The History of the Corn Maze

Walking through a corn maze has become a favorite fall tradition of Americans. The maze can have a specific theme, and the corn is often cut into a certain shape to match that theme. The goal of a corn maze can vary from simply finding your way out from a starting point to an ending point, or to piecing together a map by finding pieces of paper at certain places in the maze. Some corn mazes are even haunted, with jump scares, props, or scary music. But where did the idea of a corn maze all begin, and how did it come to be the attraction that we know today?

Mazes and Labyrinths and Hedges… Oh, my!

Mazes and labyrinths have been around for thousands of years, including during the time of the Greeks and the Romans. Mazes and maze-like patterns, especially in Ancient Rome, could be seen in artwork, homes, flooring, the streets, and then eventually in more architecture, cathedrals, and gardens throughout Europe. Some of the most famous examples of mazes in the 17th century were King Louis XIV’s palace in Versailles and the gardens at the Hampton Court Palace in England. By the 18th century, hedge mazes had become more popular in England, and this fad eventually diffused to the United States, where it took the form of the corn maze. One of the differences between modern corn mazes and hedge mazes is that the once-popular hedge mazes usually followed a geometric pattern with angles and shapes, and corn mazes today are often cut into a shape recognizable from a bird’s eye view.

The Making of a Corn Maze

Although it may seem like it wouldn’t be that hard to create a corn maze, the process beings in the spring and requires many steps and precise, specific timing. In the spring, corn is planted in a grid-like pattern and monitored carefully to make sure it will be strong and tall enough for the maze and doesn’t contract any diseases, such as stalk rot. If a farmer is planting corn for a maze and as a crop, the planting of the corn for the maze is done a few weeks after corn is planted to be grown as a crop. When the corn has reached six feet tall, the pattern for the maze is cut, as is the internal growing point of the stalk so that regrowth of the corn isn’t an issue. Weedkiller also has to be applied so the corn doesn’t grow there, and so the corn can grow around it to form the maze.

The First Corn Maze

The very first corn maze was created by Don Frantz and Adrian Fischer just twenty-six years ago in 1993. Even though today corn mazes can spread over dozens of acres and miles of pathway winding through the corn, this first corn maze was made on just 3 acres of land and the length of the paths in the maze totaled 1.92 miles. This corn maze, located in Pennsylvania, was given the honor of the World’s Largest Corn Maze by Guinness Book of World Records, but it was quickly outdone and the record now belongs to a corn maze in Dixon, California, which spans an impressive 60 acres. There are dozens of corn mazes around the country, so no matter where you’ll be this fall season, you can find one of these delightful fall traditions and enjoy a walk through the corn!