Read Part I: Our Favorite Places to Camp in the West
Read Part II: Our Favorite Midwest Places to Camp
Favorite RV Sites: Part III
As I recover from a sleepless night in a Passport America campground set a little too close to I-5 in San Diego, the time is right to wrap up my three-part series about our favorite places to camp around the U.S. This time we’ll cover the Eastern states.
I’ll be honest; the East Coast is NOT our favorite place to camp. As native westerners we are spoiled with wide open, free camping on public lands, which doesn’t exist seem to east of the Mississippi.
But there are upsides to traveling throughout the East Coast. In addition to experiencing some fascinating historic sites, the region did reveal some surprising gems to us, which made up for the stressful driving and crowded conditions. Our Passport America membership also helped ease the sting of the East Coast’s high RV park rates. Here are a few of our favorite places to go camping from Maine to Florida.
Maine
Lily Bay State Park
We made the effort to visit Maine and loved the usual attractions like Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, but Lily Bay State Park at Moosehead Lake stood out among all of them.
Not only will you probably see Maine’s legendary moose hanging out in the waters of Maine’s biggest lake, but it’s one of the most rugged, scenic and sparsely populated areas of the Northeast.
Bring your toughest bug repellent since you’ll be in Maine’s deepest woods and be prepared to get outside and off your phones and computers. The tree canopy in the campground obscures any satellite or cell signals. This is one place you can really get away from it all!
Vermont
We’d heard a lot about how Burlington is a cool, progressive town and wanted to see if it would make our short list of potential places to settle down someday. We picked a spot at Burlington’s North Beach Campground, which is the best place to stay if you want to experience this fabulous college town up close.
This city-run campground is set on Lake Champlain within easy biking distance of downtown Burlington’s best attractions, like the weekly farmers market, food co-op and shopping.
Maybe we loved Burlington because it shares a strong resemblance to hippie dippie Humboldt County, our last permanent residence. With a greenie flair and a strong commitment to keeping things local, it’s a great town if you lean left and think different.
Bring your bike and bring your dog since Burlington is welcoming to both, but just remember if you decide to stay, in order to fit in properly you’ll need to grow a beard and drive a Subaru with a kayak permanently mounted to the roof.
Virginia
Virginia is a beautiful state with tons of private campgrounds and some scenic but incredibly expensive state parks (nearly $40 a night for electric only sites!). Last fall we stayed at Lake Anna State Park in Northern Virginia and previously we camped at Claytor Lake State Park in the New River Valley near the southwest corner of the state.
Both parks had the usual state park amenities and were nice enough to stay at, but Claytor Lake is our choice because of its proximity to the fine college town of Blacksburg as well as one of our favorite attractions in Virginia, the Floyd Country Store.
Set along Virginia’s Crooked Road music heritage trail, Floyd is home to the Floyd Country Store, ground zero for local old timey, bluegrass and gospel music. Visit on a Friday night and for less than $5 you get to experience Appalachia’s best bands and musicians along with some of the finest clog dancing in America.
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Get there early though, as this place gets packed! Saturdays and Sunday also showcase live music acts and inbetween you can peruse America’s largest selection of old timey music CDs and paraphernalia, ever. If you can’t make it, a live radio show during summer can bring Floyd to you.
Georgia
Georgia is the last stop on this “best of” journey because I can’t find anything too significant about any other parts of the east or southeast. If you go to Georgia, here are our two favorite stops:
Savannah
We went to Savannah for one reason: Bonanventure Cemetery. If you’ve ever read or seen Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, you’ll know why we were compelled to visit.
Savannah wins as my favorite city on the east coast. It’s a city and it’s busy but the lush trees and dense foliage give you a sense of inner peace that’s rare in congested places.
The food is fabulous, Savannah’s genteel and diverse people are kind and the best part is there’s a nearby state park that puts you within about 20 minutes of everything. While lots of folks stay at Tybee Island, we took a gander at Skidaway Island State Park and decided to stay for a spell.
Set on the Intercoastal Waterway, this state park had tons of paths and places to explore and even had laundry facilities. This park was a world away from the buzz of Savannah but close enough to make it a worthwhile base camp to explore one of America’s greatest cities.
The Okefenokee Swamp
When we were cruising through Georgia, I told Jim we were near a funny little place called Okefenokee Swamp. He gets excited and says “Pogo!” I say “Who?” Then he proceeded to enlighten me on Walt Kelly’s Pogo, featured in the the long running daily comic strip featuring Pogo along with a rather political possum, and his cohorts deep in the Georgia swamps.
