Cranberry Bog Tours
Take a cranberry bog tour at Annie’s Crannies on Cape Cod and see how cranberries are harvested at this favorite spot for locals and visitors alike.
Cranberry Bog Tours Map
As the birthplace of the commercial cranberry industry in the United States, Cape Cod remains iconic both historically and culturally for cranberries.
While cranberry bog tours are offered throughout Southeastern Massachusetts, you can visit a cranberry bog on Cape Cod in the towns of Dennis, Harwich, and Sandwich.
If you’re looking for a tour where you wade into the bog (not cheap and not for kids), go to Benson’s Pond in Middleborough or Hartley Family Farm in Rochester.
The Birth of the Cultivated Cranberry
The fruit-bearing branches.
In North America, there are only three native fruits that are commercially grown: blueberries, Concord grapes, and cranberries.
In southeastern Massachusetts, the indigenous Wampanoag have harvested wild cranberries (sasumuneash) for tens of thousands of years, using the berries for food, fabric dye, and medicine.
American mariners and whalers ate wild cranberries on their sea voyages to prevent scurvy.
On Cape Cod, commercial cultivation of the cranberry began in 1816 with Captain Henry Hall.
Born in Dennis, Massachusetts, Henry Hall served in the American Revolutionary War. After the war, Hall was a mariner and sea captain before returning home and harvesting wild cranberries.
When a storm blew sand over Captain Hall’s cranberry bogs, his crop increased.
Through this accident of nature, Captain Hall discovered that cranberries could be cultivated by spreading sand over the cranberry vines. The sand controlled pests and encouraged new growth.
Using Hall’s technique, the number of cranberry growers increased steadily throughout the 19th century.
In 1843, Eli Howes planted his own crop of cranberries in Dennis, Massachusetts.
The Howes variety is grown only in Massachusetts and Annie’s Crannies still grows this cranberry variety today.
The Howes variety of cranberries.
Annie’s Crannies - A Brief History
Ben Walker buys his cranberry land.
In 1910, Ben Walker bought land situated near “Molly’s Swamp” in Dennis, Massachusetts for 75 dollars.
Rocker scoop for picking cranberries.
Ben was known as a fast cranberry picker. Using a rocker scoop, he harvested 19 barrels (nearly one ton) of cranberries in one 6-hour day in 1912.
For his labor, Ben earned 14 dollars and 28 cents, more than many men earned in a week, setting a record and receiving a small notice the next day in The Boston Globe newspaper.
From The Boston Globe, September 20, 1912.
Decades later, when the cranberry industry withered, Ben was forced to sell the last of his cranberry land in 1959. He died in 1960.
In 1995, Ben’s granddaughter, Annie Walker, paid quite a bit more than 75 dollars to purchase her grandfather’s former land in Dennis, Massachusetts, and return the bogs to the Walker family.
Annie Walker stands at one of her cranberry bogs.
Since then, Annie has preserved both cranberry and family history at Annie's Crannies, which celebrates its 30th season in 2026.
When Annie retires, her niece, Molly, will be the fourth generation of Walkers to cultivate cranberries in Dennis, Massachusetts.
Annie and her family work hard all year long. But you have only five weekends each year to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
The third and fourth generation of Walkers sort cranberries.
On the cranberry bog tour, you can see the Improved Hayden Cranberry Separator (yes, improved) which was patented in 1907.
The antique machine still separates the bad cranberries from the good cranberries (they bounce) before the cranberries are sorted again by hand.
If you are sensitive to noise, please know that the cranberry separator is quite loud.
Machine’s volume lowered by 50 percent in this video.
How Cranberries Are Harvested
A flooded bog during the cranberry harvest.
The cranberry harvest takes place once a year from mid-September through early November, depending on the cranberry variety.
There are two ways to harvest cranberries. Wet pick: Flood the bog when the cranberries are ripe. Dry pick: Harvest the ripe cranberries with hand and machine tools.
With the wet-pick method, the cranberry bog is flooded with just enough water to cover the vine tips. Cranberries have air pockets and float to the top.
Then, water reels are driven onto the bog, knocking the fruit from the vines.
The fruit is corralled and removed from the bogs with pumps or conveyors onto waiting trucks, then delivered to receiving stations for cleaning and eventual processing.
Walk-behind harvester for dry-picking.
Dry-picked berries are harvested with a rocker scoop or a motorized, walk-behind harvester.
The rocker scoop has a comb to catch the fruit, while letting the low-lying vines slip through.
The motorized harvester is small enough to travel over the beds without damaging the vines.
Then, the cranberries are sorted and stored prior to packaging.
Do not wash fresh cranberries until ready to use.
Do not wash dry-picked cranberries until you are ready to use them.
Washing the cranberries adds moisture and causes the fruit to rot quickly. Store the fresh cranberries dry, then rinse them when ready to use.
Wet-picked cranberries are used to make cranberry juice, cranberry sauce, and dried cranberries.
Molly Walker arranges bags of dry-picked cranberries.
At Annie’s Crannies, most cranberries are wet picked. But a portion of the cranberries are dry picked for sale at the farm and at a local grocery store.
Get to Annie’s Crannies early in the harvest season (October to mid-November) for fresh cranberries that have been dry picked. You can freeze the berries for up to one year.
Whether you visit once a year or once in a lifetime, Annie’s Crannies is one of the best cranberry bog tours to learn about the history of Cape Cod cranberries and how cranberries are harvested.
Annie’s Crannies
36 Scarsdale Road
Dennis, Massachusetts 02638
Tel: 508-385-5517
Public hours and tour size are limited because it is a small family farm. What is not limited is the knowledge you’ll gain from the tour, the beauty of the place, and the freshness of the cranberries.
Bring cash to join a tour and buy farm products, including cranberries, honey, candles, cranberry sauce, jams, and soaps.
Open 5 weekends only, starting Columbus Day Weekend
(Columbus Day is the second Monday of October)
Hours: Saturday & Sunday, 9am-5pm. Tour at 11am (arrive early).
Baking with Cranberries
Goodies from Annie’s Crannies.
As a home baker, I use dry-picked cranberries in my bakes. To preserve the firmness of the berries, bake with frozen (not thawed) cranberries.
Cranberry and orange are a classic combination. Try this recipe: Cranberry Orange Buttermilk Cake...made with Annie’s Crannies of course.
Cranberry Orange Buttermilk Cake for winter holidays.