Boating

Yeary Valley Farms

4 RV Sites, 4 Tiny Houses

Yeary Valley Farms in Speedwell, Tennessee, offers four full-hookup RV sites and four tiny houses on a working farm in the Appalachian highlands, with 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 45 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout. Themed cabin rentals, farm animals, and a pond make this a farm stay rather than a conventional campground. Four back-in sites carry water, sewer, and electric on 50-amp, sized to 45 feet, with fire pits. Four tiny houses and individually themed cabins serve guests without a rig — the themed units are much of the appeal here. At four RV sites, availability is genuinely limited, so book well ahead. Pets are welcome. The farm setting carries the experience, with farm animals on the property and a pond for fishing. Hiking, boating, and stargazing run from the area, and the dark rural sky at this elevation is worth an evening on its own. The position is unusually good for outdoor recreation. Norris Lake — Tennessee's finest fishing lake — has a public boat launch two miles away, and the Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area's extensive ATV and UTV trail network is 12 miles out. Off-roading is nearby, which draws a steady share of guests. The farm sits right off Highway 63 in Speedwell, with Flat Hollow Marina, Blue Springs Hollow Boat Dock, Powell Valley Resort, a Sunoco fuel station, and a Dollar General all within short distance. Summer lake season and fall riding weather drive demand. With four RV sites and four tiny houses, reserve as far ahead as you can.

from $40/night

Knoxville Campground

43 RV Sites

Knoxville Campground in Clinton, TN, offers 43 full-hookup RV sites with 30 and 50-amp service and room for rigs up to 83 feet. Sites are grouped by amp service and orientation: back-in 30-amp, back-in 30/50-amp, back-in water-and-electric 30-amp, pull-thru 30-amp, and pull-thru 30/50-amp. Sites carry water, sewer, and electric with a fire pit and picnic table. The park is rated big rig friendly and the 83-foot maximum accommodates long coaches with a toad. Laundry, a bathhouse with showers, a dump station, propane fills, and firewood cover the practical side, with WiFi across the grounds. Pets are welcome, with a dog park. Recreation includes an outdoor pool, a game room and arcade, a fitness center, a clubhouse, volleyball, horseshoes, a playground, and walking trails, with lake and boating access nearby. Clinton sits about 10 miles north of Knoxville off Interstate 75 in Anderson County, near Norris Dam and the Museum of Appalachia. Rates and site-type availability are on the booking page. Late arrivals should note the campground's after-hours policy, which is covered in the park's FAQ — worth reading before a long driving day.

from $58/night

Camp Margaritaville RV Resort & Lodge - Pigeon Forge

91 RV Sites

Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, offers 91 full-hookup back-in RV sites with 30 and 50-amp service, cable TV, and rigs accepted to 60 feet at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains. Super, premium, deluxe, family, and standard categories join a lazy river, pool, hot tub, and bar minutes from Dollywood. Ninety-one back-in sites span standard, family, deluxe, premium, and super categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric on 30 and 50-amp with cable TV and site WiFi, sized to 60 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables. The five-tier structure gives real range, and the family category is sized for groups. Cabins round out the lodging. A general store, restrooms, and showers handle the practical side. Check-in is 2pm; arriving earlier may mean waiting, and an early check-in fee applies where the site is ready. A lazy river is the anchor, with an outdoor pool and hot tub and sauna alongside. A craft room, arcade, billiards, ping pong, tennis, pickleball, a playground, pavilion, dog park, snack bar, and bar fill the grounds, with live music, boating, and planned activities through the season. The Margaritaville brand's tropical energy against a Smoky Mountain backdrop is an odd combination that works. Pets are welcome. Dollywood and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park entrance are both minutes away. Summer and fall foliage drive the heaviest demand in Pigeon Forge. Reserve well ahead for June through October.

