With Halloween around the corner, we’re on the hunt for North Carolina’s best patches to pick pumpkins — for pies and/or jack-o-lanterns.
BetCarolina.com — your source for NC sports betting — used Google Maps to compile the corn mazes, pumpkin patches and orchards in North Carolina. Then, we averaged the reviews from TripAdvisor, Yelp! and Google Reviews to rank the top pumpkin patches in the state.
In first place among our batch of patches, is Page Farms, which just edged out Stepp’s Hillcrest Orchard in our gourd-geous ranking system. Page Farms, in Raleigh, is a 100-acre farm that has been family-owned for more than a century and grows pumpkins in the fall and strawberries in the spring. For pumpkin season there’s also a corn maze, hayride and more. Stepp’s, in Hendersonville, is also a fourth-generation farm on 100 acres and offers a wide selection of apples — 26 varieties — in addition to its pumpkins. Grapes are available for picking in August.
In a third-place tie are Justus Orchard in Hendersonville, and Smith’s Family Fun Farm in Hillsborough. The Justus Orchard is now on its fifth generation of growers, and offers apples, pears and blackberries, and a few vegetables, in addition to pumpkins. There’s also a bakery and ducks. The ducks are not for picking. Smith’s, which has been around since 1947 as a Christmas tree spot, has lots of pumpkins, in all sizes and colors, activities for the kids, and Whit’s Frozen Custard. Fifth-place Grandad’s Apples, in Hendersonville, also offers pumpkins for pickin’ in addition to apples, a corn maze and a bakery/market. They also have an apple cannon, a necessary weapon if the pumpkins decide to stage a coup.
Rounding out our top 10 are Darnell Farms in Bryson City, the Vollmer Farm in Bunn, the Ashe County Corn Maze Pumpkin Festival in Jefferson, the Kersey Valley Maize Adventure in Archdale, and Carrigan Farms in Mooresville.
Have fun and please remember to save us a piece of pie.
Shortly after the holidays and new year, North Carolina sports betting apps will make their debut in the state.
Author
Howard Gensler is a veteran journalist covering the North Carolina sports betting market for BetCarolina.com. Before his focus on US sports betting, Howard worked at the Philadelphia Daily News, TV Guide and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Howard is also a founding editor of bettorsinsider.com.
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