Best RV Parks & Resorts near Stratford, CA

Nice park, well kept, friendly staff. As you will see from the photos this is an old KOA. RV spaces are all pull through, and spaced well and are pretty level. Electrical is updated and spaces have okay water pressure. Has laundry and pool as well

Restrooms and showers are clean but need updating.

There is no cable tv hook ups and Wifi is available but it’s really worthless can’t connect once you are away from the office. Verizon Wireless is 2 bars of LTE works okay....

Lots of great tent spots with shade, water and 110v outlets

It appears that they are trying to make this a nicer place. (Note: my 3 star rating is for lack of cable and wifi) Which should have for $50 a night. Otherwise, I would give 5 stars. Would stay again though.....

It’s hot!! In the summer this place is very hot. However, there are full hookups to run your AC and there are two saltwater pools to jump into. We stopped at this park for one night, twice as a halfway point between southern and northern California. Right off the I-5 freeway next to a Shell and Valero gas station. All sites are pull throughs and we found the gravel to be very level. We did not unhitch for a early morning exit. Bathrooms and showers are cleaned regularly. A rain and windstorm came through in the middle of the night and palm and almond tree leaves were in the pool but by 9am it was cleaned up. The staff is friendly and responsive, and they have a little store that includes some RV supplies such as hoses. Want a quick meal? There is a Baja Fresh and Subway in the Shell gas station next store. Great park to get some shuteye and be refreshed for your next adventure.

The "Town"

In 1908, former slave Colonel Allen Allensworth and four other African Americans founded the town of Allensworth in the San Joaquin Valley of California. According to wikipedia, it is "the only California town to be founded, financed and governed by African Americans." At its height, the town included 200 people and a library, post office, barbershop, store, hotel, schoolhouse, church, and numerous other homes and farming buildings.

Water for the town, however, began to try up as other farms "upstream" increased demand and by the time of the Great Depression, public services such as the post office began to shut down and many residents had to move away to find work. Despite hard times, the "town that refused to die" still had a population of 90 in 1972, though within a few years that had dropped to almost zero.

Due to the town's historical significance and a public campaign to save the town, in 1976 Allensworth became a state historic park. Nowadays, many of the buildings have been restored and are available for public tours along with the addition of a visitor center and 15 campsites.

The Campground

The campground is set off at the back of the historic town and was completely deserted when we arrived on a warm summer day in June, including empty spots where camp hosts would have been. Self registration is easy though (just $20) and the town itself had rangers and volunteers in the visitor center for any questions. Bathrooms with flush toilets, free showers, water fountains and an area to wash dishes were ridiculously clean. The camp sites had concrete pads for RVs, picnic tables with covers, and a couple of water faucets, though no electricity or water hookups except for in the camp host spots. The area is hot and dry in the summer with few trees, so the shade covers over the picnic tables are helpful. There’s also an RV dump for an additional $10.

The Weird and The Awesome

I absolutely loved this campground and learning about the town history. It’s quirky, interesting, and such an odd thing to find in the middle of nowhere-California between Fresno and Bakersfield. It also felt completely deserted, like a ghost town, despite rangers and the occasional tour bus coming through. The big open spaces, dust, and sparse amount of trees adds to its otherworldly-ness. If you find yourself anywhere near here, definitely worth a stop. Or if not, their website includes much more information about the history including a virtual tour and is worth a look: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=583