We’ve only stayed at one Corps of Engineers park that I remember, near Tupelo Mississippi. We liked that park a lot, and we’ve talked to many people who stay at COE parks and also love them. Always associated with water because of a Corps of Engineers dam project, many of these parks have electric hookups for RVs. You can find all the information your need on the Corp’s Recreation website.
If you like to use Google Earth to research your destinations, there is a file you can download from their website that includes all the parks. The video above will show you how to do it.
If you’ve stayed at a Corps of Engineers park how about leaving a comment and telling us about it?
Barry Zander
We have stayed at numerous Corps parks around the country — they are like the Holiday Inn of campgrounds — always good — a bit quirky sometimes, but the facilities are the best for the money. We rate them as the best, when compared with National Parks, National Forests, BLM, TVA, military bases, State Parks, county/city/fairgrounds parks, private campgrounds, homes of friends, Wal-Marts and truck stops. (We do get around!) Being that they are designed by engineers, there is often something weird about campsites, like the one where each site has its own water, but ours and others were 75 feet from the site.
Allen Schott
I like the COE campground up near Jamaica, VT. Its very clean, restrooms and showers clean and free. They have dishwashing stations near the restrooms and hookups are for water and electric – 30 amps.
Down the trail are sites without hookups for a slightly lower cost per night and fairly well spaced apart.
The trails are very easy for biking/hiking and follow the river.
Leonard Surprenant
Love COE parks. Have spent a lot of time in ones in AR especially. Always clean and usually larger site than a typical RV park. In the off season there can be times when we were the only rv in the park. Lots of wildlife too. As mentioned before Golden Age and America the Beautiful give 50% off.
Donna Morgan
We fish a lot at the US Army Corps of Engineers Cowanesque Lake near Corning, NY and have also camped there. The sites are large and private and we moored our boat within view of our site. Walk-in primitive campsites are also available. It is a large lake and has areas for quiet fishing, water skiing, and swimming. The rest rooms on the day use side of the lake are clean. We did not use the campground restrooms.
Connie
Love the COA here in North Eastern Ohio. We just stayed there last week. There were more NEW COA trucks and personnel running around doing nothing the whole time we were there. They were everywhere, but not very helpful. We stayed at 3 different Ohio State parks this year and they are short handed everywhere. Some of the rangers have 3 different parks to take care of. Hummmm
Still love Mill Creek and will go back, it’s half price for us old people.
Doug
We just returned from our first COE experience in Tompkins Campground at Cowanesque Lake on the border of NY and PA just southwest of Elmira, NY.
We’ve been there before to visit with family, but have not camped. We really enjoyed the entire experience, although we don’t have a boat. Boating is a big part of what goes on there. People were friendly and it was quiet and peaceful.
The sites are quite varied in size and available hook ups. There’s some elevation in the park and some of the sites are not completely level. They continue to make improvements to the park. We plan to go back again.
Marilyn Register
We agree with all the above, that is the 1st place I go to look for a campsite. We have stayed at too many to list. All are a 10 on our rating scale.
Richard Moffitt
For those that like COE campgrounds, sign up with http://www.recreation.gov that gives you access to all corp campground plus it gives you good info about every campground and every camp site. It also lets you make online reservations.
Manuel Enos
My wife and I love COE!! We spend alot of time in GA, AL, MS, ARK, TN, MI. They have very nice, clean parks with very helpful personel exceptional prices especially if you are a senior citizen as we are usually no sewage hookup but very accessable dump stations. They are usually very close to towns/cities but still have that get away into the wild appeal and are mostly found near rivers, lakes etc…To really get the feel of where they are located, invest in a “Camping With the Corp” book found in alot of RV stores which list all the COE parks with RV hookups in the USA..We Love the parks in ARK, especially “Toad Suck Lock & Dam park right out side Conway, Ark on the Ark River. Beautiful park right on the river and you can watch all the action as the barges move up and down the river.
Dick and Wendy in Yuma
We spent one nice summer as part attendants for the COE on Lake Allotoona, GA outside Atlanta. This was over 10 years ago but back then we made over $100 daily with beautiful no cost campsite overlooking the lake.
Not many people know how to apply for these choice jobs and there is a lot of paperwork to do, but that only discourages others, so if you are interested they bid these jobs out in the spring normally. They have boat ramp/picnic parks as well as campgrounds. Full training too.
We just wanted you to know and has nothing to do with Google. We love Google.
D and W
Nick Russell
We have stayed at several COE parks, most recently Ray Behrens Campground on Mark Twain Lake in Missouri. With my Golden Access pass it was $12/night, with full hookps, including 50 amp electric.
But our all time favorite is COE campground is Toad Suck Park near Clinton, Arkansas. Don’t you just love that name?
Grampa Jim
Carol and I love the COE parks. We stay often at Lake Georgetown near Austin, Texas. We’ve stayed at Lake Okatibee in Collinsville, Mississippe, near Meridian. We’ve stayed at W Kerr Scott Reservoir at Wilksboro, North Carolina. Every place we go, it’s our intention to find a COE park. We love them. You also can get a book from the COE ranger station for $14 that shows all the amenities, maps, directions, etc. A very good book to have.
Ian McKee
A small correction; the reservoir behind the COE campground at Pierre, SD is Lake Oahe and it does not go up to Canada.
Soryy for the misstatement.
Ian
Ian McKee
We stayed in a COE park in Pierre, SD in 2007, right on the Missouri River and below a huge reservoir that stretches all the way up to Canada.
Quiet, peaceful and uncrowded.
Thanks for the Google Earth reference.
Ian
John Bruckner
We prefer COE campgrounds over a lot of State Parks, helpful hosts, beautiful parks and facilities AND with your over 65 passport, camping is usually half-price!
Chris Guld
Just in case anyone is looking up the parks mentioned in the comments … The Corps of Engineers projects that you find in Google Earth may include several recreation areas … so – the Winhall Brook Campground mentioned by Ann is part of the COE project called ‘Ball Mountain Lake.’ And, Victoria Campground, mentioned by Tom, is part of Allatoona Lake. From the Google Earth icon, you can click on the link to the project website to see the individual campgrounds.
Ann
We have been staying at Winhall Brook Campground in South Londonderry VT for the past 18 years. It’s our favorite place to camp. Host campers are wonderful, as are the rangers. No rec hall, no store, just peace & quiet and a couple of rivers for swimming with the kids and the dog. Outdoor family movie on Saturday night, weather permitting. Usually we have a few families that camp there together a couple weekends in the season. Absolutely beautiful! Not too far from Weston VT for the Vermont Country Store & the Weston Playhouse if we’re looking for something special to do.
Tom Duncan
We have stayed at Victoria Campground near Canton GA. Our first trip was a weekend with our camping group. Then we went for a whple week by ourselves. The campgrounds were well maintained and the staff was always friendly and helpful. We had to leave a day earlier than planned. I figured I would just lost the money for that daay. When I was talking to the gentelmen at the gate his said I could get a refund for the last day. I stopped at the gate as I was pulling out and he refunded my money. There are a lot of things to see in the area of the campgrounds. It is on Lake Alltoona which is a large lake. We will be going back a few more times.