Best Campgrounds near New Castle, DE

The wife & I stayed in site 22 for three nights and bicycled 14 miles, some along the Susquehanna, on nearby Enola Low Grade Trail .  We enjoyed the birds singing in the mornings and welcomed grandkids' visit for splashing and floating in Pequea Creek.  (Nearby site 24 had steps down the 'levee'; affording easier access to the creek.)   Lori was cheerful & timely with all communications; even sending new arrival directions the day before because of a road closure.   I realize that the private entrance road is long to maintain but patching some of the holes, clearing debris from the dump site deck, and wiping down the bathrooms would have netted a 5th star.

Positive: Our site was HUGE!!!! It was also super private with trees and a lot of privacy from the road and our neighbors.   We had friends stay in the lean-tos nearby and others visit.  We had room to park several cars.  This would be a great site for an RV plus a few tents.   The roads were all recently paved.    There are 3 campgrounds here: North Shore, Miesle and CCC.   CCC is the only one with electric and water hookups on site.  We used our RV bathrooms most of the time and stayed 3 nights.

The Kayak and Canoe rentals were right near us.  The nature center had planned activities for families each day.    The swimming lake was beautiful.  We biked the trails, and hiked others that didn't allow bikes.  They are putting in new bathrooms at Miesle this year.    If you don't mind dry docking, then stay on that side.   I was happy to see that they had cans for recycling. which often campgrounds do not. 

Negative: 

-We were NOT happy that the bathrooms next to us were closed, apparently for years, and it was not noted.  We purposely booked in 105 due to the proximity.  The other bathrooms in the CCC were a good walk, and pretty run down.    I was impressed that they had a laundry facility though. 

-Also, there was a dip in the site when backing in and our fifth wheel was bending to the point of rubbing the top of our truck when backing in.  It also had rained and there were puddles in the sand.

-Virtually NO cell service with AT&T, TMobile or Verizon.  AT&T we the better of the 3. Our Winegard/Gateway give us no internet which we normally get.  There'd be way too many trees for Starlink.   We were able to tune into some really dorky TV stations.  One was in Japanese, two were in Spanish, and got some oddball stations in English. 
- The worst was the dump station.  It is just a little hole on the side of the road and the ONLY dump station for the 3 campgrounds!  It was very unlevel and not easy to fully dump our tanks.  It was also Memorial Day weekend and the line at checkout caused us to wait 2 hours to dump!! Of course then we hit all kinds of traffic coming home. 

We might be back and stay in CCC closer to the open bathrooms, but they REALLY need to do something about the dump stations.

First off, I would love to give this place 5 stars but the lots are just too small and too tight. Pet friendly. No children. No frills. Great place to explore Amish country from. Also close enough to Hershey to take in the attractions Hershey transportation museum, Hershey candy store, and definitely take the Hershey trolly tour. And if so inclined, Hershey park, with over a dozen roller coasters. Many Amish store outlets in area. Close to Lancaster. If you’re a foodie, this area has many buffet style venues. Shady Maple Smorgasbord was excellent. Amish farms and fields everywhere. Careful driving Amish buggies are numerous. On one occasion, in the field right behind our sight, two horses hooked to a trailer took of across the field headed for the village with a dog and 6 or 8 young Amish men and boys chasing them. A few moments of angst and excitement.

We spent the Memorial Day weekend at Philadelphia/ West Chester KOA Holiday in Coatesville, PA and had a good time. 

We paid$135/night for Back-in Patio Site#25. A bit pricey considering the lack of elbow room, but it’s a great site and everything is well-kept. There was just barely enough room for the motorhome and Jeep Wrangler. 

I did have major trouble backing in because the road is too narrow for a 45’ motorhome to back in on a nearly 90-degree angle. So difficult, that I cracked the bottom of my front cap catching the grass and gravel beside the grave road. I think this would’ve otherwise been a 5-star review.Don’t stay in this site in a big motorhome. The trailers/5th wheels seem better because they ‘bend’ at the hitch. 

THINGS I LIKED: 

• Great site(once you’re in it!) including patio furniture on a paver patio and seating around an upgraded fire pit. The landscaping made up for the tight squeeze. 

• Clean and level gravel site with well-maintained utility hook-ups. 

• Close to Longwood Gardens; Wilmington, Delaware; and a handful of local museums and gardens. Not too far from Philadelphia. 

• Super friendly staff. Every interaction with employees was extremely nice. Other campgrounds and even hotels can learn a lot from these folks. 

• The whole park is quiet and well-maintained. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE SO MUCH: 

• Heads up, big rig owners! Tight squeeze into Site 25. 

• Get cozy, the sites are quite small and tightly packed together. 

WOULD WE COME BACK? 

• Absolutely, this is a nice campground staffed by super nice people with plenty to see and do in the area.