Tennessee's largest corn maze opens for the season Friday in Chapel Hill, spreading across 18 acres of farmland at Nash Family Creamery and offering visitors three separate mini mazes to work through before sundown. The maze will run Tuesday through Sunday through November 1, giving fall visitors more than two months to find their way through the state's biggest agricultural puzzle.
According to WSMV, Nash Family Creamery reports that the corn maze will officially open on Friday, August 28. The farm says this year's maze will include special themes celebrating America's 250th anniversary, and interested visitors can find the creamery's hours of operation on the Nash Family Creamery website. The 18-acre footprint makes it the largest corn maze in Tennessee, according to Nashville Guru, which reports the maze is broken into three distinct sub-mazes mapped with physical and digital orientation checkpoints, with the main maze looping back to a central entrance and exit. Visitors under 16 must be accompanied by an adult, per the outlet.
A Patriotic Design for the Semiquincentennial
This year's cornfield art carries extra symbolism. The maze design incorporates American flag imagery and the creamery's initials as part of the national buildup to America's 250th anniversary, the Nashville outlet notes. Nationwide, maze designers are leaning into similar patriotic themes for 2026 as communities mark the Semiquincentennial. Visitors can get tickets and more information on the Nash Family Creamery website, and the maze stays open until sundown every day the creamery is open.
Cutting a design that intricate into a cornfield isn't just a matter of guesswork with a machete. Commercial maze operators across the country now rely on precision agriculture tools, including GPS-guided tractors and rototillers, to carve pathways while corn stalks are still just 6 to 12 inches tall, according to MLive. That sub-foot accuracy is what allows a design as detailed as a flag and a set of initials to actually read clearly from above once the stalks mature.
From California Dairy to Middle Tennessee Agritourism
The maze sits on land with a longer backstory. The Nash family originally built their dairy operation in central California back in 1929, but in 2014 they relocated their entire 1,800-head cattle herd, farm machinery, and staff to a 500-acre Chapel Hill property to escape West Coast drought and high operating costs, according to Experience Tennessee. Founders Wallace and Ida Nash had launched the original family farm during the Great Depression.
After the cross-country move, the family built a modern 48-cow milking parlor and opened the public-facing creamery in September 2020, according to Taking The Kids. The creamery serves small-batch ice cream in 20 rotating flavors alongside farm-fresh meals like the Piggy Mac, marking the family's shift from wholesale dairy production into direct-to-consumer agritourism. The same account notes the creamery's traditional flavors, like vanilla and butter pecan, have earned state fair accolades.
Legal Protections Behind the Farm Attraction Boom
Farm attractions like this one operate under a specific legal framework in Tennessee. The Tennessee Agritourism Liability Act, enacted in 2009, shields agritourism operators from civil liability for the inherent risks of farm activities, provided proper warning notices are posted, according to legal reference site Justia. That statutory protection has helped encourage farmers across the state to diversify into public attractions like mazes and pick-your-own operations without facing prohibitive legal exposure.
The numbers show why so many farms have made that bet. Tennessee's value-added agriculture and agritourism sector expanded to $142.8 million in value, according to 2022 U.S. Census of Agriculture data cited by Southern Ag Today, up more than 65 percent from 2017 levels. Nationwide agritourism revenue surpassed $1.26 billion in 2022, with Southern states generating more than a third of that total, per the same report.
How Nash Family Creamery Compares Regionally
Nash Family Creamery's 18-acre maze dwarfs some of its closest regional competitors. Lucky Ladd Farms in nearby Eagleville operates a 4-acre corn maze on its 60-acre park, according to Rutherford Source, illustrating just how much scale separates the two Middle Tennessee fall destinations. Chapel Hill itself sits in rural Marshall County, roughly 50 miles — about a 60-minute drive — south of downtown Nashville along Highway 41A, the Nashville outlet reports, a distance that has helped the county capitalize on the region's growing agritourism trade.
For visitors who want to experience the maze after dark, the farm hosts select Flashlight Night events during the fall season, extending entry past the standard sundown closing time until 10 p.m., according to Experience Tennessee. Separate ticketing is required for that after-dark access through the 18-acre field, giving visitors another reason to plan a return trip once the sun goes down.
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