Photography As noted

With the promise of fall on the horizon, you may be eager for family experiences that wrap your loved ones in a warm hug and create cheerful memories for all.

But rather than opting for comfortable, effortless outings, try getting lost instead. Our nation features a diverse range of puzzling mazes just waiting to be solved, from pathways that weave through golden stalks of corn to cutting-edge urban labyrinths of unexpected origins. Take a look at some of America’s most exceptional examples of these twisted, convoluted, and downright dizzying feats of design, each of which will leave you wondering how you might ever get out.

America’s Stonehenge

Mazes are hardly novel attractions. In fact, twisted and convoluted structures are downright ancient, as evidenced by this mysterious complex in historic Salem, New Hampshire. Its roundabout rock formations are over 4,000 years old—so timeworn that historians are at a loss as to who built them and why.

This site is appropriately named America’s Stonehenge as a nod to the famously head-tilting, allegedly supernatural monument in England, and our nation’s version similarly features intelligently yet unusually laid stones. Its maze of trails may not take days to solve, but the solution isn’t in finding the nearest exit. Rather, visitors are encouraged to peruse the unusual writings riddled across the stonework and marvel at the mathematically complex layout; scientists have discovered that this site may have been a ceremonial ground and acts as an accurate astronomical calendar. For example, one particularly tall column points directly to the sun during the summer solstice, marking the longest day of the year.

Wander the half-mile hiking path, listen to a guided tour from a historian, and track key structural features of the site with a detailed map. These grounds welcome anyone with a strong sense of wonder to look back at history and consider all the possibilities.

For more info, visit stonehengeusa.com

Davis Mega Maze

For a more traditional offering, make your way to the self-proclaimed “greatest corn maze ever,” which just might live up to the hype. This family-owned farm outside Sterling, Massachusetts, annually unveils an outrageously large and complex labyrinth that in prior years has spanned a whopping eight acres. The maze owners report on their website that the convoluted corny course may take over three hours to solve. Choose from your preferred intensity level, ranging from a quick and cheerful trek to the tremendous full route that may leave you crying out for Moo Moo, the farmland’s tour guide and mascot, for rescue.

Not that you’ll be eager to leave the Davis Mega Maze anytime soon. Some visitors reportedly spend all day in it thanks to festively themed games, including trivia, axe-throwing, and broomstick golf, held right inside the cornfield. Perhaps the most breathtaking feature, though, is the intricately manicured design that would give ancient crop circles a run for their money: bird’s-eye photos from prior years reveal acres-wide fields trimmed to resemble Waldo of Where’s Waldo? fame and a wizard laboring over a crystal ball. Ask it your fortune: you may be destined to stop by soon.

For more info, visit instagram.com/davismegamaze

Richardson Adventure Farm

Not to be outdone, this maze in Spring Grove, Illinois, consists of twenty-eight acres of corn cut and shaped into a crop design that changes each year. For a preview of the tangled web of corn you’re about to face and a sweeping look at the labyrinth’s artfully manicured agriculture, climb the grounds’ fifty-foot observation tower. And make sure to have your camera ready—views of the crafty maze and vast plains beyond are not to be forgotten.

Naturally, you may not want to bring small children on the longest excursion, as that may involve hiking its ten-mile route, plus some doubling back, all while carrying exhausted youngsters. However, its simpler, more approachable routes stretch a single breezy mile in length. Once you manage to find your exit and exhale in relief, take pause before heading for the parking lot: Richardson Adventure Farm lives up to its enticing name with other attractions, including a pumpkin patch blooming with colorful gourds in quirky shapes that each deserve a closer look. And be sure to marvel at the Atlantic Giant pumpkins that, as their name suggests, are unbelievably large—up to six hundred pounds! These titans could very well act as signposts to guide you out of the corn labyrinth and back to civilization.

For more info, visit richardsonadventurefarm.com

Morris’s Glass Labyrinth

This thoughtful maze isn’t operated by a corn farm but rather by an urban museum: Kansas City, Missouri’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Here you can explore an immersive sculpture entitled Glass Labyrinth by famed American artist Robert Morris, a champion of the minimalist movement whose influences are evident in other works displayed in the museum’s spectacular galleries.

While each wall of this glass triangular prism spans only fifty feet, its tall, transparent panels and grid-like flooring create strange illusions, challenging your ability to position yourself within its confines, much less comprehend how to proceed. Its single route to the center also leads right back to its access point, but you may nonetheless feel dizzy as you attempt to swerve between its nearly invisible walls.

If you manage to zoom in and out of the installation, you don’t have to leave disappointed; the surrounding sculpture park and museum proper offer other curious works covering 5,000 years of artistic achievement to spark inspiration. Highlights of the collection include magnificent paintings and breathtaking installations that will dazzle your mind. (Perhaps the real maze was inside you all along?) Best of all, the maze, park, and museum are all free to the public.

For more info, visit nelson-atkins.org

Winchester Mystery House

If you have a keen interest in the abnormal, or perhaps paranormal, there’s a destination ready to roll out its aged carpet to greet you: San Jose, California’s Winchester Mystery House, a labyrinth-like estate shrouded in over one hundred years of intrigue.

After multiple tragic losses, heiress Sarah Lockwood Pardee Winchester moved out west to California, took residence in a humble farmhouse, and used her fortune to order immense renovations and additions to it. This project of unbelievable proportions spanned the next thirty-six years. And though Winchester died in 1922 before it could be completed, the property had already ballooned to a tremendous 24,000 square feet.

Those who embrace the Halloween spirit would be delighted to learn that the Victorian-themed home is reportedly haunted by its owner; millions of guests have flocked to the estate solely to verify tales of paranormal activity. But ghostly disturbances aren’t the only thrills that await you in this domain. Tour the property to experience its sprawling, maze-like layout that includes 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, and 47 stairways and fireplaces. Should you choose to invade the Winchester Mystery House’s curious halls, your punishment will be a twisted course through a seemingly intentionally outrageous layout while feeling an eerie sense that its departed owner is watching. As the estate challenges visitors on its website, “Will you be able to unlock the mystery?”

For more info, visit winchestermysteryhouse.com