Free RV Camping-Port of Saint Albans
It's rare to find free RV camping, especially sites with 30 AMP electric hook-ups! The City of Saint Albans has a roadside park with three RV sites where you can camp for 2-days max in a 14-day period. The sites are first-come, first-serve, with donations encouraged. Sorry, no tent camping....
Each RV site has electricity, a picnic table, and a trash can. There's a sewer dump site nearby with drinking water available. The public park restrooms offer flush toilets, but no showers. There's a nice picnic shelter and a huge playground with some handicap-accessible swings. A shopping center is directly across the street with a grocery store and other amenities.
This park also has a public boat ramp which is part of the Port of St. Albans. The ramp gives you direct access to the Kanawha River which is primarily used by coal barges, speed boats and vintage paddle wheelers. For kayakers like me, you should bare left at the bottom of the ramp and head toward the Coal River where you can enjoy a nice, peaceful paddle without the fear of being swamped or crushed. BTW, St. Albans is home to the annual Yak Fest, mid-June, where participants in the Tour de Coal gather to enjoy live music and local eats after a 12-mile float.
A little historic trivia. George Washington owned 2,000 acres in the Kanawha Valley, including what is now the City of Saint Albans.
The main drawback to this roadside park is that it's butted up to MacCorkle Avenue, which is a busy roadway, so I'd describe this as urban RV camping. On the plus side, you're 15-minutes from the capital city of Charleston, WV, which is worth a visit to see the beautiful gold-domed capitol and WV State Museum.