Montgomery Bell SP, Burns TN
This is a pretty state park not far from Nashville. It has many amenities such as an 18-hole golf course, sandy beach at a lake, modern shelters, full service lodge with a small conference center, fishing lakes, hiking, historical points of interest and hiking trails. It sits on a rustic wooded and somewhat hilly plot of acreage. The trees are especially beautiful for fall foliage. I give this campground a fairly low rating primarily due to the lack of campground maintenance.
The good:
Level sites
Inexpensive
Firewood available at campground office
Pretty wooded campground with creek side sites
Strong signal for both AT&T and Verizon
The bad:
Most septic drains are located at the back of the sites. If you have a mid-section septic drain you’ll need to bring an extension pipe to make the reach
Pretty wooded campground makes navigating difficult for big rigs. We have a 34’ TT and my wife commented that we need trailer lube to get thru the trees to our site.
Skunks walk freely thru out the cg.
The ugly:
Fire pits not cleaned out
Cigarette butts, debris and dog feces abundant in the cg
Campers drive TOO fast
Fills up on weekends with loud, obnoxious campers
Defeated Creek campground is located in the upper Cumberland Plateau North-East from Nashville and approximately 10 miles from Carthage TN and 17 miles off of I-40. This is a very scenic area with large rolling hills and pastel scenery. This park is situated on a peninsula surrounded by Cordell Hull Lake fed by the Cumberland river and Defeated Creek. It has approx. 150 campsites with many directly on the water. It has a beach, boat ramp, marina with boat rentals, a café, cabins and modern bath houses. There is a full hook up loop and all the rest have water and electric. Activities are all water oriented with fishing, swimming water sports etc. The lake is beautifully nestled in surrounding hills and has lovely sunsets, misty morning and plenty of wild life. If you visit during a quiet time you’ll see deer nonchalantly grazing in the campground. This is ‘river-lake’ with navigable waters and channel markers. It also has a lot of floating organic debris and you won’t see as much skiing as on other lakes, its more fishing oriented. There is little if any cell service here. I had 1 to 2 bars lakeside but none further up in the campground. The joke is if you need to make a call go up to the playground and stand near the slide. I’m told there is Verizon coverage here. I recommend this campground based on its natural beauty, easy access to the lake, an onsite café and a well-stocked marina.
I have reviewed this park before and what a true gem of a park it is. Not because of the camping amenities and not because of any near by attractions, there are few of either here. If the beach is your thing and you like the more out of the way places with an unhurried pace, then this is the place for you.
This park is located at the tip of the peninsula which circling Port St. Joe bay. It is un-crowded save for campers with miles of power white sand. I call this a throw back park which reminds me of an earlier time when parks were destinations, the stuff where family life-time memories are made.
I give this state park a 5 star rating for its location alone. This park is all about the beach and being really close to it, like just over the dune from it close. There are two campgrounds and we always choose the Gulf Breeze loop because its a bit easier to get in and out and while it has plenty of trees and palms, it is not in dense pine woods at the second loop. Some of the camp sites are tight and if you've never been here before I suggest calling and talking to somebody in the park about which sites are best to accommodate your rig.
One of this parks naturally beautiful features are the sunsets. In a weeks stay, there are always one or two evenings when practically the whole campground goes down to the beach to watch the spectacular sunset. Kids are playing, people are fishing, most bring a beach chair or blanket and have a glass of wine in celebration of the day. What a great way to send off another memory that'll last a life time!
Piney campground is located in the National Forest Service recreational area known as Land Between the Lakes in the mid-western region of Kentucky and Tennessee. Not into fishing? LBL is a treasure of exploration. Its a land bound peninsula between Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkely stretching over 40 miles with numerous site seeing opportunities. Old iron industry furnaces, 1850's home place for living history, a planetarium, buffalo and elk range, orv area, horse camps, miles of hiking, biking and back country four wheel roads.
Piney is in Tennessee on the eastern bank of Kentucky Lake, a navigable waterway shared between barge traffic, boating and sport fishing. Sunset lovers will appreciate this campground as there are almost always spectacular sunsets every night.
The campground is large and hosts over 300 sites without feeling cramped or in your neighbors back yard. It has two boat ramps, one fishing pier, hiking trails, a paved bike trail thru the woods, a well stocked camp store, sporting fields, sandy beach, free music on certain nights in the summer, kids programs with students from a near by college and many seasonal events including a campers fair in the fall. It is a great family campground and we literally raised our kids at this one, from taking off the training wheels to them driving up to share camp with us from where they now live.
There are several non-electric loops but most loops have electricity and one loop is full hook up. The cg accommodates big rigs and pup tents alike. The sites are gravel, most are back in with some paved handicapped sites available. Modern bath houses dot the campground. There is no cable or wifi but good cell reception and a mifi hooks you up. Reservations can be made but most sites are first come, first serve.
My four star rating is because not all the sites are level and some hard to access with narrow drives with deep culverts flanking them and the lack of water and sewer hook ups through out most the camp. That said, all in all this is a gem of a campground and one you'll feel safe letting your kids roam.
We'll be heading to Top Sail again in April. This will make our 8th year camping there and folks, it is always good!
Date of Stay:
April, 2013
4
Jul 2012
Great Overnight RV Park
Texas T is a great overnight campground. It is right off I-65, literally, which is good news, bad news. Good news, accessible from the off ramp, bad news, road noise which is why I give it 4 out of 5 stars. The owners are very nice, the campground is well kept and pull thru’s are level. Rather than a communal bath house, they have individual rooms for complete privacy. Wifi was good and they accept Good Sam, AARP and credit card payments. It’s located in Tennessee 27 miles north of the Alabama border which makes it a good stop over on the I-65 corridor from the Midwest to Florida.
We have not actually stayed at this park but I did a survey while staying near by. This is a small park and you can walk to the Red Bar at Grayton beach from here. The new loop is full hook up, gravel sites. They did a nice job. The older CG is tight and not all sites would be suitable for big rigs or long TT's. Some of the sites in the old section back to the dune lake, very pastoral! The new section is open without a lot of trees. Some of the sites in the new section; 39 thru 48 have a clear view of HWY 30A and I imagine the road noise would detract from the otherwise nice ambiance of the park. This is why I give it an average rating. The beach itsself is very nice and just a short drive or bike ride within the park. Its not isolated and I observed quite a bit of day use traffic. Nice park if you want to be close to Grayton Beach and the lovely area but not isolated camping.
I reviewed this park awhile back but wanted to do a review update. They now have a tent site loop, added a small playground and have WIFI in the campground. We are sitting on site 66 and the signal strength is good.
Just left this morning and I must say, this is a hidden gem of a SP. Nice camp ground, GREAT BEACHES and close to some very cool undiscovered old Florida towns. Only caution, the 'skeeters are really bad and the SP doesn't do enough to knock 'em down so bring A LOT of bug spray. Only 4 stars because of the 'skeeter problem this trip.
We travelled from home, about 380 miles to stay here on the way to the Gulf of Mexico, Floriday panhandle. Not a bad park, full hook ups, plenty of cable tv, full service for both AT&T and Verizon. They have one small bath house that was very clean. Only small complaint was that this park is right alongside SR 231 and there is a constant highway noise. All and all thumbs up for this park as a stay over.
Good Sam discount and a better deal if you pay cash rather than credit card.
