George Washington State Campground and Management Area — Hotel in Glocester

I have never left a review for anything before, but feel compelled to do so here. Avoid this campground.||The customer service is the worst I've ever experienced. We checked in at about 8:30pm with our three young children (7, 3 and 1 years old), and were told the computer system was down but that we were on site 38 and should go ahead and set up, and they'd give us a call when the system was back up to finish checking in. Anyone with kids knows these ages at this time of night are not easy to deal with, but we got the tent up, got the kids settled in bed, and at around 10pm got the call that the computer system was back online and we should come back and check in. It's hard to stay polite in this review at this point: the twenty-something year old at the desk told us bluntly "you're not on site 38, you're on site 19, you need to move." I said ok, no problem, we'll move in the morning. She said "no, you need to move now." I explained that we had three kids, they had just got to sleep, it was totally dark now, the other site was way across the other end of the campground -- in short there was no way we were going to disassemble the tent, pack everything up again, and move with three overtired young kids at that time. But instead of any sympathy, she dug in and said "You HAVE TO MOVE SITE RIGHT NOW." I pointed out that it was now after 10pm, and their campground rules explicitly state that arrivals are not allowed after 10pm. It was due to thunderstorm most of the next morning, so it looked very likely that the people who'd booked 38 had pulled out and wouldn't be coming; but even if they did, it was now after 10pm, so no admissions. I was told point blank (for the sake of maintaining her hostile position) "we do allow admissions after 10pm, so you have to move." I showed her in writing the line stating no admissions after 10pm in our booking confirmation, and suggested that if someone DID arrive they just take our site. "That's not the site they paid for," she said. All these sites cost the exact same, and are cheap, so this is moot.||Bottom line, this woman would rather have a fight with someone who was there in front of her and had acted in best intention despite their computer system being down, than risk any conflict with an imaginary other camper arriving after 10pm (and most likely with no kids, given the hour).||I simply said "we'll talk about it in the morning, we're not moving," and walked out.||The next morning we moved first thing, during the thunderstorm, getting soaked. We went to site 19 as told, only to find it was occupied; the woman at the check-in had got it wrong, and it turned out we were actually supposed to be on site 14.||This is not how we wanted to spend a family weekend camping, and could so easily have been handled more skillfully and sympathetically. Of course no-one turned up for 38, and it's still vacant as I write this.||As the nail in the coffin for this campground, they allow generators despite this being a mix of RV and tent sites, so you get one hour of quiet birdsong before 9am if you're lucky, and then it sounds like Hells Angels are revving from every direction. How people can put up with this audible vandalism is totally beyond me, as it destroys the experience of being in nature -- the beautiful calm scenery of this location is totally ruined by this onslaught of engines running. How is this any different than allowing people to start blasting obnoxious music first thing in the morning and all day?||We've been coming here for ten years, every summer, and it has really gone downhill because of these two considerations. Never coming here again. A shame, as this is one of the most beautiful campgrounds you could find, but the idiots who run their generators all day (even when they're not there!!) have destroyed this gem.||To those with generators: why not battery packs? (the big ones, with handles; at about 80lbs, still smaller than a generator, and you're not ruining the environment for others who came for the quiet, and not breathing VOCs from the fossil fuels you're spreading all over the site.) That's what we use as a tenting family, and it's silent and lasts the...

The campsites itself are very nice and semi private with some tree cover in between each site and a nice mix of open sky and tree canopy overhead. Went in August and there were no flying insects to be found...no wasps, mosquitos, or flies...which was lovely. Due to the tree canopy and wooded area it was pleasant and not too hot. There are port a potties for every 4 sites normally making it not overloaded and easy to get to. There were centrally located showers and bathrooms as well as a boat launch area and small swimming area. It is also not too far from Providence if you wanted to attend a function or Waterfire.

The cons: There were mice...lots and lots of aggressive mice. They literally crawled up onto the picnic tables while we were trying to eat and had no fear. They chewed through a fireproof glove, a knife handle, and a variety of other non food items.

There is hot water at the showers and about $0.50/2 minutes. I suggest you bring a roll of quarters if you enjoy anything other than ice bath cold showers.

The swimming area is tiny...at its deepest it didn't even come to my waist and wasn't very wide either. This was seriously disappointing as it's a good size lake/pond. Also...no floating devices??? It's not deep enough to swim but you also can't have a floatie...yeah ok. No picnicing...no animals...basically just sit in 2.5 feet of lakewater and be happy or kick rocks. They should adjust this or stop advertising swimming area.

The entire road system throughout is unpaved and at the time we went it was pretty much washboard roads the entire loops etc. As I don't have an off road vehicle it seemed excessive to drive much. The loop I stayed on was up a fairly steep hill with the washboard dirt roads and it just took away from the entire experience.

Conclusion: Being from out of state it was also excessively overpriced for what was delivered. Overall it was barely an ok park and I wouldn't probably return due to the cons...

Been going to George Washington campground (RI) on bowdish lake now several times a year for 3 years, and for the ease of access and fairly decent isolation it's served as a nice weekend get away.

It is a nice size campground, even when fully booked it doesn't seem overly crowded. I would say a majority of the sites would be suitable for reasonable campers. Almost all have dug in firepits (buy/bring your own firewood! None sold on site), and some are more secluded/private than others. But until you visit once and actually scope out a site of preference, I say keep an open mind the first time/site you stay at.

Not sure what a previous reviewer was talking about, we go camping with friends and have had 2 tents AND a canopy and have never been pushed by staff to take any down. They do have staff drive around about every hour or so in the evening, but it isn't intrusive at all. No, there aren't showers, but if you NEED a shower while camping either don't go, or bring a camp shower yourself. They don't advertise there to be showers anyway, Just comfort stations.

Depending on when you go, there has been families/lots of kids, but weve also gone times and there wasn't a single kid there that weekend.

It's a good compromise for most levels and types of campers. Below is a quick checklist for must haves if you visit.

-Toiletries (TP, soap/sanitizer). -Firewood (buy in state). -Hammer/mallet (needed due to hard ground for tent stakes.) -Your own food/beverage stock. (But they do have water spigots/fountains) -Patience and an open mind your first trip.

One negative I have, is that there is a house on the main road, and the owner rides a motorcycle and loves to rev it, sometimes riding late in the evening, which can be a bit annoying. Besides that one instance, you are far enough away to not hear most road traffic from Route 44.

Finally, the prices you pay to stay are reasonable for...