One of Vermont’s most photographed foliage spots closing to tourists this fall

New England Travel

Road closures in Pomfret, Vermont, are due to “an unprecedented surge in Instagram and TikTok-fueled tourist influencers.”

A Vermont farm has become so popular on social media that it’s now off limits to tourists this fall.

The town of Pomfret, located just outside of Woodstock, has approved road closures and parking bans around Cloudland and Barber Hill roads from Sept. 23 to Oct. 15 — prime leaf peeping season.

Cloudland Road is the location of the idyllic Sleepy Hollow Farm, a private property and “widely held to be the most photographed location in Vermont by leaf-peeping tourists each fall,” according to The Vermont Standard.

“With its big barns, late-1700s Cape farmhouse, and knack for catching the light just right, Sleepy Hollow is catnip for photographers,” wrote NewEngland.com. “In the morning or early evening, the narrow road to the farm might be lined with as many as 20 cars, as shutterbugs hunker down with their tripods.”

The area has seen “an unprecedented surge in Instagram and TikTok-fueled tourist ‘influencers,’” neighbors wrote in a recent GoFundMe called “Save Cloudland Road” intended to raise money for police detail and increased signage in the area. The GoFundMe has raised about $14,000 toward its $25,000 goal.

According to the GoFundMe, “Cloudland and surrounding roads become impassable during the fall, and roads and poorly behaved tourists have damaged roads, had accidents, required towing out of ditches, trampled gardens, defecated on private property, parked in fields and driveways, and verbally assaulted residents.”

“We’ve been asking people to respect property owner’s rights,” Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer told NBC 5 News. “We’ve had a lot of stories of folks just being very disrespectful. Walking on property that wasn’t theirs. Sitting on porches, swimming in their ponds, those types of things.”

So leaf peepers, beware: The town of Pomfret has posted the following travel restrictions in effect between Sept. 23 and Oct. 15:

• Cloudland Road south of Barber Hill Road will be closed to motor vehicles.
• Barber Hill Road will be closed to eastbound motor vehicles.
• Parking will be prohibited around the intersection of Cloudland Road and Barber Hill Road.

The restrictions do not apply to local residents in Pomfret and Woodstock, or their guests, contractors, and service providers.

Windsor County officers will monitor the area throughout the season.