Review: Smith Mountain Campground

  • $25.00 /night
  • (4.4)5 reviews
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Jessica W

10 months ago
2/5

I have been hesitant to write this review because I don’t usually leave bad reviews, but I feel I need to even though I’m certain the owner will argue back lol.

We stayed here for a couple months while my husband was there working. I had such high hopes for this campground, but it turned out to be one of the strangest places I have ever stayed. The owner is gone in the winter and there is a winter host that is in place. The winter host goes around taking pictures of people, peoples kids and their things. He then sends the pictures to the owner so she can call or send messages to people with complaints. It was a super strange encounter. All of us with kids would get messages from the owner citing these pictures or references to pictures. It got so weird that we felt we should leave. All of the older children that stayed monthly were so uncomfortable there and almost felt targeted for existing. Another time, this said winter host saw my 8 year old son (the only boy in the campground) rough housing with one of his friends which was girl (granted they are close friends and play like this all the time and it is ok with both her mom and me). The owner was made aware of it and preceded to call every mother with children in the campground and ask if they had problems with my son and saying “she had a lot of complaints about him” shortly after the owners return to the campground, she comes and tells me my son isn’t allowed anywhere in the campground without me physically beside him bc “she had complaints”. I went in the camper and grounded my son for these “complaints”. After talking to the other moms it came to light that nobody actually really complained, she went calling around seeking complaints for an 8 year old boy saying something like “have you had any problems with this child bc I have gotten complaints about him” leading these mothers to think people complained about him! It broke my heart into a thousand pieces when all the moms and I put the pieces together of what really happened. I learned that day, a hard parenting lesson. I will never take the words of an adult over my children again without direct proof of something. I hoped that my kids and I were going to love this place, the owners husband owns a camper repair business and he is seriously the kindest, chill and fair man so I thought the campground would be the same. That wasn’t the case.

If you plan to stay at this campground just for a weekend or something short, it’s fine, they won’t bother you. But if you plan to stay an extended period with kids, (I’d say 7 yrs old and up) I’d find somewhere else. The moment my husband’s job gave him the opportunity to move, we jumped on it. We are thankful to be in a normal campground again. It was just too unpredictable, uncomfortable and unstable to remain there.

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