Best Glamping near Girard, PA

Campground Review

I can honestly say that Oil Creek Family Campground is the best private campground that we have ever camped at. Especially if you’re camping with kids, it offers everything that you would want for a ‘great American summer’ style camping experience, without being a cookie-cutter big-name private campground chain. They have a large pool; a few llamas that the kids can feed and pet; a 27-hole disc golf course (recently expanded from 18 hole) primarily in the woods near and around the campground property; a small pond for sunfish / bass fishing; a dog ‘playground’ (enclosed area with some obstacles); a well-maintained hedge maze; a pavilion with ping pong, a pool table, and foosball; a DVD rental program at the main office with about 300 movies; and a small camp store with a small selection of books that you can borrow. They also provide weekly entertainment for the kids, e.g. rock painting or special guests. This weekend, for instance was ‘Jungle Terry and his amazing exotic animal family.’ We don’t typically spend a ton of time actually AT the campgrounds when we’re camping, but we did this weekend - and we had a blast on the disc golf course, fishing in the pond, and playing ping pong. The kids had an awesome time in the pool for hours and running around with the other kids in the maze. And everyone agreed that it was a perfect way to wrap up the summer before the school year starts.

We have a pop-up and my parents (whom we were camping with for the weekend) use a tent, so we had two water+electric sites in the tent camping area away from the RVs: sites A7 and A8. The sites in this area are well-maintained and LARGE, with plenty of room for a pop-up or multiple tents plus one or two vehicles, plus lots of room around the fire ring. There are smaller bathrooms placed around the campground as well as a center bathhouse located adjacent to the pavilion with 2 shower stalls and an additional toilet per gender.

We chose this campground due to its proximity to Oil Creek State Park. The state park itself does not have a campground, and OCFC is right next door - in fact, the campground hiking trail loop has a very short connecting piece to the 36-mile Gerard hiking trail that runs through the park. The park is beautiful with a lot of history (it is the site of the world’s first commercial oil well, and where the oil industry began in the United States around 1860) and Oil Creek - which is really a river - runs right down the middle of the park. It is a stocked creek and it’s great for both trout and bass fishing. Some parts of the creek also have a lot of northern water snakes (we saw 4 near the Blood Farm day use area) which was cool to see.

Overall: fantastic campground in a beautiful part of Pennsylvania - and we will absolutely be back.

Product Review

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get occasionally receive products to test or gift cards for new companies to check out.  Over the past weekend, we tried out one of the Mountain House favorites, freeze-dried Lasagna with Meat Sauce in the #10 can. Lasagna is not exactly a typical camping food, so the fact that we could easily make enough lasagna to feed a group of six people (4 adults and 2 kids) just by heating up some water was wonderful! We made the entire can (boil 8 cups of water, pour it into the can itself, stir a lot to mix up all of the freeze-dried ingredients, and let it sit for ten minutes - EASY) along with some crescent-roll wrapped hot dogs over the fire and it was like a gourmet camping meal. Everyone loved the lasagna - even the two picky kids!

Campground has a nice fishing pond and another pond for swimming. Sites are level and have option of shaded or open sites. Located close to Lake Erie for swimming and beach time or fishing. The interstate (90) does run along it but never heard the traffic.

This place was absolutely perfect place to take my family! There are lovely beaches that were relatively clean, perfect for swimming and fishing. The camp sites were so wide open! Down side to the openness however was that you don't have as much privacy, however it opens up opportunities to make friends from all over the nation! The strong historical back ground and the way that they have maintained many historical building and sites makes it such a great place to reminisce on your American history, and enjoy the views the way that the early settlers probably saw it.

Started the stay off a little rocky with two big thunderstorms the first two days. Our site had a wash run right through it. After those days it was very nice and we got to enjoy Jamestown beach and playground. The bathrooms could use some updating but they were adequate.

Nice shower and bathrooms for a state park.

I didn't like that pets are not allowed in the non-pet area as that was where the playground and swimming beach was. Made it difficult to swim and play as a family since you can't leave dogs alone at the campsite. I wouldn't bring my dog next time to this campground. There are other more dog friendly places.

Very nice areas for walking, kayaking, swimming, and playground.

we have stayed in several sites. love it. the bald eagles sit in the trees not at all bothered by us. amazing.

Clean campground, quiet at night except for some with some nighttime visitors aka raccoons. Mosquitoes were thick at our camping site so go prepared if your in the woods on the inlet side. Lots of great fishing and bird watching.

We enjoyed our visit.

We stayed in site 218. this spot is in the smaller ( less crowded) part of Jamestown campground in Pymatuning SP. it is right on the water and has an easy access area for shore fishing and entering a kayak or canoe or some other water device. the site sits on a little bay and the otherside (more crowded) of the campground is across the water. the water is a little murky/ grassy but still good entry area. the campsite was spacious for a pa state park. the site is between the lake and the road. sites 212-222 look to be on the water with boat access, but 218 has the easiest entry. 220’s picnic Bench and fire pit sit next to the water with great views, but there is little shade. 218 had a great shady spot were you can hang 3 hammocks. there is no electricity at these sites and pretty much tent only. lots of tent space. the fire ring was decent but we moved it as it was right underneath a burnt tree. 218 was ADA accessible with a nice picnic table. restrooms were fairly close. clean... outdated, but clean.

During our 5 night stay at Pymatuning Jamestown campground the bathrooms were not cleaned once. Both men’s and ladies were absolutely disgusting. Complained to the camp host and was told a service comes to clean, however they were only there 5 minutes that day. Complained to park office 24 hours later and was told a request was just sent to maintenance. Office had no answer why the restrooms are not cleaned daily. Will never return!

We really enjoyed camping at Lake Pymatuning. We had site J522, which is tucked back in a quiet loop. We camped for the first time in our (new to us) pop-up camper. The site was not level, but we were able to get the tent trailer level without too much effort. Bringing our bikes was a blast as we were able to bike down to the beach for swimming and we took our bikes to Meadville to do the Ernst bike trail (recommended - a paved, flat, easy 6.3 mile cycling trail through the woods and along the river). 

Flush toilets and hot showers are available in the bath houses. The showers do not have a changing area within the shower unit or an area to store your towel/clothes within the shower unit. There is a central dressing room with towel hooks and 4-5 showers connected to the central dressing room. This was not a problem when I took a shower, as I was the only one using the area, but could be problematic if it was full and there was no place to set items you want to keep dry. 

Fantastic campground for biking, swimming, boating, and having a peaceful getaway.

Great for families, good fishing

Always gorgeous. We went on a holiday weekend and so the campground was PACKED and a little too close for my liking, but for a holiday understandable. We stayed on the pet end and got a spot near the lake. But also this meant people were walking through our site to go walk to the water.

My family has visited Pymatuning park many times now and try have used a variety of spots at Jamestown campground. It is large, offering multiple options for campsite types. It’s a standard PA state park campground offering bathrooms (bathrooms are older, but are being renovated July-August 2021) showers, fire ring, picnic table, etc. Campsites J-106 thru J-116 are well shaded, but are alongside route 322 which maintains consistent traffic at all hours. If the noise is not an issue, this run of tent sites are well spaced, and offer easy access to the facilities. To be away from the road (and nearer to the lake) sites J-120 thru J-128 are closer together but can be quieter (depending on your neighbors…)

The beach area is clean, and raked often. It has a playground and volleyball court. On Friday’s they have a family movie night at the amphitheater. Most Saturdays in the summer they offer crafts and activities for kids at the beach.

The surrounding area also has plenty of activities to offer: Local restaurants, ice cream, hiking, kayaking/boating, fishing, etc.