It’s Like Christmas In Your Car. Here Are 5 Eastern NC Holiday Light Displays You Can’t Miss.

Nothing gets you in holiday spirit like a night of taking in Christmas lights. Read our guide to spots in Eastern North Carolina.

Searching for the holiday spirit? You can do it from your car at one of these over-the-top, and completely necessary, Christmas light displays in North Carolina. 

You can find plenty of gaudy displays across the state, but we curated our list to some of the most striking displays in eastern North Carolina. In these flat, rural stretches you can see the lights from miles away. 

Some of these picks are family-operated businesses with entrance fees. Others are totally free.

Mike’s Farm

1600 Haw Branch Rd, Beulaville, NC 28518

This Onslow County farm features a Festival of Lights Hayride with a 30-minute trip around the farm to view holiday light displays, as well as a live nativity. The hayride operates from 6 to 9 pm every night, weather permitting, through Dec. 26 and then again from Dec. 26-28. 

Admission is $10 for those over 5 with no reservations needed. The farm features an on-site restaurant (reservations required) and a food truck with country-style cooking.

Highlanders Farm 

5784 NC-22, Carthage, NC 28327

This drive-through Christmas Lights Show features more than 500,000 lights strung up on the grounds of a sixth-generation family farm located in Moore County between Southern Pines and Pinehurst.

This is the first year the farm has put on this Christmastime event, and tickets are $20 a vehicle or $30 for a large van. The light show is open from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays through Dec. 31 (closed Christmas Day).

Buy your tickets in advance through the Highlanders Farm website here. Hot cocoa, apple cider and homemade ice cream are available for purchase.

Big Daddy’s Farms

11875 NC Hwy 222 W, Middlesex, NC 27557

This “Christmas Lights on the Farm” event in Middlesex, near Rocky Mount, features a nightly hayride to a field of lights, bonfires, pictures with Santa and more. Tickets are $8 per person. Infants and toddlers 3 and under are free. Find more information here.

The Meadow Lights

4546 Godwin Lake Road, Benson, NC

Visit more than 30-acres of lights on this Johnston County site operated by Roy Johnson, who started putting up lights on his property 40 years ago for people to enjoy. 

Also home to an old-fashioned candy store, the family operation has trains ($3 a person) that go through 10 acres of property to view the lights. The Meadow Lights are open every night through Dec. 31. More information can be found here.

Lake Linda’s Christmas Lights

218 Old House Road, Hampstead, NC

If you’re in the Surf City or Hampstead area, check out this local favorite featured on ABC’s Great Christmas Light Fight in 2020. The lights at Lake Linda are free to see. But donations of money or new, unwrapped toys for a local Toys for Tots charity are appreciated 

Find out more information here about visiting the Lake Linda Christmas Light display.