Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is a Corn Maze?
A1. Really cool!
A2. At its simplest, it's a pathway through acres of 6, 10, even 14-foot tall corn!
A3. It's an elaborate network and tangle of confusing trails made in a field of growing corn.

Q. What is Merrow Maze?
A. It's a fabulous, fun, and fascinating place to go with friends, family, or a fortunate date where you will lose your bearing in acres of corn while searching for the intriguing answers to interesting questions.

Merrow Maze is an educational corn maze created in a 4-acre cornfield in Storrs, Connecticut. Laced with about 2 miles of paths, it is a great place for friends and family, for fun and fresh air. It’s an opportunity to spend some time away from the TV, out of the car, removed from the mall.

Q. Why do people go to Merrow Maze?
Because we built it. People come to Merrow Maze because they are curious; they come to learn, to spend some time together outdoors getting healthy exercise and to learn about a new topic every year.

Q. How many years have you had a maze here?
A. We made our first maze in 2000. We do the work, now you do the math.

Q. How big is Merrow Maze?
A. Which big do you mean? Most of it is about 10 feet tall, it’s about two miles long, and about four acres big.

Q. How do I get to the maze.
A. It's easy. Click here for directions.

Q. Have you ever lost anybody in the maze?
A. We don't know. But that's only because we've never found anybody who was lost.

Q. Is there Parking?
A. Yes, Plenty. And it's free! If you need directions, click here.

Q. How do you make a corn maze?
A. There are many ways. This link explains in pictures and words how Merrow Maze was created. Some photographs and copy for this link (both the one above and below) are at the bottom of this document.

Q. How do you make a corn maze?
A.  There are many ways. This link explains in pictures and words how Merrow Maze was created.

Q. Is the corn edible?
A. Yes, but it won't taste very good. Its feed corn, for livestock. We use this type of corn because the plant is hardy.

Q. What do you do with the corn when you close the maze for the season?
A. Some of it we feed to a few pigs and some chickens. But, brace yourself, basically, we plow it back into the field, letting it decay and enrich the soil. Why not harvest it? Well, by the time the maze closes for the year, the crop has lost much of its moisture and a portion of its nutritional value. In addition, farmers with livestock aren't particularly interested in it because it's a relatively small amount of feed.

Q. How does the maze “work?"
A. Merrow Maze is an educational corn maze. It’s not only fun to explore the maze, it’s educational! We set it up as an educational “scavenger” hunt.

Many corn mazes have themes. Over the years, our Themes have included “Clean Energy,” “UConn Basketball,” “One Hundred Years of Flight” (a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers successful flight), and “Connecticut Trees and Forests.”

When visitors arrive, they are given a list of questions—all related to the maze’s theme. The answers are hidden in the maze in random order, in random places. The objective is to find all the answers… AND the way back out.

Q. What happens when I arrive at the maze?
A. When you arrive, you will be given a list of 30 questions. The answers are “hiding” in random places throughout the maze. Your goal is to find as many answers as you can—or as many as you want to—and get back out!

Q. What happens when I leave the maze?
A. You tell all your friends that they’ve got to get to the maze! Right away! You tell them what a great time you had. You make plans for getting back again next year. You schedule a big group to come from work or from your kid’s school, or from your neighborhood.

Q. What does my admission support?
A. Most importantly—and if we’re lucky with weather--your admission fee supports open space and farming in Connecticut.

But before it does that, it supports the town of Mansfield; part of it pays taxes on the land. Your admission fee supports a local insurance broker and a larger insurance company somewhere outside of town. Your admission fee supports at least local high school student who’s saving diligently and assiduously for college. Your admission fee buys fuel to run a tractor to plow and harrow and pull rocks from the field. Your admission fee supports a local dairy farmer who fertilizes and plants the field. Your admission fee supports this website. Broken into little pieces, your admission fee supports lot of things and benefits a number of people—including you.

Q. What other themes and designs have you had?
A. In 2002 our theme was Mansfield's 300th birthday. The design featured a happy birthday message, the outline of Connecticut with Mansfield highlighted, as well as symbols representing what we saw as Mansfield's three "eras." These were farming and settlement, industry, and education.

Q. Do you have a bathroom?
A. Not yet. Just hold on a little longer... we're working on it!

Q. Are there any restaurants nearby?
A. Yes, there are at least two restaurants close-by.
Chuck's and Margaritas is just barely around the corner on Route 32 south. And, less than two miles north, on route 32, is Willington Pizza. So you can get hungry wandering the maze and refill or reward yourself right away! In fact, we share a parking lot with what has been a restaurant: The Hideaway Roadhouse, which is right across Merrow Road from our entrance.