Huguenot Memorial Park

Pros: You’re right on the water which is nice and the ocean side was BEAUTIFUL. Lots of birds, little shells and wildlife. We saw horseshoe crabs, crabs and clams. Beach is full of razor clams

Beautiful areas of the campsite and lots of hiking trails within a short drive.

Cons:

The helicopters are really, really loud. Like pausing conversations when they fly over and it goes on 12/15 hours a day.

It is windy, especially in the evening when we wanted to have a fire. Made the fire burn well, however no one could sit near it because the smoke changed directions constantly.

The road to the campground is half washed out, I am not sure how it would be possible to have two folks meet on the road without one backing all the way up risking sliding off the washed out area.

The cleanliness of the facilities is really lacking. We try to save our tanks and shower in the shower house but no…

The water…smells like sewage. It’s full of sulfur and I sanitized our water system after leaving just because of how bad it was. Probably unnecessary but who knows.

I can’t think of a better camping option for those that want to flee the noise and distractions of city dwelling for that of a blissful, nature-strewn, ocean-front camping destination that is Huguenot Memorial Park. Replete with 10 designated waterfront tent camping spots overlooking the St. Johns River that give campers beach-front fishing access along with undisturbed views of the Mayport Naval Base. 

If you’re hauling a mobile campsite on wheels, then you’re also in luck as Huguenot also offers two other options – one that is more remote and intimate, but roadside, and a second that is more like a traditional RV parking lot, albeit with sand-dusted pathways. This first spot is sidelined on the roadway leading to the beachhead with alternating spots on either side of the roadway with the northernly side facing sand dunes and Fort George River inlet, while the southernly side overlooks the same vista as the designated tent camping area. 

As for the latter RV parking lot, it’s shaped like a football field with a singular roadway that encircles the place, dissected with three distinct lanes and RV slots / campsites are organized with diagonal slips. The two inner lanes will have pull-through sites, while the outer lanes require your RV to be either front- or back-loaded. Here in this RV circus is where the main restroom and shower (indoor and outdoor) facilities, potable water areas as well as the RV dump station, picnic areas, children’s playground, nature center and group shelters (available by permit only).

Regardless of where you decide to pitch your tent or park your RV, the real attraction here is the white sand beaches that can be accessed by everyone at Family Beach. Here, you’ll find an incredibly peaceful strand of white powder sand encircling the Fort George River inlet, punctuated by Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve, which plays host to 237 species of birds like Swallow-Tailed Kite, Roseate Spoonbill, Snowy Plover and Wood Stork, along with the ever-present white egrets. Further afield, you’ll discover kayak and boat launches, several fishing piers, a number of hiking trails and a handful of isolated picnic areas. 

Insider’s tips? Here’s a few. First, remember that point about being directly opposite of Mayport Naval Base? While seriously cool for military enthusiasts who want to see massive demonstrations of our naval might on full display, for those that are looking for peace & quiet, you’ll here the constant whir of helicopters coming and going, so if you don’t mind that – and I must admit, I didn’t – then great. But if you are looking for absolute clandestine silence while camping, I might suggest you head a bit further north to Little Talbot Island SP (see my other review on this campground for more details on this little gem). Second, as a drive-on beach, ensure that your vehicle is AWD or 4WD otherwise you’ll be spending your time digging out of the sand trap. Third, if you’re packing pets, note that in all areas, they are required to be on a leash and are not allowed on the beaches. Lastly, if you make it to the clear end of this peninsula called ‘The Point’, you’ll encounter incredibly choppy waters and headwinds that attract the most advanced kite surfers. 

Happy Camping!

This city ran campground is clean and well maintained. But sites have no water hookups, which is inconvenient. It is across the inlet from NAS Mayport, and the helicopters run drills all day, flying 50 feet overhead. They loop over the campground every 3-5 minutes. It is fantastic to see at first but so loud. They did stop around 10 PM and didn't fly on rainy days. There are ships coming and going which are fun to watch, and the NAS port had battleships in harbor. Gorgeous sunset with ships in background.

There are a lot of water fowl to identify if you are into that.

There are very few trees, and those around are palms, so the wind is brutal in winter months, kicking up a lot of sand, and good luck with a canopy. The wind speeds were 14 mph one rainy day, and we had to take our Clam Quickset canopy down because it was lifting off the ground, even staked and tied off.

The land is flat, which makes it great for riding bikes if you have kids. And lots of sand dunes where sea turtle lay their eggs so, please watch out for them and many cacti in the sand they went right through the soal of my shoe!

