From local museums and gorgeous beaches to kid-friendly restaurants and unique shops, Mattituck has much to offer Long Island families.

Spanning the Long Island Sound to the Peconic Bay, this North Fork hamlet is perfect for a day trip or a week’s vacation with plenty of fresh-from-the-vine wine and produce, farms and local food, hiking, fishing and beaching to do! We’ve put together a list of things to do and see while you’re there.

Need more suggestions for things to do this fall? Check out our Fall Fun Guide and Long Island Events Calendar. For more out-east fun, take a look at our guide to the Hamptons and North Fork.

Your family's list of must-do activities for fall wouldn't be complete without an old-fashioned hayride. Check out these area farms and ranches for hayrides around the property, which often include pumpkin patches and fun activities for the whole family.

For more things to do around with kids Houston this season, see our Fall Fun Guide.

Shirley Chisholm State Park opened to the public July 2019, bringing over 10 miles of new biking and hiking trails to the shores of south Brooklyn. New York City's newest state park transforms a former landfill into a lovely waterfront destination accessible from the Belt Parkway or the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Canarsie and East New York. For a look at the new park and a peek at what's next, read on.

Carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating are classic fall activities, but our favorite by far is apple picking. It’s especially festive since we live in New England, the site of the first apple orchard in America. There are several terrific places to pick apples close to Boston, but it can be even more fun to venture a little further afield. So we’ve rounded up five of the best places to pick apples in Massachusetts that have other fun attractions—and good food—nearby, so you can make a day trip out of your visit to the farm.

Let the record show that there is more than one way to smash a pumpkin, and handing it to a hippo is definitely one of them. A gorilla does the job pretty well, too, as does a tiger, or—well, just about any other animal at the zoo. This discovery by our nation's zookeepers has led to a peculiar Halloween tradition—that we highly recommend!

Each year Southern California's zoos (and Griffith Park is only one of the options, as you'll see below) plan Halloween events, usually treating resident critters to their favorite delicacies stuffed inside pumpkins. For some, the delicacy may actually be the pumpkin itself (chomp chomp), while the more carnivorously inclined seem to view the pumpkins more as wrapping paper (smash smash). Either way, zoo animals smashing pumpkins ups the ante on traditional pumpkin patches. Check out all the beastly fun at Southland zoos this season.

So many fall traditions in Boston and Massachusetts seem tailor-made for preschoolers: Who better to upend a freshly raked leaf pile or run around a pumpkin patch long enough to find that perfect Jack-O-Lantern? From events like the Topsfield Fair and Frog Pond Pumpkin Float to annual favorites like apple picking and corn mazes, we've rounded up twenty of the best ways to have some big fall adventures with little companions this fall. And if you have even tinier tykes, check out our fall fun guide—toddler edition!

So many fall traditions in Connecticut seem tailor-made for preschoolers: Who better to upend a freshly raked leaf pile or run around a pumpkin patch long enough to find that perfect Jack-O-Lantern? From local events like apple festivals and pumpkin carnivals to perennial favorites like apple picking, pumpkin patch visits, and corn mazes, we've rounded up 18 of the best ways to have some big fall adventures with little companions this fall. And don't forget our fall fun guide has even more ideas for making the most of the season in Connecticut.