Festivals, apple picking, ghost tours, and more: Ways to celebrate fall in New Jersey

While autumn may seem far away amid soaring temperatures, it’s only about a month until school starts, and the season’s official debut arrives not long after that. 

To celebrate the impending arrival of cooler weather, we’ve compiled ways to enjoy fall in New Jersey. From apple and pumpkin picking to ghost tours and fall festivals, there’s much autumn revelry happening in the Garden State in the coming months.

Where to see the changing leaves

Head to New Jersey’s 49 state parks and forests to view the changing leaves that typically begin boasting their autumnal hues around mid-September, with the peak often occurring between mid- and late October. At Cape May Point State Park, see the changing colors on hiking trails that bring you through a park that’s on a major bird migratory route. Bird-watchers can check out New Jersey Audubon’s breakdown of fall bird-watches this year.

The Skylands Region in the central and northern parts of the state is filled with hiking trails and scenic overlooks. While there, check out Hopatcong State Park, where you can get a panoramic view of a world tilting toward winter at New Jersey’s largest freshwater lake, Lake Hopatcong.

Spanning more than 16,000 acres is High Point State Park, where you can hike to the highest elevation in the state, the summit of the Kittatinny Ridge. Once you’re done with your hike, you don’t have to leave the park if you want some more outdoor time; you can camp there (and in other state parks) through Oct. 31.

The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, which runs along the Delaware River in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, explodes into color in the fall. The area covers more than 70,000 acres, and there are over 150 miles of hiking trails with a range of difficulty levels. For those who use wheelchairs, the area has a number of accessible trails, activities and cultural sites.

If you’re looking for a longer hike, the Appalachian Trail runs 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine and includes a 72-mile stretch through New Jersey’s forests, lakes and state parks. Be sure to check out the seven miles from Pochuck Valley to Pinwheel’s Vista on the Appalachian Trail. There, you’ll traverse a mile-long boardwalk over Pochuck Creek’s marshlands, cross a 110-foot suspension bridge, and climb rock-slab steps to Pinwheel’s Vista at the top of Wawayanda Mountain.

While admission to New Jersey’s state parks had been free since 2021, when people were seeking outdoor spaces during the early days of COVID, the state started charging for entrance again as of July 1. Daily state park entrance fees vary by park and the day of the week, with weekends and holidays more expensive. Weekday parking for New Jersey residents is often $5 or $6, and weekends and holidays are approximately $10. A state park pass is $50 for New Jersey residents and $75 for nonresidents; the passes provide free entry for one calendar year to state parks and forests. The pass does not cover camping fees.

Fall festivals

Fall festivals draw people from throughout New Jersey and beyond to celebrate the season with corn mazes, pumpkin patches, hot-air balloon rides, and more autumnal activities.

At the New Jersey Botanical Garden’s Harvest Fest on Sunday, Oct. 5 in Ringwood Park, there will be hayrides, pumpkin painting, food trucks, and an autumn plant sale. Admission is free, but parking is $5 per car.

Another free ode to autumn will take place in Cherry Hill, which will host its Harvest Festival on Sunday, Oct. 19, at Croft Farm. Admission is free, with food trucks and a beer garden providing paid refreshments. There will be free pumpkins for attendees, live music, a craft show, a petting zoo, and other children’s activities. 

More than 20,000 visitors are expected to attend the 25th annual Margate Fall Funfest by the Bay on Saturday, Sept. 27 and Sunday, Sept. 28. Admission is free. The event will include more than 110 booths with food, arts and crafts and local nonprofit information. There will be children’s activities, live music, parades, costumed characters, a vodka tent, and a beer garden.

Von Thun’s Country Farm Market in Monmouth Junction will host its farm market fall festival every Saturday and Sunday in October. The event includes a six-plus-acre corn maze, pumpkin bowling, barnyard miniature golf, cornhole, farm animals, and access to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch. Admission for a weekend pass starts at $23.99 per person. Children 3 and under are free.

Montclair History Center will celebrate its third annual fall fest fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 27. All proceeds will support the center’s mission to preserve and educate the public about Montclair history. The festival will include food and drinks from local vendors, meet-and-greets with farm animals, live hearth cooking demonstrations, and live music from Montclair’s School of Rock. If the Saturday event is rained out, it will be held on Sunday, Sept. 28. Tickets purchased through Sept. 15 are $12 per person. After Sept. 15, online tickets and tickets bought at the door are $15 per person.

