, previously told the Boston Globe that this newer type of tourist, which he and his wife call “TikTockers”, was behind the push for stronger measures.
In a memo posted by the local council this year, authorities announced that several roads would be closed to motor vehicle traffic from September 23 to October 14. That included Cloudland Road in Pomfret and the entirety of Cloudland Road in Woodstock, the areas hit hardest by tourists. Temporary parking bans, barriers and signs were also put in place, though visitors are still getting through.
Locals also set up a Go Fund Me page last year titled “Save Cloudland Road,” to help raise money for road closures and traffic enforcement during autumn.
“Over the past several years, Cloudland Road (and the small roads leading to Cloudland Road) have experienced an unprecedented surge in Instagram and TikTok-fuelled tourist ‘influencers’” it read.
“During fall foliage season, crowds commonly surge to hundreds of people at one time, and tour bus companies have even joined the fracas. Cloudland and surrounding roads can become impassable during the fall, and poorly behaved tourists have damaged roads, had accidents, required towing out of ditches, trampled gardens, parked in driveways, and verbally assaulted residents.
“Our plea is simple. As a community, the residents surrounding Cloudland Road have come together to work with the towns of Pomfret and Woodstock to bring peace, safety, and civility back to the families who live here.”
Residents say the traffic chaos is more than just annoying. The stream of tour buses and cars on Pomfret’s small roads has at times made it difficult for emergency vehicles to get through town.
Some of the accounts from locals are extraordinary. Local farmer Cathy Emmons told the Globe that she and her husband Bill watched an influencer walk onto private property and set up a portable changing booth, then step out in multiple outfits for selfies. Emmons has also seen tourists wander onto her farm and steal tomatoes. Another resident said a drone once flew just a few feet above his head while he was outside having dinner with his family. In another incident, a tourist parked illegally in a resident’s driveway and used her garden shed as a toilet.
The location’s internet fame continues to fuel the problem. Sleepy Hollow Farm has become one of Vermont’s most in-demand fall backdrops, and one travel creator, Courtney, recently shared a selfie video from the area that brought mixed responses.
“This is literally the picture I’ve dreamt of for years, of seeing Vermont in the fall, I’m going to cry,” she said in a clip shared last week.
“I’m so lucky to have gotten to see it.”
She later said she had visited just before the roads officially closed, but others weighed in with their own experiences.
“I was at this exact spot you were right after the road reopened,” one person shared.
“The guy who lives in the house saw us and jumped in his truck to chase us!”
“The people who live here hate this behaviour, just so you know,” another pointed out.
“There is a reason this town has been banning tourists,” one posted.
“Vermont is 100 per cent a tourist state, but the number that people who flock to the same tiny corner versus exploring what the entire state makes it so hard”.
For many in Pomfret, that is the real issue. Vermont remains a major tourist destination, but locals say too many people are crowding into one tiny patch of it for the same social media shot, turning a once peaceful seasonal attraction into an annual nightmare.
