A full-service choose-and-cut farm with Santa visits, free hot cider, and living trees, with an estimated (not explicitly re-confirmed) 2026 season running Black Friday through Christmas Eve.
The Briar Patch at Thornhurst Nurseries is built for a full family outing rather than a quick tree pickup. Beyond the choose-and-cut field — where staff cut the tree for you after you pick it — the farm offers pre-cut and living, plantable trees, plus wreaths, boughs, and garland, Santa visits, free hot cider, and a gift shop. If you’re looking for one stop that covers the tree and most of your other holiday greenery needs, this fits that description well.
The record lists 2026 dates of November 27 through December 24, but it’s worth understanding how those were derived: the source described the farm’s pattern as running “Friday after Thanksgiving thru December 24,” a recurring description rather than an explicit 2026-dated posting. Resolved against this year’s calendar, that lands on November 27 through December 24, 2026 — a reasonable, well-grounded estimate, but not something the farm’s site explicitly re-confirmed for this specific year at the time of research. Treat it as a strong planning guide and double check closer to Thanksgiving.
Weekday hours are noticeably shorter — noon to 5 p.m. — compared to fuller weekend hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. If you’re combining this stop with the gift shop, hot cider, and a Santa visit for the kids, a weekend trip gives you meaningfully more breathing room than squeezing everything into a five-hour weekday window that starts at midday.
Because this is a choose-and-cut farm with staff doing the actual cutting, you won’t need to bring or borrow a saw, and there’s less physical work involved than at a true self-cut operation. That can be a real advantage if you’re visiting with young kids or don’t want to manage cutting and hauling a tree yourselves — you still get to walk the field and pick the specific tree, just without the labor of cutting it down.
No pricing was found in any source reviewed for this farm, and while three species are named (blue spruce, Douglas fir, Fraser fir), there’s no indication of relative availability or size ranges. Given the season-date estimate and the pricing gap together, a quick call ahead of a planned visit — especially one timed for opening weekend — is the most useful thing you can do before driving out to Thornhurst.
Weekend (10 a.m.-5 p.m.) rather than a weekday, since weekday hours are limited to noon-5 p.m.; the season is estimated to run November 27 through December 24, 2026.
1-1.5 hours with the Santa visit, hot cider, and gift shop factored in.
Not documented directly, but if the estimated November 27 opening holds, that Thanksgiving weekend is reliably the busiest stretch at almost any farm running a multi-week season.
Skip a weekday visit if you need more than a few hours on site, since weekday hours are limited to noon-5 p.m. compared to fuller weekend hours.
In the Poconos region near Cetnar's Tree Farm, also in this directory, if you want to compare a couple of Poconos options in one trip.
Estimated to run November 27 through December 24, 2026, based on the farm's described pattern ('Friday after Thanksgiving thru December 24'). This is a resolved estimate from a relative description, not an explicitly re-confirmed 2026 posting.
The farm is a choose-and-cut operation where staff cut the tree for you, and it also offers pre-cut and living (plantable) trees.
Blue spruce, Douglas fir, and Fraser fir.
No pricing was found in available sources. Ask when you call.
November 27 – December 24, 2026. Monday-Sunday. Hours: Mon-Fri 12:00-5:00 PM; Sat-Sun 10:00 AM-5:00 PM.
Pricing was not published when we last checked.
Yes. It's choose-and-cut (staff cuts it for you).
278 Pine Grove Road, Thornhurst, PA 18424, in Lackawanna County. It is one of 4 farms we track in Poconos PA.
We track 4 farms in Poconos PA. The farm has not published a starting price, so it cannot be compared on cost — call before you budget.
Its season runs about 28 days against a regional average of 28, so it is broadly in line with the rest of the region.
What sets it apart locally: it has a cocoa or cider stand, a gift shop or farm market, free netting/baling, which most Poconos PA farms on our list do not.
There is 1 other farm we track in Lackawanna County. All Poconos PA farms →
briarpatchthornhurst.com
Checked August 2026.