Morganton Point Recreation Area — Attraction in Murphy

A couple or quick things.

I do not write many reviews

Generally, I at least attempt not to be a hateful asshat

When something sucks, it sucks

I had not been to Morganton Point in about 8 years. It was a beautiful place and still is. However, either ownership or managment or both has changed and not at all for the better. Sure, they updated the bathrooms and most of the sites now have water and electric hookups but all the amenities in the world wouldn't make up for the lousey atmosphere created the moment you set foot in the park. If you're a younger person expect to be treated like you're from Neptune. Price was $18 per night for walk in camp sites which seemed high considering we were given a laundry list of rules by which to abide. Some were simple like "pick up your trash" and "keep food put away." Others were kind of dumb like "your Corgi must be kept tied up at all times, no exeptions!" We were also told that all alcohol was prohibited in camp.. not on the lake, in the camp itself. Anyway, my party and I nodded politely and paid their fees and tried to get settled in, "tried" being the key word. Not even an hour into our setting up, the host were down at our site haranging us about every little thing, from the dog quietly lying in the shade under the picnic table to the age of our tent. Seriously. Anyway, three days was our limit and we all left pretty sour. It's a shame too, as this was once a very nice place to camp and swim. Hopefully managment will realize that people go camping to be left alone, not to be nitpicked until they lose the will to live. I hope this...

Beautiful scenery. We did a last minute camp trip and the only spots available were 1 and 20. We took 20. It's right near the entrance and the caretakers. Next time we will plan ahead and get a much more scenic spot on the water. Ours didn't have water or electric, but was level and fine for our tent. The host/caretakers really keep a close eye on everything and even the sheriff made a round. Overall a very quiet place. The campground was full on Saturday and still it didn't feel like it. It's not a party place full of wild drunken people and in fact, there is no alcohol allowed. The toilet facilities were good. Maybe a little on the small side since the one in the middle only had one toilet and 2 urinals.... it could be a problem. There is another one on up the hill that has the showers. We didn't use this one though so I have no idea how large it was.

I was a bit disappointed how hard it is to fish on this lake though. We walked the trail and it's very wooded all around the lake except one or two places where you can drop a line. Even there... it's easy to catch some tree fish. We didn't catch a thing except a pine tree. I'm sure there are other places that are easier to fish, but we didn't have the time and it wasn't that important.

This place isn't as secluded as it lets on to be. There is a dollar general right up the road and a duncan donuts a little further up on the main hwy. It's nice to be able to get something 10 minutes away when you need it. The area is so beautiful and the people are really nice too. We even had 60 degree...

Checked in about 8pm, then a few minutes later a truck with two people pulls up asking if I've checked in. They didn't identify themselves, but proceeded to tell me I was supposed to knock on their door to check in. It's dark and I'm by myself and the man speaking is rude telling me I've checked in incorrectly (I've camped in numerous campgrounds across the country, so I know I didn't miss something). Finally, the driver, his wife, turns on the truck cabin light so I can see who these people are. He then wants to see my pass and my discount pass. I show him both and he tells me they don't accept the America the Beautiful Pass and that I owe him another $9. There's no hello, no trying to learn where I'm coming from or going, just headlights in my face while explaining I'm wrong. I asked for my money back and left.

He didn't realize he scared me by pulling up at dark and not introducing himself or that a simple hello would have gone a long way in gaining my trust. Instead, he was rude and combative. This is the first national campground I've encountered that doesn't take the America the Beautiful pass, that requires you to knock on the hosts' door to check in, and has extraordinary rude hosts.

I hope people have a better experience than I did, but I can't possibly recommend this campground while it's operated by...