Best Campgrounds near Bethlehem, NH

We stayed at Jacobs Brook Campground in Orford, NH last summer for 3 months and loved it so decided to come back for the whole season this year, May thru october. Me and my husband walk our dogs every day between 3-4pm on leashes. The first occurrence the owners dog was being walked by their elderly work-camper and drug her across the gravel to get loose. The dog locked on to one of my dogs throat and my husband had to put it in a choke hold to get it to let go. During the scuffle i got bit too but did not require medical attention. They promised to keep it indoors so we let it go to prevent any animosity during the rest of our stay. 2 weeks later we were walking close by the office and the dog busted through the storm door and ended up biting our other little dog. The owner did apologize but made statements like he(the dog) never acts this way with other dogs, it must be something wrong with your dogs. The more he talked to us the more it felt he was upset with us and viewed us as the problem. We have previously heard this dog aggressively barking and banging on the windows before when people get near the office/house. We were so upset at this second occurrence and did not feel safe there anymore so we left. We did request a partial refund for the remainder of the season since we had to pay up front for the 5 months but have not heard back from them.

AVOID MAIDSTONE STATE PARK

Being thrown out of Maidstone because Tom thinks he can make up the ADA, threatened to call the police over nothing and threw us out.

We have been in the state parks this summer since the 9th of may missed 7 days and us and our dogs have had zero issues until Maidstone

Great a transphobic park manager targeted us over service dogs and harassed a teenager who has major medical issues, purposely not going to the sight leader and harassing a disabled teenager when isolated from the rest of our site.

Maybe I’ll post the videos here, it’s unhinged.

Our lives are worth so much more then some unhinged manager trying to make up his own version of the ADA

Throw on transphobia was the motivation, awards Maidstone as the worst state park in the system so far.

My ex wife’s 3 sisters all worked for him at basin harbor club in there younger years and he was unhinged and problematic then, I remember how elated they were to see him move on to the state parks and out of the community.

Maidstone state park horrific transphobic and disability based discrimination was the most surprising, according to Maidstone one of our service dogs is not allowed in the state parks system. Yet Kathy up in the Ilands who runs that campground with an iron fist didn’t have any problems in the 46 days I spent there to open the season………

The documentation I have is shocking, way yo cut our time short by 2 weeks and have to panic pack and flee



0 stars

It’s also alarming how the manager and the staff are excited attendance it’s down 30%, 3 of the 5 employees stating they don’t want it busy and the collective goal of the campground was low attendance for less work.

What a disgusting audited to have. I’m way over qualified to run Maidstone state park, 1/3 of side A is closed, soon side B as soon as that bath house gives out.

It’s a small place, it should be packed with Vermonters, as a businesswoman it would be ridiculously easy to pack that campground week in and week out, quickly justifying new facilities and oping back up the loop

2 years at the helm, I’d be planing a summer of renovations at Maidstone

Instead it’s going to fizzle and fail under its current management.

Campground is giant which causes it to be very busy. Little to no activities for kiddos. The pool is the main attraction and really great but gets very very busy. No one was controlling the slides so kids were going down in multiples and not making sure no one was at the bottom. The campground is very hilly and kids are ripping around in pedal and motorized bikes and scooters which is fine but no control at all in regards to speed and helmets. No WiFi or cell service except by the pool which can be hard if you need to be contacted. Cable tv at sites was available and intermittent quality. Sites are ok - nothing that I would say was amazing. All are spacious and generally shaded and flat. You can see all your neighbors but noise level wasn’t terrible. There were a lot of dogs - again totally fine but many barked all day when their owners were away. Bathrooms needed attention and got a bit gross by the pool. On site poolside cafe was ok - basic fried items and ice cream. Golf carts are kind of a must if staying in far away sites and they are very slow - no issue there but no power steering. Staff were very nice and helpful. I would stay again if I had more off site things planned.