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!

From our farm to your home ~ Happy Holidays from The Rocks Estate

After this year’s annual flurry of festive fun at The Rocks Estate, we trust our friends and customers are nestled in with beautifully trimmed Christmas trees and visions of sugarplums and other holiday delights dancing through their heads.

In this holiday season, we are honored that so many of you spent part of your Christmastime with us at The Rocks. Whether you ordered a tree through our online shop or walked the fields at the farm to find and cut the perfect one, selected a wreath or a unique gift from our shops, visited with Green Father Christmas, or rode through the Estate in a horse-drawn wagon – we hope your Rocks experience added a bit of magic to your holidays.

Things will be quieter at The Rocks in the days following Christmas, but there is always something happening at the farm. Our trail system is open daily from dawn ‘til dusk (leashed pets are always welcome!).

As the North Country Conservation & Education center for the Forest Society, we also offer interactive educational programs throughout the year, including our Bretzfelder Park Family Educational Series, which returns in February. For these programs and others offered at The Rocks in the coming year, please visit our online calendar.

And don’t forget the New Hampshire Maple Experience returns in March!

For now, from our farm to your home, all of us at The Rocks wish you a very Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years!

Horse-drawn wagon rides at The Rocks: A conversation with guide Nancy Czarny

One of the most-loved Christmastime activities at The Rocks Estate is the horse-drawn wagon rides through the farm. Teams of huge draft horses pull the wagons, visitors nestle under warm blankets, and a Rocks guide shares stories about the Estate's history, the Forest Society’s mission, and the work that goes into growing those neat rows of perfect Christmas trees.

Nancy Czarny has been volunteering as a Rocks guide for 19 years. Here’s her take on what makes The Rocks a magical place, and why she keeps coming back year after year…

How did you get started volunteering at The Rocks?

I had moved up from Connecticut and was looking for an outreach program of some sort. I saw an ad in the paper looking for people who wanted to go through volunteer training. I signed up, and it was great. I met a lot of new people. And working at The Rocks, with its conservation mission and education work, was a cause that I could really put my heart behind.

Nancy leads a tour with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen aboard.

Have you always been a wagon guide, or have you done other volunteer work, too?

When I started, we were doing lots of educational programs about Christmas trees with the local school kids, and I was involved in that. The children were so responsive, and I just loved the programs we were teaching. I’ve also done the educational piece of the Maple Experience program we do in the spring.

But my favorite thing to do at The Rocks is to be on the wagons during the holiday season. At first, I was a little shy about doing the tours, but once I got started, it was just really fun.

Do you have a script to follow, or does each guide have his or her own routine?

I think we all go off on our own little tangents. I have my own routine I’ve developed over the years.

I have people who have been on my wagon every Christmas season for years and years. So sometimes I ask them questions to see if they can remember the spiel. Or I ask if they’d rather sing Christmas carols, since they’ve heard it all before. But they always want to hear the wagon dialogue again.

One of the things I tell people, beyond the history of the Estate and how Christmas trees are grown, is how The Rocks ships mail order Christmas trees. Each tree is shipped in a seemingly ordinary cardboard box, but it’s lined to keep the tree fresh, and then you open the box and – spring! – there’s your Christmas tree. I send my sister in Florida a Rocks tree each year, and it’s like a little bit of Christmas magic.

What is the question you get asked most often by wagon riders?

Mostly, it’s the children who want to ask the teamsters questions about the horses. The teamsters are fabulous, and the horses are amazing!

Any wagon rides that stand out after 19 years of guiding?

Once I had a very small group, just two or three couples. We usually don’t let people off the wagon during the ride, but I’d been clued in ahead of time that something special was in the works. One couple asked if they could get down at the Sawmill/Pigpen building, which now houses the Maple Experience. They got down, and the man asked his girlfriend to marry him. She said yes. The other couples were their family and friends, so they popped out the champagne. And on the way back, the script went out the window!

I found out later the couple ended up getting married at The Rocks.

What keeps you coming back each year as a guide at The Rocks?

I think it’s just the happiness on the wagons. It gets me in the Christmas spirit. People are there to get the tree. It’s a happy family experience. It’s a time that they just enjoy. Along the way, they learn something about the Forest Society, about how Christmas trees are grown, what life was like back at the turn of the last century.

People are just happy on those wagons!

To find out more about what's happening at The Rocks this season, please visit us online, and stay tuned to our Blog... Our shops are now open daily, and the farm opens for cut-your-own and retail Christmas tree sales THIS weekend, Nov. 22!

Bus tours rolling into The Rocks Estate

Tour buses rolling along the back roads and state highways are a common sight all around New England this time of year. As the leaves transform the landscape into a breathtaking medley of colors, people come from all over to take in the beautiful fall foliage. And sometimes they come by the tour bus load.

The road to The Rocks is bathed in fall color!

While The Rocks is known most popularly as a Christmas tree farm, we’re also the North Country Conservation & Education Center of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. As part of our education mission, The Rocks offers natural history programs and tours year-round, as well as working with other area businesses and attractions to boost the region’s economy

Yes, there is more to The Rocks than the neat rows of Christmas trees and picturesque views.

When bus tours first started finding their way to The Rocks, the passengers would generally get off the bus, take a quick look around, snap a few photos and reload for the next destination. Oh, how things have changed!

