Remove Ads
4.5
109 votes

Fairy Stone State Park Campground

967 Fairystone Lake Dr., Stuart, Virginia 24171 USA

  • Independent
  • Pet Friendly
  • Not Wheelchair
    Accessible
  • Public
    Restrooms
Add to Trip
Remove Ads

“Home of the Fairy Stones”

Home of the legendary fairy stones, this park is well known for its 168-acre lake adjoining Philpott Reservoir. The park is just minutes from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Attractions include cabins, a campground, group camping, an equestrian campground, a conference center, hiking trails, lake swimming, rowboats, canoes, paddle boats, kayaks, picnicking and two playgrounds, including one in the water. Campsites have a fire ring that can be used for campfires and cooking. Two vehicles plus the camping unit are allowed per campsite, and all vehicles must be kept on the paved area of the campsite. Additional parking is approximately a half mile from the campground area and parking fees are charged. Dogs are welcome but there is an overnight fee. Keep pets on a leash no longer than 6 feet when not in an enclosed area. Dogs must be attended at all times. Dog owners are expected to clean up after their pets and dispose of their waste in appropriate receptacles. In the late 1920s various groups across the commonwealth began working towards the establishment of state parks in Virginia. It wasn't until 1933, however, with the establishment of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) that the state was able to begin building such a system. At that time, six areas were acquired, including Fairy Stone. Roanoke newspaper publisher Julius B. Fishburn donated the 4,639-acre site, making it the largest of the six original parks and one of the largest to this day.

Read More >

Reviews of Fairy Stone State Park Campground

10 people have reviewed this location

Ratings Summary

3.8 Access
3.9 Location
3.9 Cleanliness
3.1 Site Quality
4.0 Noise

Cell Coverage

Verizon 4G/5G

Confirmed by 5 users | Last reported on October 23, 2020

AT&T 5G

Confirmed by 3 users | Last reported on September 27, 2019

T-Mobile 4G/5G

Confirmed by 3 users | Last reported on August 09, 2021
Add Review
Thanks!
Your Rating
1
2
3
4
5
Photo of Campendium

Reviewed by
Campendium

July 19, 2020
Rated

As other reviewers have said, the campground is tight, and pad sites in need of repair. Many are very close to each other - surprising for a VA state park - and most were pretty unlevel and/or rutted out. It’s a minor complaint, I know, but the fire rings were often on the other side of the site from the gravel pad and picnic tables. Low water pressure at the site, as well, and a good deal of debris around the site.

But hey - it’s a beautiful state park! Nice hiking trails, and Philpott Lake is a beautiful lake to swim, boat, fish, or stare at.

Was this helpful?

Nightly Rate: -

Days Stayed: 3

Site Number: -

3 Access
3 Location
2 Cleanliness
2 Site Quality
4 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

Reviewed by
dennisford2

  • 2 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
October 23, 2020
Rated

Spaces are tight. Park is very pretty. Too bad the state can’t spend more money in upkeep and maintenance. We had an 18’ travel trailer and our daughter and her family had a pop up. No problems with our sites.

Was this helpful?
dennisford2 would stay here again

Nightly Rate: -

Days Stayed: 4

Site Number: -

3 Access
3 Location
3 Cleanliness
3 Site Quality
1 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

Photo of Campendium

Reviewed by
Campendium

November 19, 2020
Rated

First camping experience at Fairystone during summer 2020. The campsites were kind of disappointing. The sites on the inside of the loop, where we stayed, are close together with no privacy. The outside sites are better. Nice trails in the area and our overall experience was positive.

Was this helpful?
This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $35.00

Days Stayed: 2

Site Number: Unknown

5 Access
4 Location
4 Cleanliness
3 Site Quality
4 Noise
Photo of Campendium

Reviewed by
Campendium

August 09, 2021
Rated

This is our second stay at Fairy Stone, for two nights. This time we brought our 26' travel trailer and stayed in (non-site-specific) site 36. This is a very nice pull-through site. You have a fairly close neighbor on one side (not a problem), and woods right outside your front porch. We didn't need leveling blocks and this might be our easiest setup ever. Site 36 is also very near the bathhouse (not a plus in my opinion due to the all-night lights!). Overall, we really enjoyed this stay and look forward to coming back.

