Tom Naigle has spent his whole life camping and RVing, having grown up enjoying weekend camping trips with his family in Vineland, New Jersey. Now 57 with his wife, Paula, and two adult children, Naigle is doing something he never tried until two years ago: seasonal camping. Instead of packing up his trailer every time he wants to go camping, Naigle rents a campsite for the entire season and leaves his RV on site. He never has to worry about his water, sewer or electrical connections or even take time to pack or unpack his RV. “You just drive there with your food and you’re ready to go for the weekend,” he said. Best of all, Naigle is camping at Spacious Skies Country Oaks Campground in Dorothy, N.J., the same campground he camped at with his family growing up.
“I have my best memories growing up at this campground, and now I am building even better memories with my own children,” he said, adding that the park is only 17 miles from his home in Vineland. “You don’t have to be far away to have an escape,” he said. “You just need a change in environment.” And even though the campground has changed from when he was a little boy, mainly with the addition of new amenities and attractions, he said the park is well managed and well maintained. It also has an added bonus: other seasonal campers just like him. “We’ve become great friends with the people around us. It’s always a nice time,” Naigle said.
Many campgrounds across the country have campsites they set aside for seasonal campers. While some campgrounds have a mix of seasonal campsites and overnight campsites, others have mostly seasonal campsites. Michele Johnson, who co-owns and operates Schatzi's 4 Seasons Resort in Gordon-Walcott, Wis., said she converted her entire park to seasonal sites. “You can make such amazing lifelong friends (at a seasonal campground),” Johnson said. “At our particular campground, everybody gets along. They have barbecues together and they sit on each other’s porches. It’s like a great big family.”
Many seasonal parks have lakes or other outdoor recreation amenities nearby. Three Lakes Campground in Three Lakes, Wis. is located on a chain of freshwater lakes. Its campsites are nestled among large maples, oaks, and pines. Park amenities include seasonal boat slips and a boat launch as well as a swimming beach and playground for the kids. Guests can also drive their golf cart from the front door of their camper to the first tee box at Big Stone Golf Course across the street. Seasonal campers at Austin Lake RV Park and Cabins in Toronto, Ohio enjoy fishing and boating on Austin Lake as well as its many inflatable floating climbing structures, mining sluice and organized weekend activities, which could include everything from family scavenger hunts to cornhole tournaments and reptile shows.
Major campground networks also have parks with seasonal campsites, including Kampgrounds of America (KOA), which has campgrounds with seasonal sites in Elizabethtown, Penn.; Lebanon, Maine; Meadville, Penn.; and North Stonington, Conn.
The Jellystone Park franchise network also has many parks with seasonal sites, including Caledonia, Wis., Endicott, N.Y., Fremont, Ind., Milton, N.H., Sturgeon Bay, Wis. and Uniontown, Ohio and Warrens, Wis.
Spacious Skies, for its part, has seasonal campsites in nearly half of its portfolio of campgrounds, including Spacious Skies locations in Abbott, Maine; Alfred, Maine;
Austerlitz, N.Y.; Hancock, N.H.; Henniker, N.H.; and North Hudson, N.Y.
Of course, the parks referenced here are just a fraction of the campgrounds across the country that offer seasonal campsites. You can find campgrounds with seasonal sites all over the country by using “seasonal sites” and campground as search terms. Keep in mind that many of the more popular campgrounds will have waiting lists for their seasonal campsites as they are in high demand.
