We visited Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland, where “23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after twelve hours of savage combat on September 17, 1862”.
Visitor Center:
Old church:
Cannons:
Stone bridge:
map
Maps of travel routes and campgrounds.
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
We visited Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia.
Relief map:
Bus from the visitor center to the town:
Exploring the old town of Harpers Ferry:
Cherry Hill Park
We stayed at Cherry Hill Park in College Park, Maryland. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A very nice resort, convenient to the DC area.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-06-09
- Check out: 2024-06-23
- 14 nights
Weather:
- Partly cloudy
- High temps 76-96°F, lows 57-69°F
- Little wind, gusts to 18 MPH
Noise:
- Some freeway noise
- No train horn noise
- Negligible neighbor noise during the week; lots of noise during the weekends
Site:
- #39, back-in, gravel
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
- A little unlevel site; high on driver side; used hydraulic leveling
- Gravel driveway about 45 feet long by 14 feet wide
- About 12 feet to neighbors on both sides
- Picnic table
- Fire pit
- Tall trees behind site
- Clean site
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, fairly conveniently located
- 50 PSI water, fairly conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (less than a 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 25-45 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 43 ms ping
- AT&T: 500 Mbps down, 60 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
- Campground Wi-Fi: 20 Mpbs down, 20 Mbps up, 8 ms ping
- Verizon: 15 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage bins
- Pools
- Onsite cafe and food delivery to site
- Package delivery to office
- Bus to DC mall
- Tour buses
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Location, location, location!
If you want to visit the DC area with your motorhome, trailer, fifth-wheel, tent, or what-have-you, this is THE place to do it. It’s convenient to the Beltway and close to a Metro stop for all your sightseeing needs. They also offer tours from the campground, which is just the cherry on top. The campground is top-notch and well-kept, with all the amenities you could want (including food delivery right to your site), which is a plus on a travel day. We were in site 39, in the far corner of the park, backing onto trees. The site was a little unlevel side-to-side, but nothing our levelers couldn’t cope with. It was also plenty long enough for our 40′ motorhome with space to park our tow vehicle in front. There was some freeway noise, but it was mostly a distant hum. The staff were all very friendly and helpful. We have already booked our next stay when we swing through the area next year. We camped at Cherry Hill Park – Washington, D.C. In a Motorhome.
A handy campground map for getting to our site:
And on the other site, a map of campground features:
Tours:
Cafe, bus, etc:
Wristbands:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Utilities:
Backed into the foliage:
Our site at night; we don’t usually turn on our undercarriage accent lights and door light, but I did on this occasion, as Jenn was arriving back after spending a few days with her girlfriends:
We appreciated an onsite cafe with food delivery to the site on arrival day (and probably would have partaken on other evenings if we weren’t busy with exploring etc):
Park history:
Camp store:
We appreciated and took much advantage of package delivery to the office:
Bus depot, where tour buses and commuter buses depart:
Pond:
Playground:
Event pavilion:
Ballroom:
Cafe, pools, clubhouse:
Another playground:
Mini golf:
Splash pad:
Game court:
Pond:
Tent area, each with hammocks and gazebos:
Yurt:
Cabins:
Other RV sites:
Pull-through sites:
A large gathering next to us for a couple of days:
Prevost departing:
Gazebo and trash (the squirrels enjoyed investigating the trash):
This place is so huge, they have a shuttle that roams around:
The evening tractor pull rides were popular:
A very nice place. We have already booked another stay here for next year.
Travel from Hanover, Pennsylvania to College Park, Maryland
We drove our coach just 65 miles, about 1.5 hours of driving, from Hanover, Pennsylvania to College Park, Maryland.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:
An interactive map:
Leaving the campground:
Road outside the park:
Narrow curvy road:
Barn:
Maryland Welcomes You:
Fun with zoom:
Manchester:
Barn:
Roundabout:
Fun with zoom:
I-95:
Maryland 212 West:
Our destination, Cherry Hill Park:
Check-in lanes:
24-hours staffed entrance gate:
Our site:
Backing in:
Codorus State Park
We stayed at Codorus State Park in Hanover, Pennsylvania. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A last-minute booking, but not a great state park.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-06-07
- Check out: 2024-06-09
- 2 nights
Weather:
- Partly cloudy
- High temps 78-79°F, lows 56-60°F
- Negligible wind, gusts to 19 MPH
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train horn noise
- No neighbor noise
Site:
- #102, back-in, asphalt
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
- Very unlevel site, high on driver side and back; unable to get completely level; used air leveling
- Asphalt driveway about 55 feet long by 12 feet wide
- 30-90 feet to neighbor passenger side
- Driveway on driver side
- Picnic table
- Fire pit
- Tall trees
- Clean site
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 75 PSI water, conveniently located
- Loose sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 4-8 Mbps down, 0.1 Mbps up, 50-100 ms ping
- AT&T: 50 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
- Verizon: 10-25 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Narrow, twisty roads and sloped sites
This park is not big rig-friendly. The roads are twisty and narrow, with many low trees. We were in site 102, which was incredibly sloped front-to-back, so we dealt with living on an angle for our two-night stay. You could place a marble at one end of the motorhome and it would have rolled to the front unaided, this is how bad it was. An interesting quirk of this park is that they have “pet-free” areas where you’re not allowed to camp with pets. I never did see any explanation of this policy and it didn’t make any sense to me since people were walking their dogs through the “pet-free” area anyway. So, if you’re camping with pets, be sure to double-check what the rule is for a site before you book it, because the ranger at check-in will call you out if they think they see a pet with you. We camped at Codorus State Park in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Atomic Dog Cidery near Gettysburg has good food and cider. Just be careful if you want to purchase some cans to take home, as the park has a strict “no alcohol” policy and your nosy neighbors will comment on it even if you’re not drinking it….
