The neighboring town of Pomfret was the beneficiary of two decisions by the Woodstock Selectboard at its regular scheduled meeting on Tuesday evening.
In the first of two unanimous votes, the selectboard approved for the third consecutive year a joint traffic management plan for Cloudland Road in Pomfret and Woodstock during foliage season.
Driven by social media on Instagram and other sites, foliage season traffic in the areas of both Cloudland Road and Barber Hill Roads during foliage season has increased significantly in recent years as tourists have endeavored to take fall foliage snapshots and selfies at Sleepy Hollow Farm, widely regarded as the most photographed location in Vermont each autumn.
The 2025 pact for foliage season between the two towns essentially mirrors the agreements of the past two years, except for a truncated timeline during which the plan will be in effect this year. The plan will take effect on Saturday, Oct. 4, and continue through Sunday, Oct. 19 — a period about one week shorter than in previous years. All of the portion of Cloudland Road in Woodstock will once again be closed to all motor vehicle traffic this year.
In a second action on Monday evening, the Woodstock Selectboard approved an annual ambulance contract with Pomfret that contained only one minor revision. At the request of Pomfret Selectboard chair Ben Brickner, on behalf of that town, a portion of ambulance service in the northeastern portion of Woodstock’s neighboring town will be ceded to the fire and rescue service in Hartford.
“Pomfret has been eyeing Hartford as the first responder in the northeast section of town for a few years now,” Brickner told the Woodstock board members. “It’s where the response time is faster out of Hartford’s newly upgraded Quechee station, and we’re just very grateful that Woodstock is considering this for us so that we can make sure that we can optimize the response time for emergency services for North Pomfret residents.”
