Best Glamping near Portersville, PA

We've stayed in cabins, yurts, tents, and our camper. Always up kept and very clean. Have to try out there Halloween production.

Tomlinson Run is a small state park situated in the northern panhandle of West Virginia nestled between eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Plenty of things to do there including but not limited to…. Mini golf, hiking trails, biking, swimming, fishing, paddle boats, parks for the kids, and of course the camping. The campsites here are mainly gravel pads with the exception being the asphalt handicapped spots (2). Most spots are 30 amp with a few 50 amp (new for 2021). The park also has a few primitive spots available and some yurts and cabins to rent. I have a 38’ fifth wheel and the spots are tight for it (even the couple pull thru). Campground facilities are clean but dated. They state new facilities are coming soon. The campground is at the top of a hill and the spots are wooded and shaded. I would consider the camping to be spaced generously (room to stretch out). They have a small camp store and information available. A breakfast is available during peak season for a small fee. They do have water and a dump station available (free for campers to use).

Very pretty campground. Heavily wooded with tons of shade. Some spots small and others large including some with pullthroughs. Most have electric and there are a few cabins and yurts. Our site was pretty large and the pad was not terribly unlevel. The rest of the area was sloped a bit. Hammock stand and I think they were lantern posts. Drinking water and dump available. Large bathhouse and small camp store with souvenirs, candy, icecream, ice and $6 bundles of wood. Some events sometimes. This time was xmas in july which was cute but the tractor hat rides running through so frequently it got rather annoying since the tractor was so darn loud. A couple drunks fighting late at night and some misbehaved unsupervised children screeching and riding their bikes around the end circle about 100x would stop next to our truck and just stare was just ridiculous but...aside from those incidents pretty quiet for the most part.

General: 50-site (all but six with electric hookups) campground plus two yurts and three cabins. Two sites are handicap accessible. 

Site Quality: The sites have gravel pads (except the handicap-accessible ones which were paved). The sites were completely covered with leaves when we were there which made it challenging to determine where the actual (narrow) pad was. Sites appeared to be level. A fire ring and wooden picnic table complete the site. 

Bathhouse: A little dated but clean. Two of the stall doors did not latch properly. Didn't use the shower so cannot comment but there was a sign indicating it took a while for the water to warm up.

Activities/Amenities: There is a small camper store, laundry, and a playground. In season, there is lake swimming and a boat dock. There is a fishing area, mini-golf and disc golf, and several short hiking trails. Unfortunately, since we arrived late afternoon and had to depart early the following day (and were camping off-season), we could not take advantage of any of these things. What we lose in activities, we gain in a quieter camping experience with fewer crowds, which is generally preferable for us!

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!

Love this small campground. We chose one of two primitive sites next to a small creek. Apart from the campers above us on top of the hill, we were a few hundred feet from the other primitive sites. Despite being just a minutes walk from our truck, we felt incredibly secluded. Being so far away, noise was a nonissue. Although cool, I'm glad we didn't reserve a scenic campsite. Those sites are very close to one another, where I could see noise being an issue for anyone that prefers the sounds of nature over their neighbors drunken stupor. Can't wait to go back!

Breakneck is a private campground on the edge of the McConnell’s Mill State Park. They offer RV sites, tent camping and cabins. The tent camping is either grassy, flat sites or on an elevated timber platform overlooking a gorge. They also offer walk-in tent sites down by the creek which are beautiful. 

We were lucky enough to be able to to camp down by the stream. There are designated fireplaces. It is quite a walk up the hill to the campground amenities, but worth it to feel secluded down by the creek. From our campsite we walked along the creek into McConnells Mill State Park and joined the covered bridge trail. Approx. 30min walk along the creek down into McConnells Mill State Park. 

The campground sells firewood and has great amenities. Note: there is no phone reception at the tent sites by the creek. They welcome fury friends!

Just pull in and grab some firewood 7.00 a 5gal bucket full and pick your site. there are 10 walk-in sites with 2 beauties down by the creek, 7 or so observation platforms you can camp on and to many to count car camping sites.

The owners are awesome and come around to collect fees in the evening with kids and dogs in tow. McConnlls mills park is 100 yards away and has approx, 30 miles of trails and part of the north country trail. there is rock climbing , rappelling, white water kayaking and fishing.

Moraine state park is 3 minutes away with lake Aurther for sailing ,canoeing, power boating, bike trails, frisbee golf coarse and swimming.

My boyfriend and I camped here last weekend; unfortunately it did not go well. While I very much enjoyed the facilities, we had an awful experience. Friday night was peaceful, although we had trouble locating the owners and figured we'd find them and pay up the next day. When we got back from a full day of climbing Saturday, a group of at least a dozen had set up camp across the road from us. They were drinking heavily all night (I understand that drinking IS allowed here being a private campground) however posted quiet hours begin at 10 pm. I got about 2 hours of sleep Saturday night total, and the last time I was woken up my watch said 3:48 am. Clearly there is absolutely no enforcement of the quiet hours whatsoever. In addition, the group had lights on all night as well, shining directly over into our campsite and tent. Sunday morning, we still had no luck locating the owners. We ended up putting our cash in an envelop in the mailbox. I emailed them letting them know we had put the money in the mailbox, and also asked about the quiet hour enforcement. I requested a response and heard nothing. I'm disappointed, and as a manager myself would want to know if a customer had a bad experience. I would have to recommend that if you are looking for a peaceful, quiet place to camp and sleep under the stars that you look elsewhere. I'm sad to say this, because I had greatly looked forward to staying here after hearing my boyfriend describe his previous experience and reading other reviews. There is a sign posted when entering "drive like your kids live here" but the campground I experienced was not family-friendly at all.

I stayed in a cabin with a few friends. It was a great area with a lot to do around it!

This place is great if you want activities for the kids (Has a pool, arcade, etc) but if you want some privacy in the great outdoors this definitely isn’t the place (campsites are in open area extremely close to the cabins) It feels more like camping in a little neighborhood than at a campsite. That being said, we still enjoyed our stay. Staff was extremely friendly and there’s a cute mini golf/ice cream place down the road.

Good location for outdoor and city experiences, along with a relaxing getaway. Workers and permanent campers are very friendly with all the amenities necessary on site, including nice dog park. A small campground that didn’t have many kids for ours to play with during our visit. In addition, hill keeps permanent campers separate from temporary campers.

We spent the weekend at one of the cabins. We had a great time. They seem to have a lot of seasonal people at this campground. It is close to Moraine State Park.

OverLl great campground. The sites are a little close together but we still enjoyed our time there. Staff is super friendly and there was plenty for the kids to do, pool, arcade, fishing, and playground. Decent size dog park to let your dogs run and decent trails nearby.

Great Place for adults and children to enjoy themselves! Plenty of activities.  Welcoming Staff!

Halloween weekends are a great time to visit!