VIRGINIA BEACH — Get ready to get lost.

The corn maze at Cullipher Farm in Virginia Beach’s Back Bay is a cornucopia of dead ends and wrong turns that steer visitors deep into the stalks.

“You’ve got to use your head,” said Mikayla Appleby. She and Robert Lathrop, both 31, spent about 30 minutes navigating the maze this week.

“I love doing them,” said Lathrop, a Chesapeake firefighter. “It’s a challenge.”

Cullipher’s 8½-acre maze opened last weekend. Bergey’s Barnyard in Chesapeake is opening its 10-acre corn maze on Saturday. Both farms have offered mazes for more than 10 years. Also in Chesapeake, Hickory Ridge Farm has a children’s corn maze, and Lilley Farms in Western Branch will open its corn maze the last weekend of September.

Bergey’s is shaped like a tree this year and will take about 30 minutes to complete, said manager Joel Bergey.

“If you keep taking the wrong turns you could be in there for an hour,” he said.

The entrance and exit to the corn maze at Cullipher Farm in Virginia Beach are seen on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot)

As operational costs rise, local farmers continue to look for ways to diversify their businesses, including on-farm experiences. Agritourism is a growing industry and revenue generator in Hampton Roads, particularly in the fall, with seasonal activities such as hay rides, pumpkin patches, harvest festivals and corn mazes.

“Instead of going and setting up remote markets, we want to bring communities to the farms,” said David Trimmer, agriculture director for Virginia Beach.

Agritourism experiences can strengthen the bonds between friends and family members, according to a 2017 Virginia Tech study, which also found such venues have a wide appeal to nearly every socioeconomic group.

Each year, the Culliphers hire a company to map a grid for the maze, which is marked off in July when the corn is only about 6 inches tall. At the end of the season, the corn is harvested and fed to cattle raised on the farm.

Cullipher Farm in Virginia Beach has opened its corn maze for the season. (courtesy of Cullipher Farm).

Jeb Cullipher, who helps operate the family farm, went astray mowing the paths within the 8½-acre field this summer.

“At some point, you’ve got no idea where you’ve been and where you haven’t been, you’re just looking for uncut grass,” he said. “I’ve been lost in there so many times.”

Now, the thick green corn stalks tower well above the average person. The dense leaves form a barrier likes walls of a tunnel.

Inside the maze, disorientation quickly sets in, but senses heighten with each step. In the distance, the rumble of cars can be heard traveling down Princess Anne Road. Grain silos can be seen on the horizon. Still, nothing delineates one path from another.

There are no clues. No trail of crumbs.

“We can’t give it away,” said Cullipher. “That’s the adventure of the maze.”

Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com

Want to go?

What: Cullipher Farm corn maze

When: Opens at 9 a.m.; last entry at 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

Where: 772 Princess Anne Road, Virginia Beach

Cost: $10

Info: cullipherfarm.com

https://www.dailypress.com/2025/09/13/hampton-roads-corn-mazes/