from $42 $36/night

Mammoth Ridge RV Park

20 RV Sites

Mammoth Ridge RV Park and Campground in Greeneville, Tennessee, offers full-hookup RV sites on a lake with its own beach, a dog park, a general store and golf cart rentals. Sites take rigs up to 75 feet with electric hookups, which accommodates most large coaches traveling the Nolichucky valley between Morristown and Johnson City. Full-hookup RV sites with electric service accommodate rigs to 75 feet, and a dump station is on site. RV storage is available for guests leaving a rig between visits. Bathrooms, showers and laundry cover the practical side of a stay, a general store stocks basics and firewood, and WiFi reaches the sites. The lake is the property's center of gravity. A beach gives swimmers direct access, and fishing, boating, canoeing, kayaking and paddle boats put guests on the water without leaving the campground. Walking trails and biking routes run the grounds, volleyball and gaga ball serve the younger crowd, and a covered pavilion handles group gatherings. A fenced dog park is on site and pets are welcome. Golf cart rentals make the property easy to move around, and a golf course is nearby. One practical note: this is bear country despite the populated setting, so store food accordingly. Greeneville is the home of Andrew Johnson, and the National Historic Site downtown preserves his homestead, tailor shop and cemetery. The Nolichucky River Gorge lies 20 miles south in the Cherokee National Forest, where a 14-mile canyon carries Class III–IV whitewater, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park's Cosby entrance is a 45-mile drive southwest. The campground runs spring through fall. Cherokee National Forest wildflowers peak April into May, and October foliage on the northeast Tennessee ridgelines is the busiest window of the year — with the Roan Mountain rhododendron bloom, 40 miles northeast, drawing heavily from mid-June into early July. Reserve ahead for both.

from $60/night

Cumberland Falls RV Resort

25 RV Sites

Cumberland Falls RV Resort in Parkers Lake, Kentucky, offers 25 full-hookup RV sites with 30 and 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 45 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout, at the gateway to one of the Appalachians' most extraordinary natural wonders. Premium WiFi, golf cart rentals, a lake, and a fishing pier serve guests exploring the Daniel Boone National Forest. Twenty-five sites carry water, sewer, and electric on 30 and 50-amp in back-in and pull-through configurations, sized to 45 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables. A general store, restrooms, showers, firewood, and both standard and premium WiFi handle the practical side. Pets are welcome. A lake and fishing pier sit on the property, with a river and creek running nearby. Sports courts, pickleball, horseshoes, corn hole, walking trails, a pavilion, and a dog park fill the grounds, with golf cart rentals to cross the property and planned activities through the season. Hiking, whitewater rafting, canoeing, kayaking, stargazing, and birding all run from the area, with boating and a casino nearby. Cumberland Falls is the reason to come. The 125-foot-wide curtain of the Cumberland River plunges 68 feet through a sandstone gorge and produces a moonbow visible by full moon light — a phenomenon found in only a handful of locations worldwide. The state resort park, the Daniel Boone National Forest, and the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area all converge here, with SomerSplash Waterpark and Wildcat Off-Road Park nearby. Full moon weekends draw moonbow viewers specifically. Reserve well ahead for those dates and for October foliage.

from $69/night

Black House Mountain Campground

Black House Mountain Campground in Jamestown, Tennessee, offers full-hookup RV sites and cabins on a big-rig-friendly property in Fentress County, with a general store, showers, and WiFi on the Cumberland Plateau. Off-road riders can reach the Pickett Forest trailhead 4.5 miles up Black House Mountain Road, directly across from the campground. Full-hookup RV sites and cabin accommodations serve both RV travelers and guests without a rig, on a layout sized for big rigs. A general store stocks basics, firewood is available, and restrooms, showers, and WiFi cover the practical side. The setting is forest and mountain, with walking trails running the property and picnicking areas across the grounds. The off-road access is the distinguishing practical feature — the Pickett Forest trailhead sits 4.5 miles up the road opposite the campground, so 4x4 and ATV guests can ride from camp rather than trailering out. Boating and creek access are nearby. Pets are welcome. The surrounding landscape is the most spectacular canyon country on the Cumberland Plateau. Pogue Creek Canyon State Natural Area, Pickett State Park, and the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area are all close, holding deep sandstone gorges, carved slot canyons, and natural arches and bridges in a concentration unmatched elsewhere in the Tennessee plateau. To reach the campground from Jamestown, take Highway 127 to Pickett Park Highway (154N) and travel northeast for 9.8 miles; the campground is on the right. The campground serves the Cumberland Plateau season, with fall color in October the most spectacular window and summer carrying the heaviest river and trail traffic. Reserve ahead for both.

