One of the country’s best fall farm experiences is hiding just south of Charlotte.
Hall Family Farm in Lancaster was just ranked the No. 9 corn maze in America by USA TODAY’s 2026 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards. It was the only South Carolina farm to make this year’s national top 10.
The recognition is not a fluke. Time Out ranked Hall Family Farm No. 4 among America’s best corn mazes in 2025, praising its unusually elaborate puzzle-based design.
What visitors find today goes far beyond a traditional pumpkin patch.
The fourth-generation family farm combines a massive interactive maze, real pick-your-own crops, aerial ropes courses, a curved zip rail and a full restaurant. There is even a bakery and coffee shop serving homemade doughnuts and espresso drinks.
The Corn Maze Is More Like an Outdoor Escape Room
Hall’s centerpiece is a seven-acre corn maze, but simply finding the exit is only part of the challenge.
For 2026, the maze celebrates United States history and hides nine puzzle challenges throughout the field. Visitors must explore the maze and solve the puzzles as they work toward completing the game.
The corn reached roughly 8 to 10 feet tall this season. The farm estimates the full maze can take one to two hours to complete.
That approach helped earn the farm national recognition. Last year’s pirate-themed maze also contained nine escape-room-style puzzles, which helped land Hall at No. 4 on Time Out’s national list.
Visitors who want an easier challenge can tackle a separate 15-minute maze. It is designed for all ages and is also stroller and wheelchair accessible.
The Farm Has a Ropes Course — and a Curved Zip Rail
One of Hall’s most unusual attractions sits high above the traditional hayrides and pumpkin fields.
The Goat Walk is a custom two-level aerial ropes course with more than 20 obstacles. It also includes a Sky Rail zip line that curves 180 degrees around part of the course.
The attraction’s manufacturer, RCI Adventure Products, specifically featured Hall Family Farm as an example of bringing major adventure attractions into agritourism. A separate Kid Walk places platforms about three feet above ground for smaller children.
Despite the name, the Goat Walk does not actually involve goats.
What Makes Hall Family Farm Stand Out
Some farms specialize in pumpkins. Others focus on rides, food or corn mazes. Hall has developed an unusual combination of all of them.
Among its biggest can’t-miss features:
- No. 9 corn maze in America for 2026 — and the only South Carolina farm in USA TODAY’s national top 10.
- Seven-acre U.S. History maze with nine escape-room-style puzzle challenges and a one-to-two-hour completion time.
- Two-level Goat Walk ropes course with more than 20 elements and a 180-degree curved Sky Rail.
- Real pick-your-own pumpkins still growing on the vine. The farm even provides pruners so visitors can cut their own.
- Two acres of play areas, including duck races, a bamboo maze, fire truck slide, 30-foot spider web and sandbox.
- Musical hayrides, pedal cars, a corn pit, gem mining and a separate ropes course for younger children.
- Hall’s Kitchen, a bakery and coffee shop, turning the property into more of an all-day destination than a quick pumpkin stop.
- The apple cider doughnut sundae, made with a homemade cider doughnut, vanilla ice cream, caramel and whipped cream. Time Out specifically singled it out when ranking the farm nationally.
Perhaps most unusually, general admission to the farm is still free. Visitors pay separately for premium attractions, food and anything they pick.
From Ballantyne Cotton Farm to National Attraction
Hall Family Farm also has deep Charlotte roots.
Kevin Hall’s great-grandfather bought farmland along Providence Road West during the 1920s. The property eventually grew to roughly 600 acres, including land where Ballantyne Country Club now sits.
For generations, the land produced cotton, vegetables and other crops. Kevin and Lara Hall, both Virginia Tech engineering graduates, eventually transformed what remained into a modern agritourism business.
Their first pick-your-own strawberry crop opened in 2008. The farm quickly became a South Charlotte tradition for strawberries, pumpkins, hayrides and corn mazes.
Development eventually caught up with the property.
The family sold its remaining Ballantyne land to Novant Health in 2019 for $21 million. Instead of ending the farm, the Halls moved about 14 miles south and rebuilt on roughly 160 acres near Van Wyck.
The Lancaster location opened in 2021 with far more room to expand. The property also includes a six-acre irrigation pond and enough space for attractions that would have been difficult at the old Ballantyne site.
Kevin Hall’s engineering background still plays a role. UNC Charlotte’s oral-history project documented how the family uses engineering skills, GPS technology and custom equipment throughout the farming operation.
What To Know Before Going
Hall Family Farm is located at 445 W. Rebound Road in Lancaster, near Van Wyck.
The 2026 fall season runs through Nov. 1, with the farm typically open Friday through Sunday and select additional dates. Saturday hours extend until 10 p.m., allowing visitors to attempt the corn maze after dark.
Reservations are not required, and there is no general admission fee. Because hours can change with weather, the farm recommends checking its website or calling before making the drive.
For a farm that began with one acre of pick-your-own strawberries in 2008, Hall has become something far different.
It is now a nationally ranked fall attraction that combines a working farm with an escape room, adventure park and some of the most elaborate seasonal attractions near Charlotte.
