As someone whose favorite season is fall and is a New Jersey native, when I feel the weather drop below 70 degrees and the leaves start to turn my excitment is palpable. And nothing says fall like enjoying a roaring bonfire at a friend’s house, going to a farmer’s market down the main street of town, or simply making pumpkin pie for dessert.
Fall also means the start of spooky season for those who wait for Halloween all year round. There are no shortages of haunted hayrides and haunted farm attractions in New Jersey. No matter what you enjoy doing when the air turns crisp, there is something for everyone in New Jersey. You just have to know where to look!
There are more than 50 wineries nestled throughout New Jersey’s vast and stretching valleys, and there are plenty of opportunities for wine tasting. You can go for a wine tasting with scenic strolls through seemingly endless rows of grapevines with jaw-dropping views perfect for that first fall Instagram post.
One stop you need to make is Bellview Winery in Landisville. You can sip your way through the award-winning wines at the family-owned winery. Want to keep the good times rolling and make it a whole weekend affair? Don’t hesitate to embark on a wine tasting road trip across New Jersey.
One of the things I love about fall is the delicious food. From sweet pumpkin pies, delectable apple cider donuts, and savory homemade chicken noodle soup to start. One of the best ways to explore some of the best fall flavors is to head to a food festival.
From craft beer events to BBQ feasts to food truck parties, there’s no doubt about it: fall is food festival season in New Jersey. If your prefer a well-crafted beer you can sample a variety of brews at the Annual Relief Beerfest in Moorestown or head over to Alstede Farms in Chester, where pie tasting, wine tasting, and more are on the itinerary each year.
If immersing yourself in nature is more your speed, then feel the sun on your face and take part in a Garden State fall tradition when you pick your own bushel of fresh apples right from the orchards. Nothing makes an apple pie better than when it’s made with freshly picked apples. Whether it’s your destination for a first date or a Saturday event with family and friends, apple picking is one of the first things I think of when it comes to fall.
At the family-owned Battleview Orchards in Freehold, take your pick—quite literally—of flavorful apple varieties from early September through the end of October, whether you enjoy Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Cortland, Gala, Golden Delicious, or others.
Nothing says fall in New Jersey without a day spent among rows and rows of pumpkins searching for the perfect one to display on your front porch. Plus it wouldn’t be harvest season without picking some pumpkins and carving spooky jack-o-lanterns, so bring your friends and family to Red Wagon Farm Market in Manalapan to choose from over 100 varieties of pumpkins—including enormous prize-winners—to pluck right from the vine.
Another great part of pumpkin picking is after you’ve carved out all the seeds to carve your jack-o-latern to proudly display on your front porch, roasting the seeds making for a delicious snack.
In East Brunswick, Giamarese Farm & Orchards hosts Fall Harvest Weekends, when you can head to the pumpkin patch to pick your own pumpkin and take your pick of other decorative seasonal selections.
As someone who grew up in rural New Jersey, there was always a plethora of corn mazes to navigate with your friends. Some were a nice stroll trying to find the exit, other times like at Creamy Acres Farm in Mullica Hill, you had an employee of the farm dressed up in a scary costume chasing you through the maze under the cover of night.
There are other colossal corn mazes you can visit throughout New Jersey like Atlantic Farm Market in Manasuan, Heaven Hill Farm in Vernon, Happy Day Farm in Manalapan. These fresh fields also feature a frenzy of fall fun for your family so be sure to check their websites for details and tickets.
For those who are excited for fall because it means the start of the spooky season and Halloween, New Jersey has a lot of haunted house attractions for those looking for a scare. There are a variety of attractions depending on your comfort level. If you are looking for serious scares where monsters and ghouls lurk around ever corner, Creamy Acres Farms also has the Night of Terror. That is if you’re not scared out by the corn maze.
Other places to give you a good fright include BloodShed Farms Fear Fest in Columbus or the Farm of Horrors in Flemington.
One of the benefits of growing up in rural New Jersey was most of my friends were farmers with big plots of land and a tractor. Every year we would have a huge bonfire with smores and hot cider. But the best part was piling onto the tractor pulled hayride where city lights couldn’t impede your view o the starry sky.
Needless to say, whether pulled by a horse or a tractor, a good old fashioned hayride is the perfect way to celebrate fall while enjoying the crisp, clean air of the great outdoors. Go for a spin at Johnson’s Corner Farm in Medford. The hayride is just one of the fun experiences you can enjoy at as part of their Fall Harvest. You can also visit VonThun Farms in Monmouth Junction where they host Fall Festival Weekends, where general admission buys you access to unlimited hayrides, plus over 20 more sensational seasonal activities.
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