A daffodil-covered landscape that had become an Instagrammer’s paradise no longer will be open to visitors after the family-owned property decided it couldn’t accommodate the hordes of tourists drawn to the flowery field in Northern California.
Daffodil Hill, a once hidden gem in Sutter Creek, has ballooned into an overcrowded sightseeing destination, joining several other nature sanctuaries in California overrun by the masses. Unable to accommodate the uptick in popularity, the owners announced this week they have closed the attraction indefinitely.
The ranch property, whose original owner had planted a garden of flowers native to his Dutch homeland, was purchased by the McLaughlin family in 1847. When Lizzie Van Vorst McLaughlin bought the property with her husband, she tended to the daffodils for their way-station operation, which provided rooms and meals for travelers. When she died, her children planted the same flowers every year in her honor, and the tradition has carried on with each new generation, and for the past 80 years, the family has welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors.
But its popularity became Daffodil Hill’s downfall.
Read the full story on LATimes.com.