Site 29 at James Island
We LOVE Charleston. We have already resolved to return for a longer stay. We need to invest at least another week to explore it to our satisfaction. I will follow this post with several more about the city. This one is focused on our home for the past 5 days: The Campground at James Island County Park. It is a relatively small campground – about 100 sites – on James Island, just over the Ashley River from downtown Charlston. It was about a 10-minute drive to the center of the city. Very convenient.
And very comfortable. The sites are HUGE. The photo on the right shows our site (#29). We not only had room for the RV and the truck, but could have parked about 7 more cars on the site (there is more room in front that you can’t see). This is possibly the largest campsite we have ever had.
The park itself is huge – probably over 500 acres. It has, besides the RV campground, a primitive (tenting) campground, at least four shelters which can be used for group activities, athletic fields, a fishing dock, a climbing wall, a meeting/game room with a lending library and a large office staffed by very friendly park employees.
Grace taking a dip
The dog park from the opposite shore
The park is also host to the “Festival of Lights”, a holiday tradition in Charleston. The park roads are lined with hundreds of figures outlined in lights. Some are animated. Most are relatively small, but some are huge – like the 25-foot tall owl that marks the entrance to the campground. The festival was just getting set up – it doesn’t official open until November 13 – but portions of it were lit every night we were in the campground, as the setup crew tested the lights. The owl was lit every night. It was impossible to miss the entrance to the campground.
This was a great place to stay. If you are coming to Charleston in an RV, this is the place!
Owl at the campground entrance