What Makes it Special
Some fall outings are a photo op and a twenty-minute walk. This one is a whole afternoon. Blue Ridge Mountain Maze sits on a hillside at Blue Toad Hard Cider in Nelson County, with the Blue Ridge filling the horizon in every direction, and it has been a family tradition for more than two decades, first in Northern Virginia and, since 2020, here.
Why Families Love It
The people running it have been doing this a long time. Kate and Hub Knott started the maze back in 2000 in the town of The Plains, where it became the first corn maze in the DC area and the first organically grown one in the country. After twenty seasons they brought the whole operation home to Nelson County with co-owner Luke Vonhemert. Their daughters grew up in it, and both are now involved with the maze. That kind of history shows in the details.
The maze itself is designed for kids, not just around them. Every wanderer heads in with a crayon and a blank survival guide, hunting clues to fill in a map to take home. If your crew is truly stuck, you wave a flag and the Corn Cop comes to the rescue. Plan on roughly forty minutes, and know that the finish includes a Victory bridge where you can look back over what you just “corn-quered.”
Then there’s everything that isn’t the maze. Admission includes the Farmy Fun Zone, which is essentially a farm-built playground: giant mountain slides made from culvert pipe, a hay bale maze, an obstacle course, roll tubes, fidget ladders, a spider web, corn tires, corn hole, and apple slingshots and cannons for launching things down the hillside. There are farm animals to visit, a country store, and a pumpkin patch already picked and laid out so nobody has to lug a wagon through a field. The food truck handles gourmet Mexican food and a “corn-cessions stand” with kettle corn, apple cider donuts, cider slushies, and hot cider. Parents who want a hard cider can have one on tap right there.
Saturday nights are their own thing. The night maze runs by flashlight, campfires are open to the public where you can roast s’mores, and live music from top notch local bands plays as part of the Music in the Mountains series. Check their calendar for more details.
Blue Mountain Maze is a festival for all-ages. It’s the rare fall event that works just as well for a group of adults as it does a family with a four-year-old or a bunch of teenagers.
What To Expect On Your First Visit
Take the scenic Route 151 drive and look for Blue Toad Hard Cider. Buy tickets online ahead or at the booth. Their own advice, which is worth taking: October weekends are busiest, so aim for mid-morning, or come in September or November when the crowds are smaller. Wear shoes that can get dirty and bring layers, because the hilltop runs colder than town. Bring water, and baby wipes if you have little ones. If you’re bringing a stroller, a jogging stroller with big wheels handles the paths better, small wheels and pull wagons will fight you the whole way. Coming at night, pack flashlights. You can bring your own food, though s’mores for the public campfires need to be bought on site. If you want the corn tall and green rather than rustling and golden, come early in the season.