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
The site was very unlevel; we couldn’t get level with hydraulic jacks, and this was the best that our air leveling could manage:
Water tank behind our site:
Other sites:
We won’t stay here again.
Travel from Manassas, Virginia to Hanover, Pennsylvania
We drove our coach 102 miles, about two hours of driving, from Manassas, Virginia to Hanover, Pennsylvania. This was a last-minute change to our route, to avoid spending the weekend at NIRVC, and so we could pick up another state.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:
An interactive map:
I-495:
Narrow lanes:
Fun with zoom:
Maryland Welcomes You:
Exit to Damascus:
Water tower:
Interesting tower:
Westminster, Maryland:
Some kids on the side of the road waved and signaled to blow our air horn; Jenn obliged them, and they jumped with joy (see it in the video from today):
Welcome to Pennsylvania:
Fun with zoom:
A little narrow:
“Sorry your GPS is wrong”; one of our GPSes did say to go through this driveway as if it were a road, but fortunately I check our route quite carefully, so I knew about it ahead of time:
Lots of distinctive Pennsylvania barns like this in the area:
Entering the state park, “campers next left”:
Camper check-in:
We untoaded in the dump station:
Following the coach to our site:
Our site, rather unlevel:
Manassas National Battlefield Park
We visited Manassas National Battlefield Park in Manassas, Virginia, where the first major battle of the American Civil War took place on July 21, 1861 (plus a second battle later).
The NPS map; click or tap to interact:
An interactive map:
Visitor center:
Henry Hill Loop Trail:
Stonewall Jackson:
Blue Ridge Parkway north end
After leaving Shenandoah National Park, we continued south for a few miles on the northern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
This park, barely wider than the highway, is 469 miles long, between Shenandoah National Park in Virginia at the north end and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina at the south end. We certainly didn’t have time to drive the whole way, but we went to the northernmost visitor center before turning around. We’ll probably visit the southernmost visitor center in the parkway in a few weeks time.
Visitor center:
Jenn had a nice long chat with the volunteer there:
Shenandoah National Park
We visited Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, a drive-through park southeast of Washington DC.
NPS map; click or tap to interact on their site:
An interactive map of our route, heading south through the park, then returning outside the park:
Shenandoah National Park north entrance entrance sign:
Visitor center:
I’m sure the vistas would be much more impressive in the fall:
Picnic lunch:
Highest point on drive, elevation 3,680 feet (aww, how cute):
Visitor center:
There are a few commercial waysides in the park:
NIRVC DC
We stayed at the DC branch of National Indoor RV Centers in Manassas, Virginia.
Not a campground, but an RV service center. We arrived on a Sunday, and left on Friday, sleeping in our coach each night, and going out exploring or waiting in their customer lounge during each day.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-06-02
- Check out: 2024-06-07
- 5 nights
Weather:
- Partly cloudy
- High temps 82-86°F, lows 58-64°F
- Little wind, gusts to 22 MPH
Noise:
- No road noise
- Distant train horn noise
- No neighbor noise
- Some nearby industrial noise
Site:
- First night a very unlevel pull-through site on gravel
- Subsequent nights a somewhat unlevel back-in on concrete next to the shop
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
- We used air leveling all week
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- No water
- No sewer
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Campground Wi-Fi: 200-220 Mbps down, 195 Mbps up, 8 ms ping
- T-Mobile: 60-70 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 32 ms ping
- AT&T: 30-70 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 83-126 ms ping
- Verizon: 12 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpster
- RV servicing
An interactive map:
Our first site, rather sloped:
Nice that they provide electrical hookups:
Closed entrance gate; they provided a link for us to open it so we could arrive on Sunday, and go out in the evenings:
The NIRVC building; this is I think the smallest NIRVC facility:
Others have vast indoor storage, but this one just has some outdoor storage and RVs for sale:
Side of the building:
Around the back, where the service bays are:
On the second and subsequent days, we were parked outside one of the service bays:
Synchronized lift devices:
Where’ve you been? Locations of other NIRVC branches:
The foyer:
The customer lounge, where we waited most days:
As I said, perhaps the smallest NIRVC branch, but also the newest, I think. Waiting in the customer lounge wasn’t super fun, but we just worked on our laptops as usual. And sleeping in our coach each night was easier than moving into a hotel or Airbnb for the week, as we’ve done on some previous occasions.
We’ll probably be back again next year for the annual services.