Philpott Park
This place has sites and nobody may sleep in them.Ask for camping here →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 14 of the next 15 nights read 16:16 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
Philpott Park is nestled on the shores of Philpott Lake in the rugged foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. The clear water and natural shoreline make Philpott Lake a unique place for visitors to enjoy boating, fishing, hiking, picnicking and camping. Philpott Lake Virtual Tour: https://corpslakes.erdc.dren.mil/visitors/virtual/philpott/tour.html Recreation The lake provides visitors with great boating and swimming opportunities. Anglers enjoy fishing for large and smallmouth bass, walleye, bluegill, crappie and catfish. Many miles of hiking and biking trails surround Philpott Lake, allowing visitors to get out and explore this scenic area. Keep reading
Facilities
The park features an overlook where visitors have spectacular views of Philpott Lake and the Blue Ridge Mountains. It offers one group camping area and one day-use group picnic shelter. Amenities include flush toilets, showers and drinking water. A boat ramp, playground, and hiking trail are on-site. The Powerhouse, Dam and Visitor Center are located in the park.
Natural Features
Philpott Lake covers 2,900 acres and has 100 miles of shoreline. The lake's steep, rocky banks meet beautiful mixed forests of oak, maple, hickory, pine and cedar. Wildlife is abundant throughout the area. Deer, turkeys, squirrels, raccoons, and a variety of songbirds and waterfowl are commonly viewed.
Nearby Attractions
The lake is adjacent to Fairystone State Park and Fairystone Farms Wildlife Management Area, which includes 5,300 acres of public recreational lands.
What the agency tells you
No alcohol is allowed.
Group Camp Area is operated by Henry County Parks and Recreation. For reservations, call (276) 340-0485 or visit henrycountyva.gov for more information.
Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Everything else this campground posts · 1
STOP THE SPREAD OF INVASIVE SPECIES. Remove plants, seeds, animals, and mud from boots, gear, pets, and vehicles. Clean your gear before entering and leaving the recreation site. Stay on designated roads and trails, and follow local guidelines for firewood. CLEAN, DRAIN, DRY boats and any other recreational equipment that contacts water. Dispose of unwanted bait, worms, fish parts, or other organisms into the trash and not into the environment. For more information visit invasivespeciesinfo.gov/rec.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…group picnic shelter. Amenities include flush toilets, showers and drinking water. A boat ramp,…”
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “Amenities include flush toilets, showers and drinking water.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…include flush toilets, showers and drinking water. A boat ramp, playground, and hiking trail are…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
Something open on 14 of the next 14 bookable nightsread 16:16 UTC
The agency files 1 record here and marks it day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in.
OpenBookedNot reservable
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 11
What you actually pay
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 4
recreation.gov availability, read 16:16 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 records · the site map
All 1 records
| Shelter/Overlook | 001 | day use | 15 amp | yes | 400 ft |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Deer Island2.1 mi
Goose Point2.2 mi
Salthouse Branch2.6 mi
Horseshoe Point4.2 mi
Rock Castle Gorge Backcountry CampingBlue Ridge Parkway · 17 mi
Rocky Knob CampgroundBlue Ridge Parkway · 18 miFrom HWY 220, take the Bassett, VA exit onto State Highway 57 West. Stay on 57 West for approximately 6 miles to Philpott Dam Road. Look for brown Philpott Dam sign, turn right and go one mile to the Philpott Park entrance.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Bassett, VA
Typical weather
Typical October night 46°F, day 71°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 26°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Philpott Park is in Virginia’s 9th congressional district. Its representative, H. Morgan Griffith (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
The agency’s own record files sites here and marks every one of them day use. The draft asks whether any could open to overnight camping, and if not, why.
- The member who votes the moneyH. Morgan GriffithU.S. Representative · Virginia’s 9th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationMark R. WarnerU.S. Senator · Virginia
- Your senator, on the same appropriationTim KaineU.S. Senator · Virginia
Read the draft, or change the wording
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Philpott Park has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear H. Morgan Griffith, I’m a constituent in Virginia’s 9th district. Philpott Park, Virginia carries 1 record on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Philpott Park (Virginia) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Philpott Park has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Mark R. Warner, I’m a constituent in Virginia. Philpott Park, Virginia carries 1 record on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Philpott Park (Virginia) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Philpott Park has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Tim Kaine, I’m a constituent in Virginia. Philpott Park, Virginia carries 1 record on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Philpott Park (Virginia) via campanac.com