10 Best Pumpkin Patches

Pumpkin patch purists will balk, but we had to include the Punkin Chunkin on this list. How else would you know there's a place where people compete to see how far they can make a pumpkin soar (and go splat in glorious fashion)? Visitors use everything from catapults to air cannons to launch the gourds nearly 5,000 feet ⎯ and all proceeds going to charity. It's good, messy, find-pumpkin-seeds-in-your-hair fun.

The Seiple family has been plotting their 800-acre dream farm in Bath, PA since 1889. Every October, crowds gather to explore the corn maze, wander through the haunted barn, go for pony rides and score that perfect pumpkin (there are enough varietals here to wow Martha Stewart).

Bob takes the traditional pumpkin patch a step further in this forested corner of Washington: think apple cannons to fire, 200-pound pumpkins to Insta, and rides on both ponies and John Deere trikes (yep, that's a thing). But our favorite offerings are the 15 rentable fire pits in the maze, complete with tiki torches and roaring bonfires (you bring the s'more fixins).

Two things separate Pine Haven Farm from the rest of the pack. First, "Captain Jack Sparrow" is here —and okay, he's no Johnny Depp, but his stand-in is a pirate and highly photogenic. Second, a bone-chilling "Dead End Hayride," with creepy clowns and other things you can't un-see (blood-splattered ghosts in cages among them). Leave your kids with grandma for that one.

If you’ve never zip-lined over a pumpkin patch, explored a super-freaky “dark acres” nighttime corn maze, or ridden in a horse-drawn hay ride, Studt’s is your spot. Bonus: the pumpkins here are pesticide-free — something to consider when your kids are crawling all over them.

Amateur history buffs have long flocked to the foothills of the San Bernardino mountains—just an hour from L.A.—to see Riley’s Farms' reenactments of the California Gold Rush and Civil War. Scan the adjacent grounds for Cinderella, Camaro and Diablo pumpkins, and don't leave the property without tasting the cider baked ham at the 18th-century-inspired tavern.

Since 1976, Portlandia-types have headed to The Pumpkin Patch to pick locavore gourds from over a million pounds of pumpkins that grow on-site. We love it for the hayrides, hay pyramid and maze, rides for the little ones and 1929 red barn, where you'll meet friendly cows, horses and roosters. The best part? It's all free—and the pumpkins start at just 50 cents.

As far as hayrides go, Burt's takes the...hay, winding two miles through forested woods and glorious pumpkin fields, where you'll see knockout mountain views and get a peek at the 729-foot-high Amicalola Falls. Did we mention you'll go through a covered bridge filled with singing pumpkins?

The people behind Pigeon Roost have thought of everything all ages could want, but especially the wee ones, who'll find a low-set soybean maze and Toddler Town just for them. Look out for the giant pumpkins⎯many larger than the family dog⎯that will set your porch apart.

The Queens County Farm is just a short drive away from the Big Apple, and New York's largest remaining untouched farmland. In October, urbanites come to pick pumpkins, get lost in the Amazing Maize Maze, go for hayrides and pretend they're farmers for an hour or two.