Prairie Creek Campground

This is one of the best ACOE Campgrounds. Hosts are very welcoming. Come here early fall to late spring. Summer is summer. Are you looking for Spanish Moss? Look no further. At Prairie Creek, it’s here and beautiful. Sites down on Prairie Creek (Eagles’ Roost) are gravel; some offer waterfront with lovely views. Sites up on Beavers’ Point have concrete pads - a definite plus. Sites here have Prairie Creek views or sunset views over the Alabama River and dam. In my experiences, I’ve had better LTE on the point. No offensive night lighting throughout the campground. Water/Electric (even on tents sites). Two clean bathhouses. No full hook-up here, but there is a dump station. Go through Whitehall to get here. First entrance from Selma is shorter but bumpy.

Prairie Creek Campground was mostly empty during our 1 night stopover. It is an attractive, wooded campground with mostly shaded sites. Sites along the lake tended to be closer together than I like, but with great views. Sites across the street tended to offer a little more space and, in some cases, more privacy. There were only two other occupied sites in our loop at the opposite end of our section. I had picked a secluded, wooded campsite away from the lake, but was able to move to a secluded, lakeside campsite which turned out to be one of the most enjoyable of our 6 week trip. The bathhouse was old, but clean. It was pleasant to walk the dog around the campground with the added benefit of also being able to walk through the old abandoned campground that was destroyed by a hurricane.

Immaculately kept and well spread out sites, yet still not particularly private due to little foliage other than tall trees between sites. Cell service was iffy, though with a booster we were able to watch what my beautiful lady called “Meghan’s lies about the Royal Family.” She also wondered why Oprah didn’t do a more hard-hitting interview, but that has little bearing on the park’s features, which include a healthy walk to the dumpsters if you’re in the outer most RV loop, waterfront views from most sites, just okay bathrooms and super friendly hosts. You have to reserve and pay online, the park office folks can’t accept payment at all, and they implied that we might have to drive back out to the front to get cell service. We did not, and are with Verizon, but only had one bar. This led me to believe that perhaps other carriers were even weaker in the park.

Nice, paved and level sites, fire pits were cleaned and the little gravel area that held them and your picnic table were raked like a zen garden after each camper left.

Playful squirrels practicing for the treetop Olympics, local fishermen scoring dinner and quiet nights rounded out the experience.

GPS directions via Google Maps gave us no issues at all, and though we’re in a van, I don’t think they’d be an issue for anyone. Nearby gas station was a trip, felt fairly certain it was a Walking Dead filming location but maybe that’s just how they keep the place.

We followed the COE website instructions versus our GPS that wanted to take us farther down US Highway 80 to turn on Benton Rd. Per instructions, we followed the COE signage with no problems. But going down to Benton Rd where our GPS wanted to take us would have been fine too. We checked in at the gate office with no problems and proceeded to W&E site 51 for our 2 night stay. Our rate was with the Access Pass discount. Site 51 was one of the better/most spacious sites in the CG. We had no problem backing down the long site cement pad with utilities at the back. Water pressure was good at 45 psi and 50 AMP worked fine. This is an older COE but in good shape with many of the sites right on the water. We were impressed with the separate standing BBQ and a separate fire pit. The picnic table was to the back of the site on a gravel patio type setting overlooking the lake. We got 2 bars on Verizon. If you need better cell service, it seemed to work better near the CG entrance. With all the trees, satellite could be iffy but there are some sites such as 21-23 with a southern sky view. We got a fair number of OTA channels to include major networks. Laundry was open with one washer and dryer for $1.50 to wash and $1.00 to dry. There were plenty of areas to walk the dogs but we were warned to be careful at dusk due to feral pigs. However, we did not see any. We were also warned to be careful of snakes around the water but didn’t see any of those critters as well. This was a great location with many sites right on the water and away from any highway noise. They also had courtesy boat docks periodically spread out around some of the water sites. Wish we could have stayed longer and would definitely stay here again.

We rolled in on Friday afternoon for a Father's Day camping trip. For Seniors, there isn't much better camping experience than the COE campgrounds. The campgrounds are clean and well maintained. The price is fantastic for Lifetime Senior Interagency pass holders!
We were surprised and dismayed that we only had 1 bar on our Verizon system. No phone calls from our sons for Father's day, and limited texting ability. We have decided that to make sure we can stay connected at COE campgrounds (our favorites), we will be investing in a Cell Signal Booster.

Arrived without reservation, but website showed lots of availability. Plenty of open spots during our stay. Ended up on site 39, it had a nice spot by the creek to watch wildlife. Beaver Point, next to our site, is tent camping (with water and electric!) and was empty; great to take a walk to the overlook at the point. Great hosts!

Selma is about 20 minutes away. Campground is a good staging place if you want to check out the historical Selma to Montgomery Historic Trail, be sure to visit the Interpretive Center on US 80 towards Montgomery.

(Nightly rate is with senior pass)

Our second visit to this beautiful and relaxing campground. This certainly has come to be our favorite among the many Army Corps of Engineer facilities we have had the good fortune of an overnight stay or two. Absent good AT&T service there is nothing to complain about. The restrooms are clean, showers are hot, laundry room available, and the waterfront sites are kept clean. The entrance to this campground is also one of the prettiest I have seen. Of course, hard to beat Old Florida-style vegetation, but both sides of the road sporting rolling green pastures on a wooded backdrop is quite memorable.

Many lake front sites to choose from on R.E. “Bob” Woodruff Lake. Beautiful spring scenery with plenty of Spanish moss. Sunrise and sunset from either direction. Clean sites, good hookups, and a nice restroom and shower (with laundry). Plenty of paved campground roads to ride bikes on as well as hiking trails within abandoned original campground used by the Corps initially to construct the recreational facility.

Beaver Point is an especially nice vista at the end of the park. Situated in a tenting area the point is reached either by foot or bicycle. Several benches are available to relax on and take in the views.

This campground is located in an historical area. The Civil War's Holy Ground Battlefield Park is just down the road as well as the the Civil Rights' Freedom March Trail running from Montgomery to Selma. But bring what you need to eat with you. Nothing close by but nature.

Generally, when AT&T reception is non-existent or severely lacking, an entire star is deducted, but this campground offers so much in relaxation, recreation, and beauty that five stars will have to do. Sometimes we just need to to disconnect. The host informed me that Verizon is very good here and AT&T is nowhere to be found even though the AT&T service area map for 4G shows plenty of coverage in the area. There was “no service” at all for miles as we drove in from the south. Somehow we managed to get wifi on our Nighthawk however and perform our usual internet routines.