This year The Rocks will welcome a total of 52 bus tours to the Estate, with groups selecting from a variety of natural history programs to enjoy during their visit. These range from the New Hampshire Maple Experience and tours of the Estate’s formal gardens to presentations on some of New Hampshire’s most famous wildlife – moose and bear.

Fifty-two busloads of visitors translates to more than 2,500 people touring The Rocks and neighboring businesses and attractions. From The Rocks, buses often roll on to the Cog Railway at Mt. Washington or Littleton’s celebrated Main Street. Rocks Estate staff members and volunteers also tout other area attractions like the Brick Store in Bath and Harman’s Cheese & Country Store in Sugar Hill. 

Whether you come by bus, car, or motorcycle, we hope you’ll visit The Rocks Estate and the surrounding area this fall. While you’re here, we invite you to jump into the holidays by Tagging-Your-Own Christmas tree in our fields and visiting our fun and festive shops!

Time to Tag-Your-Own Christmas Tree at The Rocks!

We know that for many of you, it’s never too early to start thinking about the holidays! To help all you Christmas junkies out there, we’re opening our fields (and shops!) at The Rocks Estate during weekends from September 27 through October 18 so you can come tag-your-own tree in the fields and get an early start on your holiday shopping.

Tag-Your-Own Christmas tree seekers are welcome to roam the farm in the search of that perfect tree. We encourage Tag-Your-Own folks to come to The Rocks equipped with lots of colorful decorations so you can claim your Christmas tree in style – and be able to find it easily when you return to cut it later. Tag-Your-Owners may come back to The Rocks to cut and purchase their tagged trees anytime from November 22^nd through December 24^th.

Autumn is an amazingly beautiful time to visit The Rocks, as the farm and surrounding hillsides are bursting with fall color. While you’re here looking for a tree, we invite you to enjoy the scenery and some of the other fall fun offered at the farm:

* Get a jump start on your holiday shopping at The Rocks Marketplace and Gift Shop – two great shops offering a festive array of gifts, decorations, and personal treasures, including a plethora of locally- and USA-made items.

* Take a self-guided tour of our interactive New Hampshire Maple Experience, complete with a working sugarhouse and museum.

* Explore some of the beautiful trails on the historic property, weaving through colorful forests, along old stone walls, and past beautifully restored buildings. Bring along your smart phone to gain glimpses of past and present activities at The Rocks with our mobile tour.

Let the holiday season begin... We'll see you at The Rocks this fall!

Spring brings return of NH Maple Experience to The Rocks

Maple syrup lovers, rejoice! The New Hampshire Maple Experience returns to The Rocks Estate March 15 and will run weekends through April 5.

Anyone who’s visited during the Maple Experience in past years knows the event is a feast of the senses, with spectacular views, the heavenly sent of sap boiling into syrup, and – to top it all off – a syrup tasting, complete with fresh donuts and the requisite sour pickles.

Maple Experience visitors learn about the history of maple sugaring and are invited to jump right into the process by helping identify sugar maple trees, drill and tap them to collect sap, and fill a New Hampshire Maple Experience commemorative mason jar with warm syrup at our own sugar house.

While at the sugar house, guests will see fourth-generation sugar maker Brad Presby at work. Brad loves to spin a good yarn, and he’ll happily answer questions about his springtime work of making maple syrup and sugar.

Maple Experience tours also include a horse-drawn wagon ride through the Estate, with an interpretive guide on board each wagon to share information about sugaring and the history of The Rocks.

The New Hampshire Maple Experience runs March 15, 22-23, 29-30 and April 5, with tours scheduled throughout the day. Reservations are recommended and may be made by e-mailing info@therocks.org or calling 603-444-6228.

For more information about the Maple Experience, please check out the New Hampshire Maple Experience website.

Time to Tag-Your-Own Christmas Tree at The Rocks Estate!

A tagged tree in the field

At The Rocks Estate, we believe it’s never too early to start thinking about – and planning for – the winter holidays! On that note, we open this weekend for Tag-Your-Own tree festivities, complete with early holiday shopping, Christmas tree tagging, and the North Country’s magnificent fall foliage.

Once again, The Rocks will be open to Tag-Your-Own tree seekers autumn weekends, from September 28 & 29 through October 19 & 20. Visitors are invited to roam the fields at The Rocks in search of the perfect Christmas tree, “tag” it with their own decorations and personal flair, and return when we open for the traditional holiday season (November 23-December 24) to cut and purchase their tagged trees.

Fall color on Christmas Lane at The Rocks

Both the Marketplace at The Rocks and The Rocks Farm Store will be open during Tag-Your-Own weekends, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Shoppers are sure to find gifts for everyone on their “Nice” list, as well as festive decorations for the holidays. The shops feature an array of U.S.-made, locally-crafted, and Fair Trade items, from hand-painted ornaments and balsam-inspired soaps and candles to local jams and jellies and The Rocks’ own maple syrup.

Autumn is a beautiful time to visit The Rocks and take in the kaleidoscopic colors of the surrounding landscape. Beyond Tag Your Own tree seeking and getting a jump on holiday shopping, autumn at The Rocks is a great time to check out the New Hampshire Maple Experience, wander our extensive trails system, and learn more about The Rocks by taking a self-guided Mobile Tour of this picturesque property owned and maintained by the Society for the Protection of NewHampshire Forests. 

Learn more at TheRocks.org!