Tennessee Fall Traditions: Down on the Farm
Celebrating fall just isn’t complete with a visit to a Tennessee farm.
Falcon Ridge Farm (Credit: State of Tennessee)
Falcon Ridge Farm
Bolivar
Falcon Ridge Farm’s sprawling pumpkin patch invites visitors to pick their perfect gourd. Get all your great photos at prop stations are set up all over the farm. Looking to get lost for while? The farm’s intricate corn maze offers a challenge. (When viewed from above, past mazes have honored St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Memphis Grizzlies, and the state of Tennessee.)
If the hayride, petting zoo, or pony rides are too tame for you, have a blast shooting the corn canon.
If all this has you hungry, head over to Mary Ellen’s Market, the farm shop. Tuck into a burger, hot dog, or bowl of homemade soup. Then, pick up some jarred jams, jellies, or pickles to bring some of that Falcon Farm goodness back home.
Cedarwood Farm
McMinnville
For the last 23 years, fall in McMinnville has meant a trip to Cedarwood Farm.
If its standard corn maze doesn’t challenge you, crawl through Cedarwood’s hay bale maze. If one petting zoo just doesn’t seem enough, Cedarwood has two. The farm also has huge inflatable slides, a pumpkin train, a fire engine, a tree house, and corn crib just waiting to be explored.
Adults will love Cedarwood’s Old Timers House, an original 1800s house filled with antiques. Everyone will love the farm’s Country Kitchen for Southern staples like barbecue sandwiches, chicken strips, and tons of desserts.
Cedarwood also offers a bonfire on Friday and Saturday nights. Admission ($19 for kids 3-10 and $21 for those 11 an older) includes all the activities, a pumpkin, two hotdogs, two buns, marshmallows, a bag of chips and a drink.
Maple Lane Farms
Greenback
Maple Lane Farms is settled in a beautful mountain valley with amazing vews of the Smokies.
Its Maple Lane Maze event at the farm each year is way more than its signature, eight-acre corn maze (this year honoring the event sponsor Pellissippi State Community College). The event features a hay ride to the pumpkin patch, a Kiddie Maze, food vendors, a campfire, private party tents, fun photo ops, a petting zoo, bounce houses and inflatable slides, face painting, a photo booth, music, corn hole, a barn store, and more. Oh, and for those who dare, the corn maze goes haunted at 7 p.m.
The Schmidt’s farm is very much still a working farm with livestock and row crops. But its Maze event is its main event. The farm’s motto is “a working family farm with its main goal to put smiles on people’s faces and connect with families.”