Rockwood Marina & RV Resort

77 RV Sites

Rockwood Marina and RV Resort in Tennessee offers 77 full-hookup RV sites on 1.5 miles of Watts Bar Lake shoreline, with 30 and 50-amp service and rigs accepted up to 105 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout. Beachfront, lakefront, premium lakefront, poolside, and poolside waterview categories name exactly what you are booking, alongside a marina, boat ramp, and fishing pier. Seventy-seven sites span beachfront back-in, lakefront back-in, lakefront pull-in, premium lakefront back-in, poolside back-in, poolside waterview back-in, pull-thru, and waterfront categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric on 30 and 50-amp, sized to 105 feet, with fire pits. Naming every category by its position is genuinely useful, and 105 feet accommodates the longest coaches on the road. A general store, laundry, and restrooms handle the practical side. The marina is the anchor, with boat docks, a boat ramp, and a fishing pier giving direct access to Watts Bar for boating and fishing. An outdoor pool, sandy beach, pavilion, and on-site dining fill the rest. Pets are welcome. The resort opened in summer 2023 as one of the most ambitious marina-integrated campground developments in the Tennessee Valley, and it shows in the facilities — everything is new. Watts Bar is a 39,000-acre TVA reservoir in Roane County between Knoxville and Chattanooga. Summer lake season drives the heaviest demand. Reserve well ahead for Memorial Day through Labor Day weekends, with spring and fall fishing strong and considerably easier availability.

from $52/night

Gorgeous Stays

5 Cabins, 3 Tent Sites, 2 Glamping Sites, 1 Yurt, 3 Vintage RV Rentals

Gorgeous Stays in Bryson City, North Carolina, is a unique outdoor retreat offering glamping sites, tent sites, yurts, cabins, and vintage RV rentals near Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Swain County's western North Carolina mountains — a property whose combination of accommodation novelty, mountain setting, and immediate access to the Smoky Mountain recreation corridor specifically serves the traveler looking for a curated, design-aware overnight experience in one of the most visited mountain regions in the eastern United States. Bryson City's position on the Tuckasegee River at the park's western gateway gives Gorgeous Stays the specific location advantage of proximity to the national park, the Deep Creek tubing area, the Nantahala River, and the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad's steam excursion trains. Glamping sites, tent sites, yurts, cabins, and vintage RV rentals give the property an accommodation portfolio that explicitly resists the conventional campground format in favor of the experiential accommodation approach that guests seeking a distinct overnight character specifically pursue. The vintage RV rental format gives guests without their own equipment the classic Americana camping aesthetic that a new contemporary rental trailer cannot replicate, and the yurt and glamping tent formats provide the canvas-and-structure outdoor sleeping character that the Bryson City mountain setting deserves. Pets are welcome. Great Smoky Mountains National Park's western approaches from Bryson City provide access to the park sections that the Gatlinburg and Cherokee corridors' visitor traffic primarily bypasses — the Lakeshore Trail along Fontana Lake, the Road to Nowhere's tunnel and lakeshore hiking beyond Bryson City's park boundary, and the Deep Creek valley's triple waterfall sequence (Indian Creek, Juney Whank, and Tom Branch Falls) accessible by the Deep Creek Trail just north of town. Deep Creek's tubing — floating the cold mountain stream on inner tubes through the campground at the creek's valley — is one of the most characteristically Great Smoky Mountains family recreation experiences available without a permit or reservation. The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, operating steam and diesel excursion trains from the Bryson City depot through the Nantahala Gorge and the Tuckasegee River valley since 1988, is one of the most scenic heritage railroad experiences in the southern Appalachians — a 44-mile round-trip journey through the river gorge terrain between Bryson City and the Nantahala Outdoor Center that provides the mountain valley viewshed in a format specifically suited to guests who want to experience the landscape without driving its narrow roads. The Nantahala River's Class III whitewater through the Nantahala Gorge, 10 miles west of Bryson City, sustains one of the most popular commercial rafting operations in the Southeast. Gorgeous Stays operates through the western North Carolina mountain season with the spring wildflower season from late April through May, the summer Smoky Mountain visitor peak from June through August, and the October foliage season representing the three primary visitor demand windows. Bryson City's Cherokee County mountain location gives it the highest-elevation Great Smoky Mountains gateway character — cooler summer temperatures than the Tennessee gateway communities, the most intact rural mountain town atmosphere on the park's perimeter, and the specific Nantahala Gorge outdoor adventure access that makes the Bryson City corridor a genuine outdoor enthusiast destination independent of the national park's draws. Reserve accommodations months ahead for summer peak and October foliage, when western North Carolina mountain accommodation fills from the Southeast and mid-Atlantic markets.

