Drive Broad Street on a Tuesday in early September and it still looks like summer. The sunflower field at Lull Farm is dense and yellow, the Brookdale parking lot holds a scatter of cars, and the sign at the register is still selling peaches. Ten days later the same stretch of road is a different town.
That shift is not gradual. It happens across two specific weekends, and residents who understand the sequence get a very different fall than the one advertised on regional travel blogs.
The claim, before the calendar
Most Hollis fall coverage treats Old Home Days and apple picking as separate items on a list. They are not separate. Old Home Days on September 18 and 19 pulls the town's civic energy toward Nichols Field for a weekend, and the apple orchards on Broad Street quietly move into peak variety in the days that follow. If you live here, the useful frame is not "what should I do in September." It is "how do I work the seven days between the two weekends." That window is when a resident can still get a Cortland tree to themselves, buy cider donuts without a line, and walk into Old Home Days on Saturday night already fed.
The rest of this post is evidence for that claim.
Weekend one: the civic weekend at Nichols Field
Hollis Old Home Days runs the evening of Friday, September 18 into Saturday, September 19, 2026, at Nichols Field with the adjacent Lawrence Barn on Depot Road. The tradition is old enough to predate most of the houses in town. It was established in 1899 by Governor Frank West Rollins as a way to bring former and current residents back to their hometowns for a weekend each September, and Hollis has kept the format going with a parade, artisan market, carnival rides, heritage demonstrations, and Saturday-night fireworks. Admission is free.
The parade is the piece most worth planning around. It features antique cars, fire trucks, community groups, tractors, and pets, and it moves through the center of town rather than staying contained to the field. If you live along the route, you already know the drill. If you live on the outer roads, the calculation is whether to walk in or park early near Depot Road and stay for the day.
The artisan market inside the barn is the piece most locals underrate. It leans toward traditional crafts, the kind of thing that used to be normal in a New England town and is now unusual enough to be worth an hour. Spinning, basketry, rug hooking, metalwork, fly-tying. Bring cash for the small vendors. Save the fireworks for a blanket at the field rather than a view from the car.
The week between
Here is where the calendar earns its keep. The third week of September is historically when Brookdale Fruit Farm's orchards move from a handful of early varieties into the wide middle of the season. A staff account from a prior year put it plainly: the third week of September is when things really start to pick up, with more varieties ready and the full farm experience of hayrides, pumpkins, and the corn maze coming online. That is the same week Old Home Days lands on.
The practical read: Monday through Thursday between the two weekends is the quietest window Broad Street will offer for the next six weeks. Bus tours have not yet arrived in force. The weekend crowds from Massachusetts have not yet locked in the routine. If you can pick apples on a weekday afternoon before September ends, you are shopping the same orchard the tour groups will queue for on October Saturdays.
If you only do one weekday errand in Hollis this September, make it a run to Brookdale or Lull between the 21st and the 24th. That is the four-day pocket when the harvest is deep and the crowd has not yet arrived.
Weekend two: Broad Street at peak
Two farms anchor Broad Street and they are not interchangeable. Knowing the difference is what separates the resident's fall from the visitor's fall.
Brookdale Fruit Farm, 41 Broad Street. Family-run since 1847, seventh-generation, and the larger operation of the two. Peak season generally features roughly 19 apple varieties, including MacIntosh, Cortland, Honey Crisp, Macoun, Gala, Empire, Jonagold, Northern Spy, Pink Lady, Fuji, Baldwin, and Snow Sweet, along with cherries, blueberries, raspberries, and pumpkins earlier in the year. The farm supports the pick-your-own with hayrides, a corn maze, and a working farmstead with pigs and goats. It is the destination for families who want the full production. The phone is 603-465-2240 and calling before you drive is still the most reliable way to confirm what is picking.
Lull Farm, 65 Broad Street. Smaller footprint, different feel. The walk into the orchard passes through a sunflower field with multiple varieties, and the trees are tagged with colored ribbons that key to a variety chart at the entrance. The bakery counter is the reason most residents stop even when they are not picking. Cider donuts, muffins, pies, and unpasteurized apple cider that regulars will drive past closer options to buy. Hours run 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week during the season. In late October the farm carves a hillside of pumpkins for a jack-o'-lantern lighting that is worth the trip on its own.
If you have out-of-town family visiting for a fall weekend, Brookdale is the itinerary. If you are a resident buying apples for a pie and want to be home in forty minutes, Lull is the errand. Doing both in one afternoon is possible but the parking lots do not reward it after 11 a.m. on a Saturday.
The quieter map
Some Septembers you do not want the crowd, even the friendly local version of it. Hollis has a second tier of places that carry the season without the parking pressure.
- Laromay Lavender Farm. Seasonal U-pick lavender and a small boutique. The lavender window is earlier than the apple window, so late-season visits are for the shop rather than the field.
- Fulchino Vineyard. A working vineyard within town limits, useful for an afternoon that is not organized around children or produce.
- Beaver Brook Reservation, 117 Ridge Road. The trail network absorbs a crowd. Late September is when the maples along the interior trails start turning and the mosquito pressure finally breaks. Beaver Brook also runs a summer nature camp for families whose calendars run on that rhythm.
- Silver Lake State Park. The swimming season closes with Labor Day, but the shoulder weeks are the best time to walk the shoreline without paying for a parking stall.
- The Chocolate Barn and Hollis Artspace. Two rainy-Saturday options for residents who forget the town has an indoor register.
For golfers, Overlook Golf Club hosts the 2nd Annual Fore the Kids charity tournament on September 24, 2026, which is a useful marker for anyone who wants their late-September calendar to include a course day rather than an orchard day.
What to hold for November
The season does not end with the last apple. The 14th Annual Wine and Cheese Festival is scheduled for Saturday, November 14, 2026, at 187 Pine Hill Road, and it functions as the town's soft close on the harvest year. Residents who tap out of the September push often use the November festival as their one social anchor of the fall, which is a reasonable trade for anyone with a full work calendar in October.
One earlier date is worth flagging for the shoulder season. Hollis Police Department hosts National Night Out on August 4, 2026, from 5 to 8 p.m., and it is the unofficial pivot point between summer routine and fall planning. If you have kids, it is also the last community event of the summer where the whole town shows up in one place before school starts.
The one-page version
Two weekends, one week between them, and a Broad Street map that most visitors read wrong. Old Home Days on September 18 and 19 at Nichols Field. Broad Street at peak variety the week that follows, with Brookdale for the production and Lull for the errand. Quieter alternatives at Beaver Brook, Fulchino, and Silver Lake for the weekends you want to stay off Broad Street entirely. November 14 for the season's close at the Wine and Cheese Festival.
That is the sequence. A visitor learns it after two or three Septembers. A resident can use it starting this year.
If you are thinking through a move within Hollis, a sale of a home you have held for a long stretch, or a purchase in the surrounding Southern New Hampshire towns, we would be glad to talk through what the local calendar means for timing. Lawrence Home Group works across Hollis, Amherst, Bedford, and Merrimack, and we are always happy to compare notes on the town before we ever talk about a transaction. Contact Us when the time is right.
