Apple Cider Celebration at The Rocks ~ Columbus Day Weekend

There’s so much to celebrate this time of year at The Rocks – Tag-Your-Own tree season, the opening of our shops, the vibrant colors of fall foliage filling the landscape at the farm and on the surrounding hills.

This year we’re adding one more thing to celebrate: apples!

The Rocks will host our first-ever Apple Cider Celebration over the three days of Columbus Day Weekend, October 10-12, and it will be a delight for the senses! The kaleidoscopic colors of autumn, the taste of freshly pressed apple cider, horse-drawn wagon rides through the farm, and a program on pruning apple trees.

Beyond the myriad rows of Christmas trees growing through the fields at The Rocks, there are nearly 200 apple trees. These are all heirloom varieties and are pruned for the benefit of the many species of wildlife who live on the farm and rely on apples as a staple of their fall diet: deer, bear, coyote, turkey, moose, porcupine and others.

Both The Rocks Marketplace and the Gift Shop – chockfull of gifts, decorations, and the works of many local artisans – will be open during the Apple Cider Celebration, which will run each day of the long weekend from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Wagon rides will be offered Sunday and Monday. The apple tree pruning presentation will be Saturday at 11 a.m. Guests are invited to explore the network of trails at The Rocks, bring a picnic lunch to enjoy in the formal gardens or elsewhere on the Estate, visit the interactive New Hampshire Maple Experience museum, and even “tag” a Christmas tree in the field. (For more on The Rocks’ Tag-Your-Own tree season, check out our last Blog post!) 

For those who want to continue celebrating apple cider, we’ll also have small cider presses available for sale. Sip cider, shop for the holidays, take in the colors of fall…the Apple Cider Celebration has it all!

Fall Foliage and Christmas Trees at The Rocks

Looking for a fun fall foliage excursion? Thinking ahead to the holiday season and want to get started on your holiday prep? You'll find all that and more at The Rocks Estate this fall!

The Rocks will be open weekends from October 3^rd - October 18^th for tag-your-own Christmas tree seekers, holiday shopping, and – of course – enjoying the annual autumnal burst of color.

The Rocks' Christmas tree fields and gift shops will be open Saturdays and Sundays, October 3^rd -October 18^th, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tree-taggers should bring their own decorations and some personal flair to “tag” their perfect tree in the field. Ornaments, ribbons, streamers: it’s all great for reserving your favorite tree until cutting time. These early birds may return once The Rocks opens for the winter season to cut and purchase tagged trees. (The Rocks will be open daily, except Thanksgiving Day, from Nov. 21-Dec. 24.)

The Rocks will again run a Facebook contest, where tree taggers are invited to post photos of their tagged trees, then vote on a favorite. The photo with the most votes will earn its taggers a free tree.  

Both The Rocks Marketplace and the Gift Shop will be open to shoppers during tag-your-own weekends. The Gift Shop shelves are loaded with Rocks maple syrup, ornaments, decorations, and tee-shirts. The Marketplace is filled with an array of locally-crafted and U.S.A-made items, from home goods and holiday decorations to hand-made soaps and loads of Christmas ornaments. New this year are a collection of crafting kits for children, created by New Hampshire company Harrisville Designs, as well as several lines of locally-crafted jewelry. Other offerings by local crafters and artisans extend from chocolates and preserves to handmade soaps and pottery.

Columbus Day Weekend (October 10-12), The Rocks will also host an Apple Cider Celebration, featuring cider-making, horse-drawn wagon rides through the farm, and an apple tree pruning program. (Check our online calendar, or stay tuned here for more details!)

Visit The Rocks this fall to take in the colors, find a perfect Christmas tree, and enjoy the holiday spirit that permeates the air year-round on Christmas Lane!

The Rocks Estate is for the birds – and bear and deer and…

Bluebird atop a Christmas tree

We’re best known at The Rocks for growing Christmas trees, but there’s more to the property than neat rows of fir trees lining the fields. With some 1,400 acres of managed farm and forest lands, The Rocks is home to countless wildlife species, including turkey, bear, deer, and an array of songbirds and raptors who nest here or simply pass through seasonally.

Northern Goshawk

Earlier this week we were visited by a flock of bluebirds, who perched in the Christmas trees, pretty as any ornament. Killdeer are summer nesters in our fields. After we mow the fields to keep the grass low between our trees, we often see Northern Goshawks and Kestrels, which both assist our Christmas tree cultivation efforts by hunting voles, which can damage and kill trees by eating the roots and bark.

With trails through open fields and woods, The Rocks is a popular place for birders. So, if you’re coming to one of our tag-your-own tree weekends this fall, or simply looking for a pretty place to explore amid the blaze of fall color, bring your binoculars along. You might see something unexpected!

The Rocks Estate is the North Country Conservation & Education Center for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.