“It’s a lot of fun for everyone of all ages, from kids to grandparents and everyone in between,” said Jackson, a  student at Oakland High School.

Visitors to the maze can also take a hayride, crawl through a hay tunnel and sit around a campfire. They can also purchase pumpkins or mums.

Jackson said many visitors to the maze stay for hours, sitting around the campfires and enjoying the natural beauty of Milton.

The boys started growing pumpkins five years ago, and their mom would drive them into Murfreesboro to sell the gourds, because they didn’t think many people would drive out to Milton for a jack-o-lantern.

A spring break trip to the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, N.C., gave the boys an idea to bring more people out to the family farm – a corn maze.

Jackson said he was inspired by a hay maze at the historic house and decided to bring the idea home.

So far the idea has paid off with more than 1,500 people visiting the maze since its Oct. 3 opening.

The many visitors makes for busy weekends at the Vaught household with mom Terri and dad Stan working the maze as “hired help,” Terri said.

The boys do most of the work, designing the 10-acre, patriotic-themed maze and managing its four part-time employees.

“Their dad and I hope they’ll learn a good work ethic and give back some that they’re blessed with,” Terri said.

And the boys do give back, they donate a portion of the proceeds to a local charity every year, Terri said.

“The first year we donated to the Red Cross,” Jackson said. “The second year I donated to the Red Cross and he (Chandler) donated to the church.”

The rest of the money goes back into the business or is saved for college.

Chandler hopes his college fund will help him pay for a military academy after he graduates from high school.

The boys’ appreciation for the military turned into an Air Force-themed maze this year.

The Air Force theme can be seen in three jets and the Air Force seal carved from the cornfield in Milton. The maze even includes a quote from “High Flight” by John Gillespie Magee Jr., one of the world’s most famous aviation poems.

“I really like to honor our servicemen,” Chandler said.

Terri said her sons’ appreciation for the Armed Services has grown from their life on the family farm.

Jackson and Chandler are the seventh generation to live on the land in Milton, which was originally part of a War of 1812 land grant to a relative for service to the country. The farm also saw the Battle of Milton during the Civil War, which was fought March 20, 1863.

In previous years, the maze has honored the Marines with the flag-raising on Iwo Jima and the Unites States with a likeness of the Statue of Liberty.

Terri said the corn maze and pumpkin patch are both ways the boys can learn to make a living with the family farm.

“We hope to teach them some things they can do with their land,” she said.

Jackson said he can make it through the Air Force maze in 35 minutes with a map and flashlight. But without the map, a trip through the maze takes from one hour to two hours.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Jackson said. “It’s something to look forward to each year.”

Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.