In mid-July, the grounds at Beverly’s Long Hill are ablaze with summer blooms. But inside a modest yellow building near the entrance, Halloween magic is already brewing. Carved pumpkins are accumulating against a wall, and a table is stocked with jack-o’-lantern stencils and tools.
“This is Halloween central,” says Pilar Garro, property director for 14 Trustees of Reservations properties across the North Shore, including Long Hill.
The building is the hub of early preparations for Halloween on the Hill, a signature event that has become a mainstay of the region’s spooky season since it debuted in 2021. Throughout October, nearly 2,000 carved foam pumpkins and other decorations will line a winding path through the property and up its namesake hill, illuminating the woods with an orange glow. Last year, nearly 22,000 guests wandered the enchanted trails.
“Halloween on the Hill is a family-friendly event,” Garro says. “We like to say it’s spooky, not scary.”
Vendors sell seasonal gifts and mementos, as well as snacks, wine, and beer. Eerie lights cast shadows on the brick manor house at the top of the hill, and skeletons frolic around the stately beech tree in the front yard. The bravest visitors might venture through a tunnel featuring a vortex of spinning lights.
This experience opens on October 3 and runs through October 30—tickets are available at the Trustees website—but planning for the display begins some eight months before opening night. Garro and her team began meeting in February to start figuring out what elements they wanted to add and what themes to emphasize. This year, the scarecrows that line an early segment of the path will be styled to represent iconic Hollywood villains. More pumpkins will also be added, many featuring jungle themes, mythical creatures, and characters from the Marvel superhero movies.
In July, the carving begins with staff members and volunteers dropping in to weekly sessions to create new pumpkins. These jack-o’-lanterns will supplement ones left over from previous years. About 80 percent of the pumpkins—which are made from a durable, low-density foam that mimics the texture of real pumpkins—are in good enough condition to be saved each year, but there is always a push to make each year’s display grander than those that came before.
“We’re expanding,” Garro says. “It’s really about ‘more’: more pumpkins, more photo ops.”
Throughout the summer, Garro’s team works with the horticultural and stewardship teams to order hay bales, mums, and gourds for the displays. In mid-August, they begin wrapping trees with lights, clearing poison ivy, and mowing targeted areas. Set pieces—the pirate ship that sails through the woods with a skeleton crew, a cauldron for witches to gather around, a replica of the car from Ghostbusters—come out of storage to be cleaned and prepared.
In September, the first pumpkins are put out along the trails, grouped by theme, including animals, pop culture, and Harry Potter (Garro’s favorite). The earliest displays are laid out at the bottom of the hill, away from the main house where weddings are often hosted until days before Halloween on the Hill opens. In recent years, staff and volunteers have had just five days after the last scheduled wedding to complete decorating around the house; this year, the last event falls 12 days before opening night.
“Then we have a mad dash to finish the rest,” Garro says.
The entire event has been a work in progress throughout its five years. Staff listen to feedback from guests each year to make improvements in future iterations. They’ve added more staged photo opportunities, like arches made of lighted pumpkins, and moved wine and beer sales from the end of the trail to the beginning, so visitors can sip during their spooky stroll. The décor this year will include fewer mums, which can tip over or wilt, and more sturdy and striking colorful gourds.
The result of eight months of planning and preparation, Garro says, will be a spectacular, immersive display that only gets more dramatic the farther you go. “It’s just kind of a feast for the eyes.” Garro says. “The hill itself adds to the drama: You don’t know what’s coming next, and that makes it more exciting.”