Want to spend more time in the air than on the ground? The Warren County Hot Air Balloons, Fun and Games Festival will take place in Washington on Saturday, Sept. 20 and Sunday, Sept. 21. There will be tethered hot-air balloon rides, live music, children’s games, food trucks, crafters, and vendors. Tickets purchased online through Sept. 19 are $10 per adult and $4 per children ages 4 to 12. Children 3 and under are free. Tickets purchased after Sept. 19, both online and at the gate, will be $12 per adult, $5 per child ages 4 to 12, and free for those 3 and under. Parking is $6 per car.

Spooky fun 

From ghost tours to the Paranormal Museum, there are plenty of ways to have some hair-raising fun this Halloween. 

Peruse eerie dolls, Ouija boards and supernatural lore at the Paranormal Museum in Asbury Park. The museum also hosts ghost tours of downtown Asbury Park and the Asbury Park boardwalk.

For the haunted house aficionados among us, or just those who really want to get their blood pressure up, head to New Jersey’s farmland. Schaefer Farms in Flemington annually puts on its Farm of Horrors event, which allows visitors to spend 45 minutes “navigating over 200 acres of pure terror,” according to the event’s website. This year’s dates and ticket prices haven’t been announced yet, but last year the event ran from the end of September through the end of October. There’s also Norz Hill Farm’s Scare Farm in Hillsborough, the Field of Terror in East Windsor, and Night of Terror in Mullica Hill.

Cape May MAC, a nonprofit, will host spooky events throughout the month of October. There will be a Ghosts of Cape May trolley tour, ghost walk, Voices from Beyond tours, murder mystery dinners, and more. Plus, you can visit Scarecrow Alley at the nonprofit’s Emlen Physick Estate, a Victorian house museum.

For something more picturesque than eerie, jump aboard the Great Pumpkin Train in Phillipsburg. The train runs from Sept. 30 through Oct. 29 and takes riders along the Delaware River. Along the way, you can get off the train to explore a corn maze or pan for gemstones to take home. Tickets are $15 per child and $21 per adult.

Go apple picking

There’s no shortage of places to go apple picking in the Garden State. At Alstede Farms in Chester, you can pick more than 50 different varieties of apples, as well as pumpkins, gourds, and winter squash. There are plenty of child-friendly activities there, including a corn maze, wagon train rides, a giant hay pyramid, pony rides, and farm animals.

Head to Mackey’s Orchard in Belvidere, where you can pick apples on 45 acres overlooking the Delaware Water Gap. Once you’ve worked up an appetite, indulge in mile-high apple pie, an apple pie made from five pounds of apples.

Demarest Farms in Hillsdale offers apple picking, hay rides, a pumpkin patch, a play area, and a Halloween light show that takes visitors through 32 acres of Halloween light displays.

Lighthouse Challenge 

The Lighthouse Challenge of New Jersey takes place on the third weekend of October every year. This year’s event will be held from Oct. 18 to Oct. 19, when participants will be challenged to visit 11 lighthouse sites, four lifesaving stations, and one museum situated along the Atlantic coast. 

At each lighthouse, you’ll have the chance to learn about its history. Included in the challenge is the Sandy Hook Lighthouse, which is the oldest operating lighthouse in the United States. The lighthouse was completed on June 11, 1764.

The cost to register is $10 per person; children 11 and under are able to compete for free with an adult. 

Explore the Pine Barrens 

The Pine Barrens is a forested area covering about 1.1 million acres in what is the largest natural area on the mid-Atlantic seaboard. In 1978, Congress created the Pinelands National Reserve, the country’s first national reserve. The Pine Barrens covers about 22% of New Jersey’s land, including parts of seven counties and 56 municipalities, according to the New Jersey Conservation Foundation.

There is much to do in the Pine Barrens throughout the year. When fall rolls around, head to the area for hiking, kayaking, canoeing, bird-watching, and camping. Pinelands Adventures, an initiative from the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, offers a variety of activities in autumn, including night hikes, bird song presentations, and a cranberry farm tour.