If you have four-wheel drive, they allow beach driving.

The website says pets are allowed, but we saw a sign at the gate that said, "no pets," so you may want to call to verify if you travel with animals.

Verizon cell was solid here.

We booked site 14 because on the map; it appeared to have beachfront views. 14-18 do not have views of anything except dunes. Go for 19-27, x or y, or 47 & 48.

Site 24

For those who work and travel like us, on Speedtest at 9am on a Friday: Verizon via iPhone 12 - 28 mbps down and 17 mbps up; T-Mobile via Nighthawk MR1100 - 29 mbps down and 39 mbps up. For the campground itself, I like it. It’s different enough from State Park campgrounds. Our site was on the inlet beach. The sites aren’t private but for some reason I just don’t mind it here. Mind you, it was on a weekday and it was in the 60s midday, so summertime might be different. Showers are super clean. They must have fixed the hot water issue someone previously mentioned as us two girls took our showers directly after two other women and the water was steaming hot the whole time. There’s a naval base right across the St. John’s River. There are loud helicopters flying around a lot, which if I was on vacation wouldn’t phase me at all. Though it is something to consider if you take work calls. There’s lots of bird activity - in fact one of neighbor campers came here to go birding. Other contextual info: we are in a van, no dogs.

Verizon 5 bars 4G LTE, T-Mobile 3 bars 4G LTE

This city campground is staffed with friendly and personable folks who seem to love there jobs and this park.

Most camp sites are located along a busy channel across which is a Navy shipyard so you see military and freight watercraft coming and going. In addition, military helicopters fly fairly low overhead well into the night. I love all things aviation including the fighter jets that also made appearances two of the days I stayed here, your experience may differ. As campgrounds go, the amount of noise from these machines is somewhat unusual.

The beach is long, beautiful and the dunes are populated by an assortment of sea birds, herons, pelicans, terns and gulls among others. They put on quite a show.

The lettered sites are a 5-8 minute walk from the bathrooms and showers which are clean and well lit. The numbered sites are clustered closer to the bathrooms with a more undisturbed view of the bay and dunes. Sites 23-26 have the best views. All sites have fire rings with cooking grills (nice!) Picnic tables and electrical power. Many sites are not level.

There's a surprisingly well-stocked nature center with interesting exhibits for all ages. Definitely worth spending time in.

A multi use trail links the park to Amelia Island making it possible to hoof or bike there and leave your rig at the site. I'm told it's a 10 mile trip.

Definitely worth a stay if you like your nature delivered with a heaping dose of military industrial sights and sounds.

We had a very enjoyable camping experience here. Came for 1 night on New Years Eve. We had some concerns after reading reviews about camping here, but didn't run into any issues. We had campsite 24 and 25 facing the inlet, with 7 campers, 4 tents, and 4 cars (2 per site). The campsite was (as advertised) not level but that didn't effect anything. It had electrical hook ups, picnic table and a campfire ring with a grill rack built into it. 

The only negatives were no water at your site (but a short walk to the potable water by the restrooms), and the sites were kind of small and side by side with your neighbor. Placing the tents with the back side  facing the neighbors gave us enough privacy. 

The beach driving ends at 6pm but you are still able to walk it. 

Did not use the showers so unable to comment on them. 

The check in was easy and the staff was helpful. We didn't experience any site checks from the staff as some reviewers noted. 

All the positives outweighed the couple negatives in our opinion. We will definitely come back for a longer stay in the near future.

So we spent the entire Memorial Day Weekend at this city park and it was wonderful.  They've been redoing everything there trying to recover from the past hurricanes' damage and it's going great.   Okay it's boon docking, no water or electric but the sea breezes keep the heat and humidity to a bearable level and in our Pop-Up (PUP) with the windows unzipped it was actually cool at night.

Lots of sand, sun and very few trees but plenty of security and the lifeguards are there sun up to sundown.  My youngest and I watched the sun go from deep red to bright yellow as it rose over the white sand dunes just steps from our campsite.  You can also camp on along the channel if you prefer though we like the access to the lagoon much more pleasurable with 2 young daughters.

If you need a point of reference what the beaches on the Atlantic side look like watch the movie "G.I.Jane" since the beach scenes were filmed there directly across from NAS Mayport.   It was cool to watch the large cargo and car-carrying ships make their way down the channel heading for Blount Island and Jacksonville to unload or head back out to sea.

One last thing,  realize when the sea breeze doesn't blow the "no-see-ums" are really bad but bug spray or burning sage on the fire keeps them away.