Best RV Parks & Resorts near Mount Carmel, TN

KOA I-40/Crossville, TN - We stayed one night in October, full hook ups, 50 amp, good wifi until the evening but our cell service was good. $59.87 per night, $53.88 with KOA discount. Nicely maintained park with level concrete sites in the front with grass, fire rings and picnic tables that were in excellent condition. Friendly, welcoming staff with a nice gift shop/store. Hand dipped ice cream is available along with freshly made pizza and wings if you don’t want to cook. It does sit right next to Highway 70 into Crossville and can be noisy but it didn’t bother us. Each bathroom is a private toilet and shower, very clean, nicely tiled and plenty of hot water. Small laundry, two washers and two dryers but there may have been additional laundry towards the back of the park. The park seems to be broken down into three sections, concrete pad pull throughs in the front, then the office area, then a second section of sites with gravel pads and these are closest to the bathrooms, then further out is another area with a pond or small lake for catch and release fishing. Well manicured property. Would definitely stay again and the ice cream was really good.

5/21/23-6/22/23: We stayed a whole month ($500) to recuperate from our previous travels. Owner/manger, Brent Fowler, was a gracious and accommodating host. This is a new 110 acre campground which has only been open a few months (as of this writing). The grounds were well kept and new features are continually being added. There are full-hookups at each site (20/30/50A, water, sewer), high-speed WiFi, and 150 new trees have been planted around the perimeter. While there is presently no water at the dump station, there will be, but water can be used from nearby pull-through sites. Further, a bath-house with showers and laundry facilities are in the works. Mountain City is under 5 miles away and proved to be very convenient. 

Wildlife in the campground and surrounding area was abound with a variety of birds wakening us each morning, and deer that came into camp regularly. Red winged black birds, swallows, and Cardinals are all abundant and quite vociferous. This new campground has the most important quality down pat: Friendly and supportive ownership! We plan to return next year and will likely stay much longer.

This is an enjoyable State Park with a lot to offer. The rangers and staff may be the nicest we’ve encountered. They have a full docket of activities, ranger-led hikes, games, crafts and wildlife lectures offered throughout the day. In addition to camping they have a full marina with canoe, kayak and paddle board rentals. It houses an acclaimed mountain bike trail area. Nearby you can golf and ride horses. Cell coverage varies from LTE to 5G all over the park.

 The main camping section was laid out long ago, with older style short sites and water/electric only. Many of the sites are narrow and some have challenging access. Be sure to read site descriptions and check the suggested trailer size- they seriously mean the max size!! Each site has a fire ring, and small grate grill and a picnic table. The sites up on the ridge are probably sized only for tents and Class B units; many are sloped. The newly updated section, Moody Bluff, has FHU and a number of pull-through sites. It only has trees around the edge of one side giving it an open field feeling. 

The main campground has its own boat ramp for access to the reservoir. The camp store has a small offering of RV accessories and ice for$2.00. The main campground shower units are individual and separate from the bathrooms. There are ADA shower stalls, bathrooms, and ramps. While the bath house is older and could use fresh paint it was meticulously clean all week. 

We spent a long weekend with several other RV couples. Nearby Bays Mountain Park and Planetarium provides engaging planetarium shows, a herpetarium, wildlife sections with bobcats, foxes, gray wolves, and raptors, as well as hiking trails. Restaurants, grocery stores and big box retail stores are 10 minutes away in Kingsport. 

Our site(62) was narrow and a little short for our 23’ trailer. We had to park the truck sideways at the entrance. Our stairs opened right on the concrete pad for the table and we had very little room for our chairs. Our group host had enough room on their site(58) that they could erect two shelters for our meals. The forest was right up to our sides and we had lovely birdsong to awaken us every morning. I would definitely return, especially if the larger sites were available.

This park is located about 15 minutes off I-81 just south of the VA/TN border, making it extremely convenient, and a great place to stop for anyone traveling that stretch of the country.

There are a total of 134 campsites. 94 are available year round and have electric/water hookups, and the remaining 40 sites are in an overflow section that is only open from Memorial Day-Labor Day. The overflow sites do not have electric or water hookups, and accommodate trailers up to 60 feet (site 106 only; all others sites can only fit smaller RVs). The sites open year round are primarily used for RV camping, accommodating trailers up to 40'. Sites have asphalt driveways and are otherwise gravel, with picnic tables, grills, and fire rings. Sites 94, 73, 57, and 28 are ADA accessible, and site 90 has a pull-off parking spot with the campsite set down from the road (this is an excellent tent site!). Most sites are very shady, and sites on the northern side have a view of the lake from late fall to early spring. The bathrooms have electricity and running water, are single stall and include a shower, and are some of the cleanest campground bathrooms I have ever experienced. And since we were there in late March and it was still fairly chilly, we appreciated the space heaters!

Amenities at this campground include hiking, fishing, boat rental, golf, disc golf, a swimming pool, and the best playground I have ever seen--this campground is worth it for the playground! It is huge, has an interactive story trail based on "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe," a creek that runs through it, and the best part is that it is universally accessible, so children of all abilities can enjoy the park (sensory-friendly areas, and all signs include brail!). There is also a concession stand at the boat house, and two miles of trails are horse-friendly.

My only complaint about this campground is, given the proximity to the town of Kingsport and I-81, there are still a lot of civilization noises at night. This should not be an issue if you are in an RV, but for tent-campers you will still be able to hear distant traffic while falling asleep, instead of just the sounds of nature. But while we may not choose this as a place to "get away from it all," as frequent travelers between eastern TN and central VA, this campground is a perfect place to stop, and beats a hotel any day!

I was so pleased with the reviews & photos I saw here on the Dyrt.. and then so let down with the reality.  The site we were assigned upon arrival was right next door to a "resident" fifth wheel that appears to have been there since the campground opened, and two sites down from that is another just like it.  Moldy, dirty, moss was dripping from every orafice of both RVs.  A smell, something like a couch that has been chain-smoked on for 30 years, eminated from the one beside us, especially when the sun came out.  Aside from that, our site was small, had a concrete "patio" that had this crazy rickety black iron fence around it that is DEFinitely a hazard - if leaned against, it would have just fallen right over.  The picnic table wasn't even really on our site, as far as I could tell.  It was mostly rotten and was closer to the Breaking Bad RV than it was to our site.  Were we just supposed to move it?  Who really knows.  The bathrooms were just okay, I guess.  There was only one in the area where we were near 20 RV sites, and there was a sign on the door that said, "Mop up after yourself" and there was definitely a mop just sitting there in the bathroom... but the shower had warm water, so... The worst part is that I didn't really feel comfortable letting my kids just roam free at this campground.  Even though the little beach-y area next to the river was pretty to look at, there was glass all over the "sand" and I couldn't let them be barefoot EVER.  Also, the "landscaping" was clearly not taken care of at all. The lesson I learned about private campgrounds - ask if they allow long-term stays and if they do ask what rules & regulations they have around that.  Site did have full hook up that worked fine and my kids enjoyed being near the river.

Tight turns, but manageable with our 40' Fifth Wheel. Relatively level parking. Spacious sites. 20-30-50 amp hookups available. No water on sites but available not far away, with plenty of extra hose, for refilling water tank. Serene Campground with plenty of shade. Bathhouses were clean and in good repair. There is a mountain stream running through the campground that has been dammed up to make a swimming hole that is quite large, not sure on depth as we didn't get in, but water is very chilly even in late July. Nice playground just down from camping area and wonderful hiking trails abound.