Pomfret, Vermont: The fall foliage town that banned influencers

30.10.2023 - 20:56 / bbc.com / Art

To enter the town of Pomfret, located in the US state of Vermont, is to be instantly struck by its bucolic beauty. From the north, Howe Hill Road winds downhill in a series of gentle curves, each sweep revealing verdant farm fields dotted with sheep, or swaths of forest in which the red and orange autumn leaves cling to boughs. At one home, a tree heavy with apples bends over a meticulously maintained stone wall, its slate top filled with decaying fruit. 

In early October, more than half of the cars driving through this 900-person town sported out-of-state license plates. One, from Florida, came to an abrupt stop on a road with a 45-mile-per-hour speed limit, blocking one of two lanes. The reason? To take a picture of a farm's silo against a backdrop of autumn leaves.

With a mere handful of businesses – a general mercantile store, an art centre with a gallery and a theatre and a few pick-your-own apple or pumpkin farms – Pomfret is generally a quiet, unassuming place. But in autumn as "leaf-peepers" from around the world descend on the region's rolling hills and fetching small towns to witness its kaleidoscopic foliage, that all changes.

Until recently, the number of leaf-peepers visiting Pomfret was more trickle than torrent. But ever since images of Sleepy Hollow Farm, a 115-acre private property set on a rustic road, began going viral on social media a few years ago, locals say things have gotten out of hand. A quick look on Instagram reveals thousands of images of the farm's winding earthen road lined by stately maple trees lit up in autumnal reds and jack-o-lantern oranges leading toward an elegant 1700s Cape Farmhouse on Cloudland Road. It's no wonder then, that this unlikely farm has become known as one of "the most photographed places in the state". 

"It's a beautiful spot. It's too bad it's been ruined for everybody," said Deborah Goodwin, the exhibits coordinator at Pomfret's Artistree Community Arts Center. "[For] the past couple years it's been out of control. Tour buses were just dumping ... people out there."

Goodwin says social media influencers would regularly climb over a gate plastered with "No Trespassing" signs, set up changing booths to accommodate their many costume swaps, get their "city cars" stuck on the narrow dirt road, and leave bodily waste by the roadside. "It was bad," she recalled. "The residents went to the [local government] and said, 'We can't have this anymore.'" 

During the 2022 leaf-peeping season, law enforcement temporarily turned the road past Sleepy Hollow into a one-way thoroughfare. It wasn't enough to deter tourists from behaving badly. This year, local residents tried a different approach: crowdsourced funding.

In a plea on GoFundMe, a team of organisers