Information: caglesfamilyfarm.com/
There will be no corn maze – nor Cagle’s Family Farm – this fall in Hickory Flat. But the Cagles will still be around, just moved up the road about 19 miles to Conn’s Creek near Ball Ground.
“It was the best move for our family and our customers,” said Ben Cagle, “to go from what it was and what it was becoming – houses all around. It just wasn’t going to be appealing to our customers.”
Cagle referred to the farm’s location until this year on Stringer Road roughly 40 miles north of downtown Atlanta. The family has been farming the Cherokee County land since 1936. Twenty-three years ago, in a savvy move to draw paying tourists, Ben’s grandfather Albert opened the land and working dairy to visitors.
Carloads of families and busloads of metro Atlanta school kids flocked north to pick pumpkins, see cows milked and ride hay wagons. As many as 15,000 schoolchildren a year got a taste of rural life, and 40,000 visitors would walk the maze. The Cagles owned about 70 acres and leased another 200 acres from their neighbors.
All the while, urban sprawl was creeping closer.
“Developers would come around, and we’d say no, no, no,” said Ben, a fourth-generation Cagle who runs the farm with his wife Vicki. “But two years ago, Holly Springs approached us, and we worked out a deal.”
Holly Springs agreed to buy 58 acres for $3.5 million for a future park. "It was supposed to be a 10-year take-down," Cagle said.
Then, the Byers family farm outside Ball Ground became available. The land had been in that family for more than 100 years. “My wife grew up in that community, and we built a house about a half-mile down the road four years ago,” Cagle said.
In May, the Cagles asked Holly Springs to accelerate the purchase of their land. Earlier this month, the Cagles closed on the Byers’ spread, more than 70 acres.
Now, Cagle’s Family Farm is moving.
The new site is not yet open to the public, but Cagle said it’s already booked its first event – a wedding on Oct. 1 – and they’ll start booking other dates by mid-September. A grand opening is planned for next spring.
Conn’s Creek will have a historic farmhouse, two open-air pavilion-style pole barns, and a nature trail to the headwaters of Conn Creek. It will host corporate events, weddings, church outings, family reunions and the like. There also may be school trips, likely restricted to local schools.
No corn maze, though. For those whose fall traditions just wouldn’t be complete without one, the Cagles recommend those offered by friends: Southern Belle Farm in McDonough, Warbington Farms in Cumming, and Uncle Shuck’s in Dawsonville.
And there will still be a Cagle at Hickory Flat. “My granddad still has the original home place on 10 acres,” Ben Cagle said. “That won’t go anywhere.”
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