Jim practically swerved off the road to make turnoff to Okefenokee Swamp, which turned out to be our most memorable experience in the swamplands of the East Coast.
You have to really want to see Okefenokee Swamp, as it’s hours from any city, set in the middle of nowhere at the end of a dead-end highway with no facilities nearby.
Once you’ve arrived, the campground at Stephen C. Foster State Park is within walking distance of canoe rentals, which are the only feasible way to explore the swampy, buggy and fascinating plants and animals of Okefenokee Swamp — one of the buggiest, creepiest and coolest places in America.
I’m sure that in our haste to escape the madness of the frantic East Coast highways and jam-packed campgrounds, we missed out on a lot. Our prejudices about what camping means to us also probably also got in the way of a lot of cool things to check out.
If you have favorite places to RV and camp back east, do tell! We’ll be sure to put them on our map of places to see in future tours of the east.
Read my other two segments on our Favorite Places to Camp all around the country!
I’ll start by using your first sentence and say the east is NOT the best place to live, either (my opinion, of course). Once you’ve been west, there’s little in the east to interest one (my opinion, again). I will say, you are right about Savannah, but you missed Charleston! Again, very expensive, but Charleston is a walking city. We stayed at James River County Park and could take the shuttle in. You won’t find a prettier city–closest I’ve seen is Sausalito/Carmel CA (well the whole pacific coast; let’s be honest) or Leavenworth WA. We “camped” there many times because my daughter went to Med school at MUSC. I never tire of Charleston (but I can no longer walk so it’s frustrating), Folly Beach, etc. James Island County Park has a lot to do on it’s own; bike/hiking paths, kayaking, climbing wall, etc.–great dog park with a lake, too.
Hunting Island is another place on the South Carolina Coast if you’re ever back this way. I don’t know if you like URLs posted in comments, but I know they are easily found in the web.
I camped at Skidaway Island with a wonderful group of solo women campers. Except for the miserable bugs, we had a great time. I was the only one that had a Thermacell so about 15 of us crammed ourselves under my awning to keep from being eaten alive.
In ancient days, my husband and I had our own business and worked some from the road. We were in every campground in Georgia as that was his territory. Since it was an educational based business, we were off for the summers, so we turned west as soon as we could get away in May. Somedays, we worked half a day, but it was during dial up days so we had to find an internet cafe or a progressive campsite that would agree to let us use their telephone line. I can remember driving all the way down from Stanley Idaho to Ketchum to keep up with email. I don’t know if Stanley has internet, yet.
Oh, West Virginia was fun–New River Gorge. Again, compared to the west, everything seems crowded and confining. We/I generally stayed away from cities–you’ll see–mostly because of our pups, at the time. When Susan would meet (my city girl), she’d want to see the cities and a nail salon 1/2 block away from the campsite–no boondocking with her. That apple fell way away from this tree!
Times have changed, but the memories are oh so wonderful. Glad to find you, Renee’!
Nancy your travels sound a lot like ours. Stanley is a beauuuutiful place. Haven’t been there in years so I don’t know if they have internet or not. And like you and your hubby were doing, we also stay away from cities, our Wyatt Ray also needs his space and so do we. Thanks for the tips on the East Coast. I’m sure we’ll make it back out there some day with the rig (Jim has family there) and when we do I will consult you for some insiders tips.
Your living my dream 🙂
We have a RV and spend a lot of time at the Hunting Island State Park in South Carolina. One of the sea islands east of Beaufort. From reading your blog I think you would add it to your list.
Aww thanks Mikki. We’ve never been there but if we’re ever out to SC again we’ll check it out, thanks for the tip.
Whaaaat, you’re within’ the spinning distance of a dead cat and you didn’t call? Not feeling the aloha you two.
Enrico
Well the East coast sure seems to be lacking the BLM, etc. So much history that way and would love to see some it someday. Glad to have had your tours…we’ll probably stay pointed to the West for the most part with pass thru’s to the Midwest for family visits.
Cozygirl, yeah, the lack of public lands back east is what makes it so pricey to stay there. The history is great to experience but the west is definitely easier on the wallet.
Awesome series Rene….worthy of printing out. We’re considering next winter, splitting our time between AZ and TX. Heading east is something we’ll probably do one day, but there is still so much we want to do out west. Thank you for a great post. I have a friend or two that I’ll be forwarding this too. Happy trails 🙂
Thanks so much Ingrid! Yeah, I can’t even begin to scratch the surface of all of the amzing places out west. The East Coast is great for a history lesson that we all need occasionally but Jim and I will keep our rig pointed toward the Pacific for the most part.
Glad you’re already thinking about next winter and having fun out there!