Northeast towns are getting overrun by 'leaf peepers' and it's driving the locals crazy
It's October, which means so-called leaf peepers — tourists who travel to the northeastern U.S. to photograph the fall foliage — are back in action.
Peak leaf season time is usually from mid-September to the end of October. But over the last few years, as millions of people travel to these New England states, locals have been begging their town officials to manage the crowds.
In Pomfret, Vt., which boasts the picturesque Sleepy Hollow Farm, residents created a GoFundMe to protect one of the main roads from hoards of visitors. Pomfret has a population of around 900 residents .
"Over the past several years, Cloudland Road ... [has] experienced an unprecedented surge in Instagram and TikTok-fueled tourist 'influencers,' who earn money from sponsors and have monetized and turned a private home on Cloudland Road into a Social Media photo destination," the page reads.
On Instagram alone, there are more than 4,000 posts tagged with Sleepy Hollow Farm.
Sheriff Ryan Palmer, who oversees Vermont's Windsor County where Sleepy Hollow Farm is located, told Yahoo News it's not so much that there are significant problems that come with the influx of tourists this time of year, but that people block major roadways to take photos.
"The big thing is on some of our roads, people like to stop in the middle of the road [and] take pictures," he said. "They essentially are blocking the roadway and it really drives the locals crazy."
"They are walking on the lawn, the property, to take their photo shoots," Amy Robb, a local resident told ABC News . There are plenty of "no trespassing " signs in Windsor County, but some tourists seem to ignore them.
Two popular roads near Sleepy Hollow were closed off again during what Pomfret officials call "foliage season," (Sept. 25 to Oct. 16), but visitors are still encouraged to stop by public parks for their photos. A July memo to the Pomfret community said that these closures are necessary because of "extraordinary tourism interest in private properties" during this time of year.
"We believe these actions will significantly improve safety and quality of life for residents most severely affected by increased foliage season traffic, as they did last year," the memo said.
It's not just Vermont where leaf peepers annoy the locals. The town of Franconia, N.H., home to the popular Franconia Notch State Park, had to issue a statement reassuring visitors that it would be looking into how to manage the thousands of people expected to visit the local state park.
