Free to walk into the market and cannery, with a ticketed corn maze, hayrides and gem mine layered on a 100-acre Rabun County farm — but no 2026 dates or prices are published, and it is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
The farm market and cannery are free to enter; the corn maze, hayrides and gem mine are ticketed but no prices are published on the farm's own site.
Free to walk in. Your spend here is whatever you choose — pumpkins, food, and any paid activities. That makes it a low-risk stop if you are not sure how long the kids will last.
The structure here is the good kind. Walking onto the property, browsing the market and looking round the cannery costs nothing; the corn maze, the hayrides and the gem mine are separately ticketed. That means you can arrive without committing, decide what your children actually want to do, and leave having spent nothing if the mood turns. Compared with a $20-a-head all-inclusive gate, it is a much friendlier structure for a family with a toddler and an uncertain afternoon.
The cost of that structure is that we cannot tell you what anything costs. The farm publishes no prices for the maze, the hayrides or the gem mine, and gem mining in particular is the attraction most likely to quietly double a day’s spend — it is sold by the bag at essentially every farm that offers it, and children do not stop at one bag.
When we read the farm’s fall page in August 2026 it was still carrying language from the 2025 season, with no 2026 dates and no prices. What it does say is that the corn maze typically opens in September. A corn-maze directory lists a September 18 opening; we could not confirm that for this year. The honest position is that this farm has not told the public when its 2026 season starts, and 706-782-2776 is the only way to find out.
Lakemont sits in the far northeast corner of the state, and two things follow from that. The first is that this is real farm country above the fall line: the corn maze is cut into a crop that grew here and the pumpkins are local, which is not the case everywhere pumpkins are sold. The second is weather. It gets cold here earlier and harder than most Georgians expect, and a family that has dressed for an Atlanta October will be uncomfortable on a Rabun County farm at 9am or after dusk. Bring an actual jacket.
The third practical point is traffic. The second half of October is peak leaf season across north Georgia, and the mountain roads into Rabun County carry that crowd on the same weekends the farms are busiest. A Thursday or Friday morning avoids most of it. So, for that matter, does simply arriving early — but check the day of the week first, because Tuesday and Wednesday you will find the gate shut.
A Thursday or Friday morning in early October. The farm's published hours are 9am to 5pm on Mondays and Thursday through Saturday, with Sundays 1pm to 5pm — it is closed Tuesday and Wednesday, which is the detail that costs people a wasted drive. As for dates, the farm says only that the corn maze typically opens in September; a corn-maze directory lists a September 18 opening that we could not confirm for 2026. Rabun County is as far north as Georgia goes, so mid-to-late October puts you in the middle of peak leaf season and peak traffic simultaneously.
Two to three hours if you buy into the ticketed attractions, under an hour if you are only there for the market and the cannery.
Rabun County in the second half of October is the busiest it gets all year, because the leaf-season crowd and the fall-farm crowd are largely the same people arriving on the same weekend. Mornings and weekdays are meaningfully calmer.
Not published. Assume a field or gravel lot on a 100-acre farm, which means mud after rain and closed shoes rather than sandals.
You are travelling on a Tuesday or Wednesday, when the farm is closed. Also skip it if you need to know the cost in advance — no prices for the maze, hayrides or gem mine appear anywhere we could read.
The farm market and cannery are free to enter. The corn maze, hayrides and gem mine are ticketed, and the farm does not publish those prices on its own site.
The farm has not published 2026 dates. Its own fall page still carried 2025-season language when we checked in August 2026 and said only that the maze typically opens in September. A directory lists a September 18 opening, which we could not confirm.
Tuesday and Wednesday. Published hours are 9am to 5pm on Monday and Thursday through Saturday, and 1pm to 5pm on Sunday.
2026 dates had not been published when we last checked. In past seasons it has run: Monday and Thursday through Saturday, plus Sunday afternoons. Check with the farm before driving out.
Admission is free. The farm market and cannery are free to enter; the corn maze, hayrides and gem mine are ticketed but no prices are published on the farm's own site.
18 Sorghum Mill Dr, Lakemont, GA 30552, in Rabun County. It is one of 14 patches we track in North Georgia.
We track 14 patches in North Georgia, 6 of which are free to walk into. Entry here costs nothing, which puts it in the minority even in a region with several free options.
What sets it apart locally: it has an after-dark attraction, u-pick fields, a market, bakery or taproom, which most North Georgia patches on our list do not.
One caveat worth repeating: this farm had not published its 2026 dates when we last checked, while 6 of the 14 patches we track in North Georgia had. Treat any date you see elsewhere as last year's until the farm confirms it.
hillsideorchard.com · pumpkinpatches.com · cornmazesandmore.org
Checked August 2026.