Martinak State Park Campground

Easy to navigate through with a trailer. Nice trails and playground. Bathrooms were like brand new. Water and electric on our loop.

Quiet and beautiful 

We had a great time camping. Plenty of room for our 22' camper

Great camping!!

Site Details: We stayed on site#19 in Loop B(the electric loop). Our site was large, very level, and surrounded by pine and hardwood trees. All sites in this loop were fairly spread out, with ample tree separation between each one. I don’t think there was a bad site in the loop. 

  

Facilities/Overall Park: The loop had a wonderful, heated bath house which was centrally located and a very short walk from our site. It looked to be recently built(or renovated), and was impeccably clean with very nice-looking showers(which we didn’t use this time). However, there were only 3 stalls and 2 showers, so I imagine the lines could get pretty long during peak season. There was also a nice outdoor dishwashing sink on the exterior of the bath house. 

  

The park itself is rather small, but very pretty and(mostly) peaceful. It’s set on the Choptank River and Watts Creek, with a great amphitheatre and walking trails with beautiful water views. There is also a nature center(which was closed for the season), as well as several pavilions and playgrounds scattered throughout the park. The pavilions were in definite need of a facelift, and the playgrounds were older but decent. 

  

While the park was very quiet and enjoyable during the day, unfortunately I couldn’t say the same for nighttime and early morning. The first night, we were awoken several times by the very loud firehouse siren from the neighboring town of Denton. It sounded like one of those older air raid-type sirens, with a really loud, jarring windup. My husband looked it up the next day, and discovered that Denton does in fact use that old fashioned alarm system to signal any type of emergency. In addition, we heard very loud gunshots from nearby goose hunters right at sunrise. So, you may luck out if you camp outside of hunting season and there are no overnight emergencies during your stay.:) 

  

Martinak is a sister park to the larger Tuckahoe State Park(about 10-15 minutes down the road), and the two parks share and co-host many events between both facilities, mostly during peak season. Upon check-in, the(extremely friendly) rangers handed us a map and calendar of events for both parks. 

  

Surrounding Area/Attractions: The small town of Denton is about 5 minutes outside the park, with a Walmart, a few chain and standalone restaurants, plenty of gas stations, and most modern conveniences. St. Michael’s, a very quaint and popular tourist destination, is about 45 minutes away. 

  

Overall, while this a very pretty park with nicely wooded and spaced-out sites, we prefer the neighboring Tuckahoe SP for its slightly better trails, nicer day-use area with newer playground, and(most importantly) lack of midnight sirens.

Pretty park, but noisy and dated

Great little campground in Denton, MD. 2 loops each with about 35 sites. Loop B is electric. Loop A is not but they have 3 first come first serve sites with electric. This is on the Choptank River and there is a boat launch. You can crab there too, I believe. Sites were well spaced apart and good sizes. I did not use the Bath house but my hubby said the men’s room was nice enough. There was a little lending library at B loop. Each loop had a firewood shed to purchase logs. Checkin was easy, no contact, no need to even stop at office. There’s no camp store but there’s a Food lion, Walmart, Petco, liquor store, pub, gas, Dollar General and Dollar Tree all just a couple miles away. You pass them to get to campground. This place is very wooded and shady so no night sky viewing but in humidity of summer, shade is what you want. There was a playground and nature center. Great walking, biking area with several paved trails. Walk out to the point of the boat ramp area for great views. 

Hidden Gem

We stayed one night in a small cabin. It was cosy and warm on a cold night for fall. The cabins are clean and tidy and the campground is well run. It’s small and the sites are quite close together. There is a good trail around the campground, not long because it’s a small park, but the views of and access to the river are lovely. 

A good small park and campground

We loved Martinak State Park! It’s a small park, flat sites, clean updated bathhouse with hot showers. We stayed on the electric loop which was a perfect size for our kids to ride bikes around. Multiple playgrounds, cute trails (flat and not very long) that are good for kids, and lots of opportunities for fishing and boating. Also my kids loved the educational animal visits as the rangers would round on the camp sites with critters, a turtle and a snake, for the kids to learn about! It was really cool!

Great for kids 

This is a small state park with two loops, one with and one without electric hookups. Sites have fire rings and picnic tables. There is a dump station available. Sites are level, in a loop around the bath house. There are also a few cabins available to rent. There's a small $1 surcharge for out of state campers.

  

For kids, there’s a simple swingset in the loop and a larger, newer playground. Firewood available.

  

Martinak and Tuckahoe are sister parks, about 20 minutes apart. Tuckahoe offers a number of additional activities, including disc golf, mountain biking, fishing, swimming, and boating(canoe/kayak rentals available). If you’re looking to learn and explore with your kids, there is an extensive junior ranger program.  

  

**August 1, 2021, the boat ramp will close for a year; t**hat will likely diminish the appeal of this park for those who want to get out on the river for fishing or boating. When open, there is a network of river trails accessible from the park. There’s a boat launch in nearby West Denton or also at Tuckahoe and a few other nearby spots.  

  

Denton is also your destination if you've forgotten anything.

Small basic campground near a river

Martinak was a beautiful surprise. Lots of woods, leveled sites, clean facilities, no rowdy crowds. We had a great time. The park is pet friendly. The ranger was very vigilant and friendly. We met new friends and even attended a concert at their pavilion 🥰

Outstanding 

Small state park with few amenities but so quiet and peaceful for those needed weekends away! Sites are level and nice. Walking trails are level, flat, and some are paved. We stayed in the electric loop. Plenty of great playground sets and a beautiful amphitheater right in the park. We were there in the “off “ season so nothing was going on. Note that there is a rebuilding of the boat ramp area which is closed off during construction and the dump station is closed. You’ll have to dump your tanks at nearby Tuckahoe State Park, about 10 min drive away. Nearby is an aviary with was cool! The town of Denton is small but there were two art museums with local art for sale by high schoolers and locals and a textile or quilt center wit beautiful quilts and very friendly staff. 

We had a wonderful time at Martinak State Park. We rented a mini cabin and it had a full bed, two bunk beds and AC which was such a nice amenity. The site had a fire ring, grill and picnic table. We were right next to the bathhouse walkway. The bathhouse was very nice, clean and the showers had warm water. Due to the boat ramp being closed, there were not many places for fishing besides fishing off the back of the amphitheater. We drove to sister park, Tuckahoe State Park (15 min) and there was plenty of fishing locations. Cell signal was spotty, but perfect for a weekend away. Will stay again! 

Quiet and Peaceful

Quiet &amp; relaxing weekend. The park is small and beautiful and clean.  Sites are of decent size and the fire ring had a cooking grate. Very little traffic.

Quiet & Relaxing

This was our first visit to this park and we really loved it. We stayed in a tent site which included a fire ring and picnic table, and we had two tents and plenty of space for everything. While we were there, I believe all of the cabins were full and some other tent sites reserved, but the grounds were still very quiet and peaceful. The bathrooms and showers were modern and very clean and looked to be only a brief, flat walk from most of the sites/cabins in the loop. The loops were smaller than I expected, but that wasn't a bad thing. There is also a large sink on one side of the bathhouse which was nice for cleaning up after cooking. AT&amp;T phone service was slow but available. While in the area, we also visited WorkHorse Farm for a tour, First Fruits Orchard for PYO blueberries, and Denton Station antique mall.

Beautiful park, already planning a return

We go here when we want to just chill.  It's a good place to do that.  Site are nice and large and it's an enjoyable place to just go, burn wood and listen to nature.  Fairly quiet when we were there!