Best Equestrian Camping near Upper Marlboro, MD

Tuckahoe is a hidden gem on Maryland’s mid-Eastern Shore region. With many of your standard amenities and a quiet atmosphere, it was a great spot for my first time camping with my kids.

Our campsite was on the non-electric loop. We had a small creek and trail back up to our campsite. We only had a handful of neighbors and foot traffic at the time was almost nonexistent, so we practically had the park to ourselves.

There is an electric loop with electric hookup, but no water or sewer. Those can be found at the campground entrance. Each loop has a wood shed and clean, well-appointed bathhouse. There are water pumps along the road for refills.

There are 4 basic cabins on each loop and most sites are designed for RV and/or tent use. There are 3 sites that are tent-only on the non-electric loop.

Multiple trails in the area are widespread. Wear comfortable hiking shoes and bring a map! They also have equestrian trails with an equestrian center nearby. The lakefront boasts a picnic area with individual tables and grills, recycled tire playground, and kayak rentals (for a fee). Fishing is allowed, but no swimming (which was a bummer for us, but exploring some of the local creeks helped provide some relief from the summer heat).

Nearby is Atkins Arboretum. Their 5 mile trail system covers around 400 acres. There are woods, “grasslands,” and “wetlands” to explore the various ecosystems of the Eastern Shore. They also had a goat area and garden play area for children. There is a fee through the Visitor’s Center which supports the center, but some of the trails can be accessed via other Tuckahoe trails.

Centrally located, you’re still within easy access to a local town center (Denton), supplies, and dining. I can’t recommend Tuckahoe enough if you just want a quiet spot or you’re new to camping!

We were looking to explore Maryland's Eastern Shore and picked Tuckaho because they had electric sites available. We were so pleased with our stay. The campground is well maintained and the sites are great. We have a small travel trailer and our site was pretty level and nicely private. We backed up to a hiking trail which was nice. There's lots to do here. There's a disc golf course and the camp store has discs available to use. We've never played before but had a blast learning, now we're hooked. We also enjoyed kayaking on the lake. If you enjoy birding this park is great, we saw so many cool birds. There's an arboretum and horse riding trails. We will definitely be going back!

Saw a snake, alligator snapping turtle, and rabbits, before we even reached the gates. Moderate privacy and space, especially considering how close it is to DC. There are some abandon camp loops around the open campground which makes for some cool walks with your dog. Very pretty area with lots of trails and overgrown roads to walk. Equestrian trails go deep into the woods if you want a longer trail. Bathrooms don’t look like much from the outside, but the inside is very nice. Clean, hot water, and good water pressure. The have a new dump station, but the hose has an anti-freeze up in the air with a pull cord valve. This means every time you pull to turn the water on, you get a shower. It was hot, so it was OK. Hahaha. They sell firewood, but they were huge pieces and getting them to start burning was tough. LOTS and LOTS of ticks. I got one, but my wife and dog got about a dozen each. Just bring tweezers. Each site had picnic table, fire ring, and pretty level parking spot.

We picked up the camping registration outside the office at the entrance, no need to speak with anyone. Then we just drove down to our campsite in the family camping loop. We could hear and smell horses when we got to our campsite, but it didn't last forever. 

The site was mostly clean, had a few pieces of small trash scattered around when we arrived. The sites were decently spaced out from one another, it didn't feel like we were right on top of the people across and next to us. Our site was close to the restroom, it had a little path leading to the restroom, and it looked like there was little trail paths all around leading to the restrooms from the different parts of the loop. The path leading to the restroom from our site was gravel and easy to walk on. The restrooms were clean, but the floor was wet almost the entire time we were there (likely due to the showers).

If you need to buy wood it is $5 for 8 pieces and you call a number given to you in your registration packet. The ranger will then drive by and drop off the wood at your campsite. The inner ring of this loop has electricity, and the electric box was just on the far side of the picnic table in the corner.

Tuckahoe State Park is tucked away onto the Eastern Shore of Maryland, close to the Chesapeake Bay. It features every kind of camping you can imagine. RVs, tents, youth group, etc. while I was only there for one chilly April night, my partner and I were looking forward to kayaking along the lake and creek. I was new to the sport and it was windy so the lake was a bit scary to kayak but the creek was perfect. With all the vegetation growing back, it felt like you were in Florida. There were interpretive signs all along the creek to teach about the birds, amphibians, and even beavers one might see. One of the downsides to the campground was that the bathrooms were small and far away from the campsites. That is, if we went to the right ones. Could have been user error.

Cedarville State Forest is located in Charles Co., MD. It's near Waldorf which offers amenities that you might need. The campground is one loop with 27 mostly spacious sites. Some of the sites were not well tended and had tall grasses while others seemed better groomed. Most were level but some were more steep front to back. Each site had a pretty good gravel area, picnic tables and firepits. Cedarville State Forest offers lots of outdoor activities, none of which we tried, but we saw archery and rifle ranges, lots of hiking trails as well.  Some of the roads around the state forest were in very bad repair. There were pot holes inside of potholes which made the drive around the area very uncomfortable. Overall, it's a nice campground that had availability just a few weeks out which is hard to come by these days!