Harper's Ferry Road Trip RV-Style

Guest Post by Kari Martindale of karilogue.com.

My family and I recently purchased our first RV, so we’ve been trying to get out and about on the weekends to familiarize ourselves with RVing.  

Recently, we headed to Harper’s Ferry, WV.  The area is located about 3 hours from Philly—a nice weekend distance to a beautiful section of Appalachia, complete with a national historic park, rafting along the river, hiking, antiquing, and sightseeing. 

Harper’s Ferry is located where Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia meet, at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.  

The town’s history is tied to the Civil War, industry, and integration, and the region includes Harper’s Ferry National Historic Park, the Appalachian Trail, and the C&O Canal.

The KOA Campground, which is located just outside of the entrance to Harper’s Ferry National Historic Park, is like a mini-resort!  

You can stay in lodges or a cabin, or at a tent or RV site, and enjoy miniature golf, a large outdoor pool, a giant jumping pillow, a small movie theater, a playground, and more!  

The movie theater plays both children’s films and family films.  
If you forget anything, the camp store has it, from food and toiletries to gifts and souvenirs. 

Despite the number of people and pets milling around, we spotted deer, groundhogs, frogs, and other small wildlife within the campground.  

The free wireless was spotty, but for the most part, I had good phone reception.  The pool was refreshing on the hot days of our visit.  

Nearby, kids and grown-ups alike were bouncing high on the giant trampoline-like pillow.

For breakfast, you could head to a pavilion for free pancakes. Not the best pancakes in the world, but you can’t look a gift pancake in the mouth. Other hot breakfast foods were available for purchase. 

Wanting to spend a day at the park and go for a hike, we drove the short distance to the park

entrance and parked at the visitor’s center.  

There is a free shuttle that continuously runs

between the visitor’s center and town, but we chose to hike through the forest, along the river, past ruins, and into town.  

We spotted more wildlife during our hike: turtles sunning themselves on logs, giant fish hanging out in shallow waters, deer right along the trail, and dragonflies buzzing along a small waterfall.  

There was also great foliage, including stunning mimosa trees in bloom along the path.  The hike down to the town was easy. 

In town, we popped into some of the buildings, where folks in period dress told us about the history of the town.  It was a hot, sunny day, so people were walking around eating ice cream cones from one of the many ice cream shops along the main streets of town. For a bite to eat, we stopped at the Coach House Bar & Grill.  

Around the table, we had chicken Caesar salad, hummus, spinach and artichoke dip, a cheeseburger, and some local brews.  The meal for four, with drinks and a tip, came to $74. 

If you mention to some of the Harper’s Ferry-area businesses that you’re staying at the KOA, you’ll score a discount.

​

We’ve rafted down the river in the past.  You can meet up with a tour company in the area, and they’ll bus you to a spot on the river, where they’ll drop you off with tubes.  After lazily drifting along the river, you’ll be picked up a few hours later and transported back where your car awaits you. 

Harper’s Ferry is a great family destination with something for everyone, and the KOA

campground was a great location from which to enjoy it!