Rock climbing, aerial ropes courses, ziplining and more all await you at Heritage Farm’s new Adventure Park.
By Jean Hardiman
HQ 114 | SUMMER 2021
In 2015, Audy Perry woke up at 3 a.m. with a picture in his mind, clear as crystal. He jotted it down, but wasn’t sure where to take it from there.
He and his father, Mike Perry, who founded Heritage Farm in 1996 with wife Henriella, had started talking in 2011 about building an adventure park at the farm. The Smithsonian Affiliate farm in Harveytown had already been doing a tremendous job of introducing guests to Appalachian history with museums, interactive folk crafts, festivals, lodging, event-hosting and more — but what if they went further? What if they could offer visitors challenges in the mountains such as climbing, aerial challenge courses, ziplining and more?
Mike passed away in 2015; and later that year, Audy woke up knowing exactly what the farm needed to do.
“I told God, ‘If you really want us to do this, you’re going to have to make it really clear,’” Audy recalled.
Years went by as he explored different options for building a challenge course, also known as an adventure course, but all of them were cost prohibitive. Then in 2020, when COVID-19 hit, he had a phone call that changed everything.
“I spoke to a man in New Hampshire who said he was closing his challenge course,” Audy said. “Basically, he said if I could get up there I could have it for free. I just had to pay to take it down and transport it back home.”
Audy hired a company to dismantle it, transport it and rebuild it at Heritage Farm. After eight months of construction and training a team of facilitators on safety, the Heritage Farm Adventure Park was unveiled to the public. Tri-Staters and tourists from all over the country now have new ways to celebrate the Appalachian spirit while getting the thrill that only comes with exhilarating aerial challenges and ziplining through the treetops. In addition, there are new experiences that introduce visitors to native wildlife.
Talithakoum is the name of the aerial challenge course that sits on a mountain overlooking the village. A series of ropes, steps, bridges and platforms that rise four stories above the ground challenge adventure-seekers to test their strength, coordination and stamina — all while harnessed and wearing helmets.
TreeRock Challenge is a family adventure course with different options to accommodate different ages and comfort levels. It includes challenges lower to the ground that are perfect for children and their parents.
“Each station has multiple choices on how they choose to get across the challenge course,” Audy said. “They can swing like a grapevine, cross a swinging bridge and more.”
And all of the adventure challenges have a dual purpose.
“For 25 years, we’ve been celebrating our ancestors who came over the mountains and solved problems,” Audy explained. “We thought it would be fun to allow our visitors to do that themselves in a modern, adventurous way.”
There are over 40 challenges, including the Mountain Top Drop, which is a 40-foot free fall experience (it actually lowers you carefully to the bottom). A dual zipline, named RedTail Racers, allows two guests to race each other 1,000 feet across the treetops at speeds of up to 40 mph.
To get to the top of the mountain, you can either hike a trail made possible by an Eagle Scout project or take a chauffeured ATV ride on the park’s aptly named “Holler Hauler.”
And as if that weren’t enough, the Adventure Park offers a climbing wall as well.
“We have top-of-the-line gear, people and construction,” said Paul Morton, director of operations at the Adventure Park. “I’m really proud of our facilitators. We provide 60-plus hours of training for them, and they have done exceptionally well. Typically, facilitators get an industry standard of 24 hours of training.”
Back down the mountain, the downtime during COVID-19 brought even more new additions. Along with the Petting Zoo that has long been a part of the fun at the farm, now there is also an Appalachian Backyard Adventure with Critter Corner, a Nature Center and the Treehouse Trek, where guests can learn about native species — from the kind that swim to the kind that crawl to those that fly.
“We’ve been celebrating the amazing Appalachian people, and now we want to celebrate the amazing Appalachian flora and fauna,” Audy explained. “The Treehouse Trek is a celebration of the forest. Guests can learn about the trees and animals that occupy our forests.”
The Treehouse Trek, which is about 750 feet long and 60 feet above the valley floor, was something Audy and a handful of others built during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“You can skitter like a squirrel, climb like a black bear, tunnel like a groundhog or ‘bridge’ like a human,” Audy said. “It’s a lot of fun. There’s no age or weight limit. Everybody can have fun.”
The treehouse itself is kind of a nature education room in the sky.
“There is a 250-foot tulip poplar growing right in the middle of the treehouse,” Audy said. “The tree is 85 years old, so it was born the same year as Mom and Dad which makes for a nice story.”
The treehouse has a sound wall with pictures of 50 native birds. You can press a button and hear the call of each one. It also features a wingspan mural.
“You can put your arms against the mural and figure out if you’re as big as a red-tailed hawk or a bald eagle or a turkey vulture,” Audy said. “And guests can see native animals there including a taxidermied bear, fox, wild turkey and deer.”
All of these new additions complement what Heritage Farm Museum & Village already offers: seven award-winning museums chronicling Appalachian history and culture. There’s also a working blacksmith shop, a saw mill, the Artisan Center, Village Vittles, two reception halls for up to 200 people, log cabin inns, a Barn Retreat Center that sleeps 40 people and even wagon rides for guests to enjoy.
“This fall we’re working on building 10 miles of mountain bike trails,” Audy said. “We can put your bike on the back of one of our ATVs, take you to the top of the mountain and let you coast all the way down. It will be something the whole family can do.”
The farm is also working on gathering funding for an aviary for rehabilitated songbirds. Rebekah Perry Franks, daughter of Audy and his wife Laura, is the wildlife director at the farm, having a degree in zoo and conservation science from Otterbein University. She’s also a certified wildlife rehabilitator and has dreams of an 1,800-square-foot aviary that visitors can walk through to enjoy seeing and hearing songbirds that have been given a second chance.
Heritage Farm has always been a family endeavor. Audy’s mom Henriella has enjoyed seeing all the new experiences and new faces at the family’s beloved farm, which started when she and Mike began restoring an old farmhouse in Wayne County. They later began collecting so many antiques they had to build a new building to keep them.
“She loves it,” Audy said. “She is not going to zipline, but she loves to sit up on the observation deck and watch people take that leap of faith. Dad would enjoy watching families be joyful together. He always said, ‘Experience the past, appreciate today and dream for tomorrow.’ I think that’s part of what this does. It helps kids tie their past with the future.”
