Crossmolina Farm Pizza: Summer Pizza Nights on a Corinth Farm

Some summer traditions announce themselves with fireworks. This one announces itself with the smell of wood smoke and baking dough drifting across a Corinth hillside. Every summer, from June through August, Crossmolina Farm Pizza hosts Saturday pizza nights on the family's working farm at 109 Grist Mill Road — wood-fired pizzas from the outdoor oven, live local music, guest craft brewers, and table seating plus picnicking spots spread across the farm. Reservations are required, and regulars book early.

Crossmolina is a real working farm first and a pizza destination second, which is exactly why the nights work. The family-run, diversified operation raises vegetables, pastured poultry, laying hens, pork, Highland cattle, and sheep — the classic Vermont mixed farm, run the way Vermont farms have been run for generations. The pizza nights grew out of that farm life rather than being imposed on it, and the whole evening carries the easy authenticity of a place that knows exactly what it is. You can taste the farm in the food and see it in every direction.

The format is simple and close to perfect. Food starts at 5:00 PM, music starts at 6:00 PM, and the evening unfolds at farm pace. The wood-fired oven turns out pizzas made with farm ingredients and the season's best, the guest brewers pour local craft beer, and the live music — local musicians playing to a hillside audience — gives the night its soundtrack. Table seating is available, and the picnicking spots let you spread a blanket and make an evening of it. Children run the grassy areas, adults linger over a second slice, and nobody is in a hurry. The pizzas themselves are the star: blistered crusts from the wood-fired oven, toppings that reflect what the farm and the season offer, and flavors you cannot get from a conventional pizzeria.

The farm also runs the Crossmolina Cookeville Market, open Wednesday through Saturday, where you can buy the farm's own products and provisions. The market makes a natural daytime stop before a Saturday pizza night — stock up on farm goods, then return in the evening for dinner. It is the full farm experience in a single day: shop the market in the afternoon, eat the pizza at night.

Getting there is part of the adventure, and the farm's own directions deserve attention. The address is 109 Grist Mill Road, Corinth, VT 05039, and the farm specifically advises visitors to take Grist Mill Road directly off Cookeville Road — and not to take Maplewood Road, which the farm's site warns against. Rural Vermont navigation rewards those who follow local directions over GPS instincts; in this case, the farm has made it explicit. The phone is (802) 439-3358, and the email is margaret@crossmolinafarm.com.

Reservations are required for pizza nights, and this is not a suggestion to ignore. The farm plans its dough, staffing, and seating around the reservation list, and summer Saturdays fill up — especially in July and August, when the tradition is at full stride. Book ahead through the farm's site at crossmolinafarm.com/pizzanight, and arrive hungry. The combination of farm setting, live music, and a wood-fired oven has a way of expanding appetites. If your party includes children, note that the farm setting is the entertainment — there is no need for a backup plan.

The setting is pure Vermont hill country. Corinth sits in the hills west of Bradford, in the Connecticut River valley's backcountry — rolling farmland, old barns, quiet roads. The farm's neighbors include the Northeast Slopes ski area in nearby East Corinth, and the whole area makes a scenic summer drive. Come for the pizza, stay for the landscape: the hills around Corinth are among the prettiest in the Upper Valley. The pizza nights give you a reason to explore a corner of Vermont that many visitors otherwise miss.

For families, the nights are close to ideal. The farm setting gives children room to roam safely, the music gives them something to watch, and the pizza gives them something they will actually eat. It is the rare dinner out that works as well for a toddler as for a grandparent — relaxed, outdoors, and paced by the evening rather than by a reservation clock. Bring a blanket, bring friends, and let the night happen. Many families make it a weekly ritual through the summer; the farm welcomes regulars as warmly as first-timers.

What to know before you go: pizza nights run Saturdays, June through August only — this is a summer tradition, not a year-round restaurant. Food service starts at 5:00 PM and the music at 6:00 PM. Reservations are required. Dress for a farm evening: the seating is outdoors, the ground is grass, and a Vermont summer night can cool down fast after sunset. A light layer and comfortable shoes are the right call.

Crossmolina's pizza nights endure because they understand something simple: the best summer evenings are uncomplicated. Good pizza from a real oven, music from real musicians, beer from local brewers, and a hillside to sit on. The farm provides all of it, every Saturday, all summer long. In a region full of manufactured attractions, this is the genuine article — a working farm sharing its Saturday nights with its neighbors. Put a Saturday on the calendar, make the reservation, and follow Grist Mill Road — not Maplewood — to one of Vermont's best warm-weather traditions. You will be glad you did.