Fairy Stone is like several other VA state parks--the best sites are non-reservable. At FS, the reservable sites are on the inside of the loop and are generally smaller and less desirable because of little privacy. The outside sites are reservable by group (red sites with tent pads and green without), and you're assigned a specific upon arrival. We lucked out with site 36--its a great "green" site. There are some other nice sites in this group, while others are more sketchy. I think all sites are E/W. As others have noted, this campground is old and the asphalt is crumbling in places. We experienced very low water pressure at times. However, the bathhouse is nice.

Overall, we really enjoyed the vibe on a summer weekend. The sites are pretty close together, but it wasn't suffocating. Lots of families with kids, riding bikes, etc. The camp hosts and rangers were helpful and unobtrusive. There is a nice trail network, and some will give you a really good workout. We're not really lake people, but of course water sports are big with both Fairy Stone and Philpott Lakes right there. We enjoy hiking to the spillway and wading in the water.

I'd give 4.5 stars if I could. The facilities need some upgrading, but otherwise this place would be five stars!

Was this helpful?
This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $35.00

Days Stayed: 3

Site Number: 36

4 Access
5 Location
- Cleanliness
- Site Quality
- Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

T-Mobile 4G

  • 233 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
November 17, 2023
Rated

We stayed here for 4 nights at the end of September / beg of October of 2023. I had this on my "list of places to stay" for some reason - possibly the "fairy stone" part. The campground is average - sites on the inside tight and wonky. Our firepit was literally just outside our door and our trailer is less than 22'. A lot of the sites on the outside of the loop weren't the most level. Lots of info in our welcome packet - rules, pricing, fairy stones, trails and bears. The park is great! We randomly met a nice ranger over at the fairy stone hunt site, who showed us what to look for, then later I had a private lesson to show how to clean them up. It might take years to get the ones we found to look like the ones in the cool little vis center! Trails were nice, rangers were awesome, loved the little creek in the day use area (so did our big Lab who loves water). So I really liked the park, but the CG was just ok.

Was this helpful?
roadtripper6474771 would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $44.00

Days Stayed: 4

Site Number: 4

4 Access
4 Location
4 Cleanliness
3 Site Quality
5 Noise

Reviewed by
knmtravel

  • 11 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
November 09, 2017
Rated

We enjoyed our time at this campground. Due to off-season, there were never more than four other campers in the campground. It was very quiet and peaceful. This is a great place to camp in the off-season. However, cell signal is very sparse. We ended up leaving a day early due to difficulty connecting to any cell towers, making it hard for Mark to work. There is zero T-Mobile or Sprint service here. Several times, we got a signal of -140dbm on AT&T but virtually no data transfer. Verizon data strength ranged from -75dbm to -100dbm, though at times it cut out completely as well.

Minus one star because we checked out a day early so Mark could get back to a good signal area and were not given a refund for our last night, so we ended up paying for our site here and our site in another VA state park, making our per night cost at Fairystone higher than the nominal per night charge.

Great park rangers. Very clean showers. Nice paved trails great for biking. We would definitely stay again if we were vacationing and did not require cell data or if the park installs reliable wifi.

Was this helpful?
knmtravel would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $47.00

Days Stayed: 4

Site Number: 49

4 Access
4 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
5 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

AT&T

T-Mobile

Reviewed by
edc1951

  • 78 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
April 17, 2018
Rated

There are a lot of pluses about this campground:
5 star hiking trails that are well marked and kept up with beautiful views
The BEST showers we have found in 18 years of camping all over the US-hot, great pressure, water stays in the stall and not all over
Great beach (though it was closed and too cold when we were there)
Nice store with a few good camping items at the gate
Easy access to the Blue Ridge Parkway
There is good WiFi in the parking lot at the Lower Beach
But there are some cons as well:
While the park is old, there have been a lot of updates but one is not the sites and it shows. They may be fine for smaller rigs and tent campers but at 33 ft we had a bit of difficulty getting level
Problems with making reservations online at Reserve America (VA State Parks just started this in March 2018) lead to us being scheduled to arrive the day before we did. The camp manager refused to accept this and in order to stay until our intended date we had to pay for an extra night (I put the amount we'd have paid had it been correct but as it was we paid $55 a night!)
We had no cell reception even extended on AT&T nor with Verizon. The camp host said she had intermittent Verizon but we had none-zip-zilch in 3 days
The rangers are excellent and came around one evening to warn us about the upcoming storm-which did not hit us badly
The Site Specific (reservable sites) are all on the inner loop and they are the less desirable sites. There were only 5 other campers there when we were, in mid-April, and none others by Sunday so it's hard to tell whether taking a chance in warmer months would be worth it.
Overall, with the hiking the access to other sites, the SHOWERS :-), and the peace and quiet we would definitely stay again.

