Kings Landing in Fall 2026: Military Muster, Thanksgiving at the King's Head Inn, and the Last Weekends

Why October is the month to go

Kings Landing is a village of nineteenth-century buildings moved up out of the valley when the Mactaquac headpond flooded it, staffed by costumed interpreters who cook, farm, print and forge as if it were 1860. In July that is charming. In October, with the river in full colour behind the sawmill, woodsmoke from every chimney and the harvest coming into the kitchens, it is the best-looking place in the province, and the interpreters know it. The fall calendar is short, so the village compresses its two biggest events into the final three weekends before it closes for the year.

A note on this season: the site says admission has been reduced to reflect modified access while essential infrastructure renewal is under way, so some corners of the village are off the route. The core loop, the inn, the farms and the mill are open. Allow three to four hours; more if you are eating.

Military Muster: September 26 and 27

The last weekend of September brings the Military Muster, Saturday and Sunday, September 26 and 27, 10 to 5 both days. Re-enactors set up camp on the village green and run musket drills, marching, and a rolling demonstration of what garrison life looked like when Fredericton was a military town first and a capital second. It is included with regular admission; there is no separate ticket. Bring ear protection for small children if muskets at close range are a concern, and bring a jacket, because the green is exposed and the last weekend of September on the river can be either summer or November depending on the wind.

Thanksgiving dinner at the King's Head Inn

This is the reason most people book. The King's Head Inn, the village's working period tavern, serves a full Thanksgiving dinner on five dates in 2026: Saturday October 3, Sunday October 4, Saturday October 10, Sunday October 11, and Thanksgiving Monday, October 12. Two seatings a day. The 11 a.m. seating has you arrive at the Welcome Centre, walk down through the village and sit at 11:30; the 4 p.m. seating has you arrive at the inn directly and sit at 4:30.

The price is $80 per person plus booking fees, and that includes the three-course meal, gratuity, taxes and complimentary admission to the village, which at $19.55 an adult makes the dinner itself a fair deal. The menu is what you want it to be: cream of turkey soup, roast turkey with vegetables, gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. The vegetarian menu is vegetable soup, a vegan and gluten-free loaf, and a pumpkin pie with a vegan option. A full bar is extra.

Book online through the Thanksgiving page; questions and changes go to 506-363-4999 (the inn's own line is 506-363-4950). Cancellations need 72 hours' notice or you are charged in full; weather cancellations are refunded. The Saturday and holiday-Monday 11 a.m. seatings sell out first every year. If you want a table for six on October 10 at 11, book this week.

The Thanksgiving auction and the closing weekend

The village has an annual Thanksgiving Auction of things made on site through the season: wooden furniture, hand-carved spoons, handspun yarn, knitting, and baked goods, sold to the crowd in the theatre. In 2024 it ran on the Monday at 1 p.m.; the 2026 calendar had not listed the time when we checked, so confirm on the day. It is the one chance a year to take home a chair built in the village's own carpentry shop for the price a bidding war lets you.

Thanksgiving Monday, October 12, is closing day for daily operation; the calendar runs June 6 to October 12. After that the site reopens only for special programming. In 2025 that meant Christmas Village Aglow, an evening lantern event Wednesday to Sunday from late November through December 21; the 2026 dates had not been announced when we checked. Season-pass holders get free entry to that and to the spring Maple event, which is the arithmetic that makes the pass pay.

Admission, passes and the free days

2026 admission, tax included (online booking fees may apply): adult 19 to 64 $19.55; senior 65-plus $16.62; youth 6 to 18 $16.62; five and under free; family (two adults and their children up to 18) $60. Military, veterans and Indigenous visitors are free with ID.

Season passes are valid to December 31, 2026: family $102.01, ambassador $115 (the holder plus up to three guests), adult $50.60, senior $43.01. Perks: free entry to select events including Christmas Village Aglow and the Maple event, 15 percent off King's Head Inn food (regular menu, not the special dinners), the Peddler's Market and Grant Store and rentals, and 25 percent off at seven partner attractions including the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and Kingsbrae Garden. Bought in late September, a family pass pays for itself on the second visit if that visit is Village Aglow.

New Brunswickers with a library pass got a free week in mid-September; if you missed it, the next free-ish route is the dinner, which includes admission.

Getting there, parking, and getting around

Kings Landing is at 5804 Route 102, Prince William, twenty minutes west of Fredericton: take the Trans-Canada to Exit 253, or take Route 102 the whole way along the river for the foliage. Day parking is free, with an upper lot for RVs; no overnight. The village roads and paths are unpaved, and the site runs on a hill from the Welcome Centre down to the river, so the free wheelchairs (first come) and the rental scooters ($30 for four hours, $40 a day) are worth asking about. Complimentary horse-and-wagon rides loop the village and are the traditional solution for tired six-year-olds. Only documented service animals are admitted. Food on site is the King's Head Inn; admission is required to dine and reservations are suggested even outside the Thanksgiving dates. Info: [email protected].

Make a day of it

Kings Landing sits in the stretch of Route 102 that peaks for colour around the first weekend of October, so the drive is part of the ticket. Three miles west is Hoyt Orchards, a market grower with its own cider press (it sells at the Boyce Market on Saturdays rather than at the gate). Back toward town, Laughing Apple Farm in Scotch Settlement adds a corn maze and Honeycrisp picking, and Mactaquac Provincial Park's Beaver Pond and Alex Creek loops are the easy walk to settle a turkey dinner. If you take the 4 p.m. seating, arrive early, do the maze or the park first, and drive home in the dark with the heat on and the windows fogged: that is October in the valley done properly.