from $30/night

Nantahala Ridge Campground

3 RV Sites, 5 Cabins

Nantahala Ridge Campground in Bryson City, NC, offers 3 full-hookup RV sites and 5 cabins, with 20, 30, and 50-amp service. Sites come as back-ins and pull-thrus, each carrying water, sewer, and electric with site-delivered WiFi, a fire pit, and a picnic table. Maximum rig length isn't published, so call with your dimensions before booking — the roads in this canyon are narrow and it's worth the minute. Laundry is on site, and the five cabins give guests without a rig a place to stay. Pets are welcome. Three RV sites in a river canyon is the appeal: hiking from the property, dark-sky stargazing, and no crowd. Bryson City sits in Swain County where the Nantahala runs cold and clear through a corridor of rhododendron and hemlock, minutes from the Nantahala Outdoor Center and the southern entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Rates for sites and cabins are on the booking page. Confirm your rig's fit when you reserve, and book early for rafting season and fall color.

from $49/night

Escape With Us RV Resort

26 RV Sites

Escape With Us RV Resort in Somerset, Kentucky, offers 26 full-hookup RV sites in the Lake Cumberland corridor, with 20, 30, and 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 50 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout. A premium pull-through category with a private deck joins premium and standard back-in tiers, with a dog park, playground, boat storage, and food trucks. Twenty-six sites span back-in, premium back-in, and premium pull-thru with deck categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric, sized to 50 feet, with fire pits. The pull-through with a private deck is a genuine find — outdoor living space built into the site rather than something you set up yourself. A laundry, restrooms, showers, firewood, boat storage, and food trucks handle the practical side. A dog park, playground, and inflatable water toys fill the grounds. The amenity set is deliberately focused, and the thoughtful details — the deck, the boat storage, the food trucks — are what distinguish this from the region's more functional waterfront parks. Pets are welcome. Pulaski County sits on Lake Cumberland, one of the largest reservoirs east of the Mississippi with more than 1,200 miles of shoreline and a houseboating culture that defines the region. The striped bass fishery is among the best in the country, Cumberland Falls — the only regularly occurring moonbow in the Western Hemisphere — is close, and the Daniel Boone National Forest surrounds much of the area. Summer lake season drives the heaviest demand on Lake Cumberland and fills the corridor. Reserve well ahead for Memorial Day through Labor Day, with the spring and fall striper runs offering easier availability.

from $39/night

Off the Hook RV Campground

5 RV Sites

In Nancy, Kentucky—in Pulaski County in south-central Kentucky's Lake Cumberland corridor where the 101-mile reservoir on the Cumberland River creates the largest Army Corps of Engineers lake east of the Mississippi by surface area, the most extensive freshwater boating and fishing destination in the region, and the resort community that the 1,200-plus miles of Lake Cumberland's shoreline has built into the houseboat capital of the world—Off the Hook RV Campground, a Streamside Parks property, provides 31 spacious full hookup sites with 20, 30, and 50-amp service on level gravel pads to 50 feet, fire rings and picnic tables at every site, WiFi, 24-hour showers and laundry, a playground, a shaded gazebo, a catch-and-release pond, a ropes-style obstacle course, and complimentary seasonal live music and activities, all less than one mile from Lake Cumberland's shoreline and the 1,200 miles of coves, bays, and forested shoreline that the reservoir's houseboat and pontoon boat culture organizes around. One mile from Lake Cumberland. Obstacle course. Free seasonal music. The 31 full hookup sites—gravel pads to 50 feet with 20, 30, and 50-amp electric, water, and sewer—accommodate the full range from the travel trailer to the large fifth wheel or Class A in the Pulaski County campground configuration that the Lake Cumberland outdoor community's RV travel style favors. Each site provides a fire ring and picnic table, and WiFi covers the campground property. The 24-hour shower and laundry access accommodates the lake-day schedule that doesn't always align with the standard check-in and check-out window, and the playground, shaded gazebo, and catch-and-release pond provide the on-property activity for the non-lake morning. The ropes-style obstacle course adds the physical challenge activity that the elementary-school age camper finds engaging between swimming and fishing excursions, and the complimentary seasonal live music evenings create the campground's social calendar without the event-ticket cost. Nancy sits in Pulaski County on KY-80 east of Somerset, in the Lake Cumberland State Resort Park corridor between the lake's Waitsboro and Burnside areas. The lake's 101-mile length and the 1,200-plus miles of shoreline that the Army Corps of Engineers' Wolf Creek Dam on the Cumberland River created in 1951 produce the inland sea character that Lake Cumberland's houseboat fleet—one of the largest concentrations of houseboats in the United States—occupies from spring through fall. The Somerset-Pulaski County waterfront marinas, the Lake Cumberland State Resort Park's lodge and cottages, and the commercial outfitters operating from the Jamestown and Russell County ends of the lake create the recreation infrastructure that the Off the Hook's less-than-one-mile proximity accesses directly. Daniel Boone National Forest, whose eastern boundary passes through Pulaski County, provides 708,000 acres of eastern Kentucky mountain terrain—the Red River Gorge Geological Area and Natural Bridge State Resort Park, both accessible within 90 minutes north on US-27, represent the national forest's most dramatic sandstone arch and canyon landscapes. Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument, 20 miles east, preserves the January 1862 battle site where Union forces decisively defeated the Confederate Army of Central Kentucky—the battlefield museum, the overshot mill, and the monument to General Felix Zollicoffer create the Civil War experience in the Lake Cumberland corridor. Off the Hook RV Campground operates year-round in Pulaski County's temperate Kentucky climate, with the Lake Cumberland boating season from April through October the primary camping window and the spring fishing tournament season—the lake's largemouth and smallmouth bass, walleye, and crappie fishing attracting the tournament circuit from March through June—the most active angling period. Reserve your site at Off the Hook and let the obstacle course, the seasonal live music, and Lake Cumberland's 1,200 miles of houseboat-covered shoreline deliver the south-central Kentucky lake experience that Pulaski County's most complete RV campground provides.

