Fort McAllister State Park

We enjoyed our stay here for four nights. The camping sites are nice and secluded at the end of a gated half mile roadway. Each site has water and 30 amp hookups. Shower facilities were clean with good hot water. Nice separation between sites. Verizon signal was one to two bars, but was strong enough to stream You Tube TV in the evening. We would happily return.

This is better than Skidaway if you want to kayak or fish or other water activities; it has a great boat launch and floating dock area, and most people seemed to be here for the water. The hiking trail was small (nature trail) and other than that, it was the road in and out for walking.

The sites are all pull-through on the two RV loops (separate tent loop) with water/electric. Not too spacious between sites, but bushes and trees do help with privacy. In warm weather, a screen tent is definitely needed to protect from the biting bugs all over this kind of swampy area (it's in the middle of a marsh).

It is close to Richmond Hill, driveable to Savannah, so easy to get out and see places.

Toilets. showers, laundry - all clean and working. Sites are first-come, first-served (no specific site reservations) and there is a senior discount for over 62 when you check in at the front desk.

I stayed here on a Saturday night in early April. The day use area has a spacious grassy area with trees along the river. There are picnic tables, covered pavillions and a swinging chair overlooking the river. There is also the fort itself, which mostly consists of earth mounds with pathways along the top and below with various rooms and structures built into the earth. There is also a building on the fort grounds that is the historic army headquarters - I didn't go in as I had my dog with me. Noseeums and flying bugs were annoying so we had to keep moving and swatting. There is a small museum inside the main office building detailing the military history of the fort.

The campground area is quite spacious, wooded but not densely so you can see all the other campsites. However, the sites are huge and well-spaced and even on a Saturday night, it was quiet. I walked in the morning around the campground - there is a dock on the river in the campground. Comfort station was older but quite passable with a tiled shower and the cleaning staff were on duty.

I arrived without a reservation and signs said the campground was full. My plan was to visit on a day pass and overnight at the nearby Publix if there were no sites available. I asked if there were any sites when I arrived and again in the early evening when they checked on me in the day use parking area and both times was told no. Then, just at dusk, they came back to me with a walk-in site available. Since the office was already closed, I was to pay in the morning by 10am.

The instructions were to drive around the campground and pick any empty site that didn't have a tag on the post. I found site 12 available and pulled in for the night. At 7:50am, rangers were outside my rig recording my license plate since I was a walk-in - it was indicated on the paperwork that they do this so I was not surprised. As I was packing up, more staff came by on a golf cart to let me know I had actually camped in the driveway of site 12: the actual site was farther in. I was surprised - the site is really huge and I didn't even realize in the morning I wasn't actually in the main area of the site until they pointed it out.

I paid on my way out - it was an expensive night as you have to pay a $5 per family per visit day use fee on top of the $32 per night camping fee, taxes included. For a one night stay, that makes $37 which is a bit much. Great signal on my T-Mobile plan without the booster.

This park is about 40 minutes from Savannah, and a world away. Surrounded by rivers and wetlands and away from major roads, its a haven for birds and other wildlife. We saw 3 Wood Storks, which have recently been removed from the endangered species list. Our campsite faced west toward the wetlands, and it was spacious and well kept. Three rows are for RVs and trailers, two rows for tents only. There's a great little restaurant just outside the park, and grocery/drug stores are not very far. No WiFi, but our AT&T hotspot worked just fine.

We needed a place to stay and this was close by, so we gave it a try and we're so glad we did. It's a beautiful park on a little island filled with large oaks and huge sites. There's a boat dock and a historical fort to explore -- everything is pretty spread out, so get out your bikes. While we were there, it was incredibly quiet and peaceful -- we'll definitely go back.