Was this helpful?

Nightly Rate: $41.00

Days Stayed: 3

Site Number: 8

4 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
3 Site Quality
5 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon

AT&T

T-Mobile

Reviewed by
cjhudock

  • 11 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
September 27, 2019
Rated

Wooded sites, clean restrooms, hot showers, and dog friendly.
Nice hiking trails around lake with a beach and boat rental.

Was this helpful?
cjhudock would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $47.00

Days Stayed: 1

Site Number: -

4 Access
4 Location
5 Cleanliness
4 Site Quality
5 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

AT&T

Photo of Campendium

Reviewed by
Campendium

July 19, 2020
Rated

As other reviewers have mentioned, the sites do leave a lot to be desired. Lots of them are rutted out and unlevel, and it seems every trailer or rig in the campground was having trouble - one Class C was on 6” of leveling pads! Low water pressure at the sites, and some are on top of each other.

But VA state parks are beautiful, and this is no exception! Loads of hiking trails, and Philpott Lake is a beautiful lake to swim, fish, paddle, or stare at. Nice sandy beach you can access for swimming, as well

Was this helpful?
This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: -

Days Stayed: 3

Site Number: -

3 Access
3 Location
3 Cleanliness
2 Site Quality
3 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

Be the first to add a review to the Fairy Stone State Park Campground.

Fairy Stone State Park Campground

967 Fairystone Lake Dr.
Stuart, Virginia
24171 USA
Remove Ads

Hours

Hours not available

Problem with this listing? Let us know.

Has RV parking changed? Let us know.

Remove Ads
  • Unavailable
    Parking
  • Check
    Pets Allowed
  • Check
    Restrooms
  • Unknown
    Wifi
  • Unavailable
    Wheelchair Accessible
  • Unknown
    Credit Cards Accepted
Affiliation
State park or forest
Last Nightly Rate
47.0
Longest Vehicle Length Reported
33.0
Lowest Nightly Rate
35.0
Max Stay
14
Season End
Year Round
Season Start
Year Round
Sites Count
50
  • Check
    Paved Sites
  • Check
    Fifty Amp
  • Unavailable
    Full Hookup
  • Check
    Rec Facilities
  • Check
    Pull Through
  • Check
    Tent Sites
  • Check
    Dump Station
  • Check
    Big Rigs
  • Check
    Open Seasonally
  • Unavailable
    Age Restricted
  • Unavailable
    Boondock
  • Check
    Cabin Sites
  • Unavailable
    Dispersed Sites
  • Unavailable
    Firewood
  • Unavailable
    Fulltime Residents
  • Check
    Group Tent Sites
  • Unavailable
    Laundry
  • Unavailable
    Mobile Homes
  • Unavailable
    Permit Required
  • Check
    Potable Water
  • Unavailable
    Propane
  • Check
    Public Water
  • Check
    Pull Through RV Sites
  • Check
    Reservations
  • Unavailable
    Sewer Hookup
  • Check
    Showers
  • Check
    Sites
  • Check
    Standard Tent Sites
  • Unavailable
    Vehicle Wash Permitted
  • Check
    Water Hookup
See More Details (50)

Campground, Pets, Restrooms

Remove Ads

Nearby Hotels

Floyd, Virginia
Stuart, Virginia
FastBook

Click to discover a
great deal!

Floyd, Virginia
FastBook

Click to discover a
great deal!

Woolwine, Virginia
FastBook

Click to discover a
great deal!

Remove Ads

Related Trip Guides

  • Trip Guide
  • 1 Week

The top things to do on a Blue Ridge Parkway road trip

  • 85 Places
  • 36:11
  • 1,293 mi
  • Trip Guide

The top things to do on an I-95 road trip

  • 50 Places
  • 41:46
  • 1,983 mi
  • Trip Guide

The top things to do on an East Coast road trip

  • 32 Places
  • 48:54
  • 2,584 mi
Remove Ads
556857