Hackettstown, NJ: A Taste of Small-town USA

After Boston we headed to New Jersey, unfortunately being sent through the Bronx on our way there, but that’s another story.  We planned to stay at a Harvest Hosts, in Hackettstown, NJ. Our intention was to have it be a one night stay, and move onward toward Philadelphia in the morning. After arriving we realized we couldn’t have come on a better weekend. The farm we were parked at was having a big “fall festival” with apple picking, a pumpkin patch (where you actually get to pick your pumpkin off the vine), hay rides, and a corn maze. It was like a dream to us Floridians. We have 0 resemblance of fall in Central Florida. The host offered us to stay the weekend since we weren’t in the way and we happily obliged. The parked us next to the corn field and maze, which had really cool views.

The fall festival was so fun! We enjoyed the pumpkin patch, had delicious apples and homemade cider, shopped around their local store and went on the coolest corn maze ever. Every year they turn the maze into a different design, this year it was a US soldier. This is picture was taken from the Strava app which tracks your hikes. Turned out pretty cool!

After our we arrived our first night, we went into downtown Hackettstown, about a 15 minute drive from our camping spot to check out the town. To our merry surprise this town boasts three local craft breweries. For a town of just under 10,000 people that’s a pretty impressive number! Here’s a fun fact for you, Hackettstown is where the M&M factory is although we didn’t make it there. We decided to check out Manskirt Brewing. Located in an old bank, it’s a super small operation that is offering up some pretty tasty pours. We were more than pleased with each of the beers we tasted (and of course we tasted all of them). That’s when we found it, not only was it the “Fall Festival” but it was also Oktoberfest. Talk about perfect timing! So of course, we stayed and enjoyed a fun day around town, eating local german food, drinking brews from the local breweries and bars, and even watched a wiener dog race (yes you read that correctly). Oktoberfest was packed as you can see from the pictures. They said it was a big event and they weren’t lying.

Everyone we met was super friendly, welcoming, and all in all fun people! We didn’t expect to enjoy this small little New Jersey town as much as we did, but welcomed the opportunity and cherished every minute of fun.

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