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Tourism drives Vermont’s economy, but not all residents agree with the move
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- Author: Suzanne Podhaizer
- Roll, BBC Travel
3 hours ago
Anyone who enters the town of Pomfret in the American state of Vermont will immediately be impressed by its idyllic beauty.
From the north, Howe Hill Road descends the hill in a series of gentle curves, each bend revealing views of green farm fields dotted with sheep or areas of woodland with the red and orange leaves of autumn hanging from the branches.
In a house, a tree laden with apples leans over a stone wall, its slate crown full of rotting fruit.
At the beginning of October, more than half of the cars driving in the town of 900 had foreign license plates.
One of them from Florida came to an abrupt stop on a road with a speed limit of 72 kilometers per hour and blocked one of the two lanes. The reason? Take a photo of a farm silo against the backdrop of autumn leaves.
With just a handful of shops—a general store, an arts center with a gallery and theater, and a few apple or pumpkin farms—Pomfret is generally a quiet, unpretentious place.
But in the fall, when “leaf peepers” from around the world descend on the region’s hills and small towns to marvel at the kaleidoscopic foliage, everything changes.
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Pomfret went the influencer and “leaf peeper” route in the fall
Until recently, the number of leaf peepers visiting Pomfret was slower than the number of dialup Internet connections.
But since pictures of Sleepy Hollow Farm, a 115acre private property on a rural road, went viral on social media a few years ago, locals say things have gotten out of control.
A quick search on Instagram reveals thousands of images of the winding dirt road leading to an elegant 18thcentury home on Cloudland Road. No wonder this unusual farm became known as one of the “most photographed places in the state.”
“It’s a beautiful place. It’s a shame it’s been ruined for everyone,” said Deborah Goodwin, exhibition coordinator at Artistree Community Arts Center in Pomfret. “[Nos] In the last two years it had spiraled out of control. The tour buses just threw people out.”
According to Goodwin, social media influencers regularly jumped over a gate covered in “No Trespassing” signs, set up changing rooms for the many costume changes, left their “town cars” stuck on the narrow dirt road, and left bodily waste on the side of the road. Street.
“It was bad,” she remembers. “The residents went to the [governo local] and they said, ‘We can’t let this happen anymore.'”
During the 2022 foliage season, police officers temporarily converted the road through Sleepy Hollow to a oneway street.
It wasn’t enough to stop tourists from misbehaving. This year, residents tried a different approach: crowdfunding.
Photo credit: Suzanne Podhaizer
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Pomfret residents say tourists can come but need to be respectful
In a GoFundMe appeal, a team of organizers wrote: “[Temos] experienced an unprecedented rise in tourism “influencers”, driven by Instagram and TikTok… [que] They damaged roads, had accidents, demanded to be dragged out of ditches, trampled on gardens, defecated on private property…and verbally attacked residents.”
To date, the campaign has raised 103 donations and raised $16,068.
As a result, city officials voted to close the roads leading to the farm to nonresidents during the peak fall season (September 23 to October 15), drawing the ire of travelers who came to the area in hopes of capturing pictureperfect scenery lead.
Most Pomfret residents emphasized that they were not antitourists; They just want people to treat their hometown with respect.
Many also expressed safety concerns for Cloudland Road residents as well as the tourists themselves.
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The purchase of road closure signs had to be paid for by residents
Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer stated, “This is not a road designed to accommodate multiple vehicles. [Em 2021 e 2022] Traffic jams formed along the road and it was not possible to get firefighting equipment or an ambulance to drive through. It placed a strain on the region’s infrastructure.”
Things were different in the busy nearby town of Woodstock, where Cloudland Road ends.
There, crowds of visitors flocked to the pretty boutiques whose windows were decorated with warty pumpkins. Outside the cocktail bar Au Comptoir, customers waiting for tables leaned against the stone walls.
People stopped on the city’s sidewalks to take panoramic photos of the Rockefellers’ imposing buildings. The city’s restaurants were also full.
At the Woodstock Inn & Resort, there was only room for the inn’s guests in the property’s restaurants.
Unlike Pomfret, Woodstock is a town that thrives on tourism and is prepared for it.
Lori Crowningshield, retail manager at The Vermont Flannel Co’s flagship store on Elm Street, reported it was the busiest weekend of the year. After a rainy summer that was “very difficult for everyone,” she explained: “We really need the tourists here.”
But what’s good for Woodstock isn’t necessarily good for Pomfret.
At a time when cities like Venice are so inundated with travelers that authorities are trying to impose a tourist tax on visitors, and when trendy restaurants are banning influencers and their phones, Pomfret is just one of many places in the world that trying to curb excessive tourism and combat hashtaggers but that comes at a price.
Palmer said the road closures in Pomfret aren’t just for law enforcement; they are also expensive. Palmer estimates that Cloudland Road residents footed a bill of more than $10,000 so authorities could post road closure signs and conduct patrols all of which, as word spread, drew more people to the city.
Palmer hopes the Pomfret drama gets resolved. Residents have raised the idea of creating a reservation or ticket system for visits to Sleepy Hollow to manage tourism more responsibly, but he says that option is not being seriously considered.
“We love having tourists here, it’s a big part of Vermont’s economy and we want people to enjoy the natural beauty and visit the vendors and shops,” he said.
“The most important thing is to be respectful of people’s homes and properties…Please come by, just be respectful.”