from $25/night

The Cabins at Long Branch

3 Cabins

The Cabins at Long Branch above the Nantahala Gorge in western North Carolina are handcrafted two-bedroom cabin retreats at 3,500 feet elevation — a secluded, private mountain cabin accommodation tucked high above the Nantahala River's Class III and IV whitewater corridor in the southern Blue Ridge, where the elevation gives guests the cool mountain climate that the gorge bottom cannot provide and the proximity to Nantahala's outdoor adventure infrastructure gives the cabin guests the complete access to whitewater paddling, mountain biking, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park from a high-elevation mountain cabin that the Nantahala National Forest's ridge and valley landscape sustains in one of the most recreationally active outdoor adventure destinations in the eastern United States. The Nantahala Gorge's position in Swain or Macon County gives the cabins the specific southern Appalachian elevation character of a mountain retreat above the gorge in a landscape where the 1,800-foot elevation difference between the gorge floor and the surrounding ridge crests creates the dramatic western Carolina topography. Handcrafted two-bedroom cabins at 3,500 feet above the Nantahala Gorge give The Cabins at Long Branch the specific mountain cabin retreat character of a high-elevation private accommodation that the gorge-bottom commercial campground cannot replicate — the elevation gives the cabins the cool mountain summer temperatures and the ridge-top forest setting that distinguish a 3,500-foot cabin experience from the whitewater activity corridor below, and the proximity to the Nantahala Outdoor Center's outfitter services and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park's Swain County entrance gives cabin guests the complete southern Appalachian outdoor adventure access from a comfortable mountain cabin base. Pets are welcome. The Nantahala Outdoor Center, five miles north of the Nantahala Gorge's lower takeout on US-19/74 in Swain County, is the most comprehensive whitewater outfitter and outdoor adventure resort in the American South — a campus of whitewater rafting, kayaking instruction, zip lines, mountain biking, and flatwater paddling that has served as the entry point to the Nantahala River's Class III whitewater for over a million guests since its 1972 founding. The Nantahala River's consistent 45-degree water temperature (released from the bottom of Fontana Lake's cold hypolimnion at Nantahala Lake) and the Class III Nantahala Falls at the takeout give the gorge its specific cold-water character and its most technically demanding rapids. Great Smoky Mountains National Park's Swain County entrance at Bryson City, 15 miles north of the Nantahala Gorge on US-74, provides the Deep Creek area's three waterfalls (Tom Branch, Indian Creek, and Juney Whank Falls), the tubing on Deep Creek's mild rapids, and the access to the park's backcountry trail system that the Swain County entrance specifically makes available in the less-visited southwestern section of the most visited national park in the country. The Cabins at Long Branch serve guests through the western North Carolina mountain cabin season from late spring through fall, with the prime whitewater rafting season on the Nantahala from May through October sustaining the outdoor adventure visitor market and the October fall foliage on the Nantahala National Forest's ridgelines giving the 3,500-foot elevation the most spectacular autumn color display in the southern Blue Ridge. The Appalachian Trail's Wesser Bald section above the Nantahala Gorge and the Bartram Trail's ridge walk through the Nantahala National Forest give hikers the long-distance trail access from the cabin's elevation position. Reserve cabins well ahead for the peak summer whitewater season and the October fall foliage weeks.

from $169/night