Glen Maury Park – Buena Vista, VA

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May 6, 2006

Campground and RV Park Reviews | RVBuddy.com

Glen Maury Park (municipal campground) is easy to get to. It’s about ten minutes from I-81, just north of Natural Bridge. (never stayed at the KOA there, but have stayed at the JellyStone/Yogi bear place a few times and loved the riverfront sites and the incredible hiking/running with the two dogs in the adjacent state lands… stunningly beautiful!)

We decided to try Buena Vista, a predominantly LDS town, with an almost unknown Latter-Day Saints University right on the hill in the middle of the old mill town. Man, the guy running the campground office is friendly! The prices are great… $18 a night. I don’t know if I would venture uphill (where we always stay) in anything longer than 30 feet. There are pull-throughs up there, but the angles of incline and decline in the campground on the hilltop past the pool (extra if you want to use it, we believe) are a little steep and you might touch a back bumper somewhere. In our 22 foot van, though, we have no problem. And there are some beautiful sites up there. For big class A’s stay down by the office on the river there, it’s a little sunny in the hot summer, but a nice waterfront location.

There’s a municipal golf course (which nobody really uses in the early morning, even in the middle of the summer!) up there on the hill… and lots of character from all those hills! Plus, there’s a walking/jogging path one mile downhill from the upper campground that is really nice and safe. There are a few permanent residents up there. Last time, one staggered around the camground talking to someone (maybe an old flame or an ex-GF or wife) obviously inebriated, but he and everyone else never gave us any thoughts that it was a seedy place. Just working-class Virginians set-up there for a couple of months. They’ll wave and sit there like it’s their porch and have a few drinks or talk into the evening, but they’re not a problem and they keep the riff-raff out. The Buena Vista town police drive through once in awhile. The price, the friendliness of the guy in his 60s at the main office, the natural beauty, and the amenities (with the exception of the hot bathroom), all make this a great place to overnight or to stay for a couple of days. Good restarants nearby if you like BBQ.

Point South KOA – Yemassee, SC

By

vancouple

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May 6, 2006

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Point South KOA is located just off I-95 Exit 33 & US 17 Interchange. We always wanted to stop over here because of the hottub advertised. Figured we could have a drink and relax after a long drive, but we always stopped in Richmond Hill (the GA State Park–beautiful place) or just kept going north to Enfield, NC KOA (a nice place too).

Well, we’re a little sorry we stopped by last December. We were stuck in “inexplicable” traffic for almost an hour heading north. When the traffic just dematerialized for no more reason than it materialized in the first place, we jumped off at Point South. Do visit the small kitchen knife outlet there… very good cooking stuff and good outlet prices. We were surprised at the number of regulars there in their trailers… not something we normally like to see (sorry to be honest: a little seedy). We didn’t care for the closeness of the trees in the back-in, and discovered the next morning (after running around… nice trails, but watch out for the resident gator!) that the water had been turned off due to some emergency that had a plumber and his assistant sitting around smoking cigarettes and staring at the younger female campers, while I had to dip in the hot tub for a shower (sorry about that, but what was I goonna do?).

The place is all dirt, so it was especially muddy that morning. Now for the good aspects: the management and employees were all very nice (and some of them were the permanent residents, so my little “seedy” comment is mainly directed at the state of disrepair of some of their units and sites).

The walking trails and nearby area is safe and quiet (you can’t hear I-95 but you’re about a quarter mile from it). There’s a lot of shade trees, and they deliver a good little frozen pizza to go with your cold one after a long day of driving in traffic.

Delaware Seashore State Park – Indian River, DE

By

vancouple

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May 6, 2006

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The new Indian River Inlet Bridge currently under construction will be incredible. It will likely bring in thousands of new tourists for the beach communities and unfortunately, for this, once little-known campground. Unfortunately, as of late Delaware Seashore State Park has become much more well known and has become WAY more crowded due to the loss of the extensive dry-camping areas that were very well used by people looking to fish 18 hours a day :). The best sites (I hate to give away our secret but the wife and I haven’t been going as often due to the construction) are the farthest away ones, with 304 being the absolute best site on the campground (it has a pretty little shade tree, is oversized, and faces a corner so you can watch all the birds, including some variation of a sea eagle or something majestic). The sites that run along the far west side, facing the superxpensive condos a half mile west are all good, too. When it’s busy–and, wow, it’s busy there now all the time, but unbearable when the kids are out of school. The bathrooms are a humid, smelly nightmare, just because so many campers use them and there are only two bathhouses for a hundred and say afifty campstes, many of them non-self-contained units reliant on the bathhouses. (I’m almost certain of this–they have closed at least one in the dry camping area adjacent to the New Camp, as it’s called, and maybe closed two there.)

Anyway, the nearby beach is a half mile walk (hot in the summer), and if you’re up to it, walk across the bridge and hang out in the early morning with the surf fishers on the north side, where there’s about five miles of beautiful beach where you can walk a dog or two and really enjoy a pristine beachfront. Say hey to the employees and the resident managers. They are always very fine and helpful people.

RVBuddy.com

Glen Maury Park – Buena Vista, VA

Point South KOA – Yemassee, SC

Delaware Seashore State Park – Indian River, DE