Bonnie Brae Campground

Bonnie Brae is an older campground, which means it's tight maneuvering for rigs at 35' or more. The turns are tight and the sites tricky to get into. There are a combination of pull-through and back in. We had a back in and were able to work ourselves in without too much anxiety. An email instructed us to go directly to the site, set up and then go to the office to check in. Meaning, pay close attention to the signage indicating site locations. The site was packed gravel, but "level" was a forgone concept. The site sloped to the rear so much that I was forced to drive my coach rear wheels onto blocks in order to get enough clearance under my rear jacks to add more blocks. Without doing this, my leveling system tried, but gave me the "Excessive slope" warning. Secondly, the sewage connection was a deep hole with nothing but an open pipe. The hole caused my connection to be offset slightly, and since there was no way to seal the connection I had to dump slowly in order to avoid having sewage surge up and out. We had to request that the neighboring sites fire pit be moved as it was only 3 feet from my rig. I was to say the least uncomfortable with open campfires and smoke billowing in. The owner agreed and had his helper relocate the thing further away. In spite of all that, being in the trees during the August heat was a relief. If you depend on satellite this could be a problem. We didn't use the laundry since there was only one washer and one dryer and they didn't look particularly sanitary being exposed to the outside elements, bugs and animals. We found a laundry in town that worked just fine. The owner does have modernization plans, including a 40 acre expansion to add more "transient" sites (the majority of sites are seasonal). I'd be curious to see the place in a year. The owner keeps the park "family friendly" and doesn't allow big drinking parties or loud music. We liked that.

Speaking of town... Pittsfield is a bare five minutes away. Pontoosuc Lake is at the end of the street from the campground. Hancock Shaker Village, 15 minutes. Tanglewood symphony music venue, 30 minutes. Arrowhead, home of Herman "Call me Ishmael" Melville, 10 minutes and so on. So much to do around there. We wished we had more time to spend wandering around downtown Pittsfield.

My T-Mobile 5G hotspot averaged 30mbps download, giving us everything we needed.

For $50 a night this was a good place for us, despite some inconvenience that wasn't insurmountable. If you're looking for a safe, quiet, family friendly spot for soaking up area history, we recommend Bonnie Brae.