Point Lookout State Park

What a beautiful drive to the southern most tip of Maryland… bring a picnic… or settle for what they are selling at the visitor center… there are no restaraunts in the area. The park staff are very helpful and answered all of our questions. The only disappointment was the amount of trash that people leave behind… I didn’t notice trash bins, but that’s no reason to just leave your trash behind, park staff said this happens on a daily basis :(

We went tent camping here for 2 nights. The site was clean and as expected. Malone loop, so pets (which we didn’t have) were allowed. Lots of Park personnel presence. Although there were loads of kids, the camp quieted down by 10 pm and didn’t bounce back to life until about 8 am.
Bathrooms were very clean, showers decent, and there was a small room for washing dishes. Washer and dryer there were marked out of order.
Loads of mosquitoes — a moderate amount of Deet kept them under control. There are ticks and we spent time checking scalps before leaving — pulled out 2 of them.
There are 3 planned activities daily on the weekends for children. Usually some sort of nature center experience and a campfire something around 6 pm.
The park gets very crowded and one of the days we couldn’t get to the beach because too many people were already there. Not many amenities beyond a child’s play area. No food and the 2 vending machines for drinks were out of order.
We don’t fish but a lot of folks were fishing.
We did crabbing and found enough for dinner for the 4 of us.
It’s a beautiful state park with views of water from both sides: the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.

We had a nice night of camping here in (loop A, Hoffman’s) late April. The campsites are well spaced and are quite private on the outer ring. But avoid sites 128 and 130 as they are beside the playground which can be busy. The bathroom facilities were really clean and there was even a handy room with a sink for washing up dishes. The Rangers check in /​office was well stocked with the usual firewood but also lots of camping gear and some food basics. The campground is in a pretty spot with lots of nice views at the pier across the lake. You can go for nice walks in the area but it’s not a prime hiking spot if that’s what you are looking for.

SUMMATION: Often overcrowded and unpleasant with biting flies [A], houseflies, mosquitos, and Poison Ivy. The «Nature-​War» center is interesting, if a strange juxtaposition. The «Lookout» has a nice, but without elevation, rather ordinary, view. Historic features are inconvenient and minimal. The park is largely of local recreational interest.
NAME: Point Lookout State Park
ETYMOLOGY: The name «Point Lookout» is from the War of 1812, when this area was used to follow the movements of British ships.
DESCRIPTION: On a peninsula between Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River mouth on the extreme southern end of western Maryland.
MY RATING: Poor (1.9÷5)
SIZE: 1078 acres
TITLE: «Aquatic Country Disney» [Yelp, Parguera Pirate review #446, 10 November 2015]
CHESAPEAKE BAY TRIP REVIEW NUMBER: 15
TELEPHONE: (301) 872‑5688
WEB PAGE:
LOCALITY: 11 175 Point Lookout Road, Scotland, Maryland 20 687. A park map is available at the park headquarters and on their web page.
LATITUDE, LONGITUDE: 38°3’30“N, 76°19’54“W
RESERVATIONS:
for cabins and camping, but not general park use. Park may fill to capacity, especially on summer holidays and weekends, and may not permit anyone else to enter. Call ahead about availability.
HOURS OF OPERATION: 6 am-​dusk in general, dusk-​6 am (night fishing)
FEES: see web page
STAFF: The Park appears to be understaffed. Some do a good job and are friendly, while others do not/​are not. Their rather strict rules are sometimes followed to-​the-​letter, sometimes just ignored, and unequally enforced.
VIEW: Chesapeake Bay, forest
AMENITIES: Camp Store, 143 camp sites, Six 4-​person cabins; Civil War Museum/​Marshland Nature Center, swimming beach (small), Pet Beach, Ft. Lincoln, Periwinkle Point Trail, water trails, Point Lookout Lighthouse, fishing pier. See their video of their amenities and features on their web page.
ANIMALS: Pet trail and Pet Beach [1] see detailed and restrictive pet policy on their web page.
NOISE LEVEL: camping areas usually quite, beach and public areas can be very noisy
CLEANINESS: Liter everywhere and some worse things.
HEALTH:
(I) This is a wetland area; therefore, it is very buggy with biting flies [A], Houseflies, and mosquitos.
(II) Beach and water often dirty and polluted
(III) Lots of Poison Ivy
(IV) Many ticks [B] (beware Lime Disease)
CONFUSIONS: This is not «St. Mary’s State Park» as confused by TripAdvisor
AWARDS: Maryland Green Travel Partner
REVIEWS: rated Good, 3.65÷5, 83 reviews (TripAdvisor); Very Good, 3.96÷5, 50 reviews (Google); Very Good, 4.08÷5, 12 reviews ( Unilocal)
HISTORY: See detailed history on their web page. Captain John Smith explored the Point in 1608. In 1632, it was included in King Charles I’s grant to George Calvert, Lord Baltimore. Calvert’s younger son, Leonard, Maryland’s first governor, claimed the Point for his personal manor in 1634. During the American Revolution, and again in the War of 1812, it was the subject of British raids, and served as an American lookout point. In 1830, the federal government erected the lighthouse [2]. In 1857, William Cost Johnson bought the Point to develop as a resort. In 1862, the federal government erected Hammond Hospital at the tip of the Point. This location was a prison camp (1863 – 1865) for as many as 52,264 Confederate soldiers during the War of Yankee Aggression. A park museum recounts this history.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Really a dog beach. I have only seen one Domestic Cat routinely swim [long, unrelated story].
[2] The lighthouse ceased operating in 1965. A tall, surrounding fence ruins photographs. Tours are only available on a very restrictive and changing schedule. Check on this in advance.
SPECIES:
[A] Horse Flies are larger and darker than Deer Flies. There are a multitude of species. Both cause painful bites and are not deterred by insect repellant.
[B] American Dog Tick, Dermacentor variabilis, also called wood tick; Lone star tick, Amblyoma americanum, and Black-​legged Tick, Ixodes scapularis, also called deer tick, transmit several diseases including Lime Disease.

Slovenly visitors have ruined an otherwise scenic place by leaving litter everywhere. The biting flies made it intolerable. The lighthouse is inaccessible — it is surrounded by a barbed wire fence with very limited visitation days.
Also, the water is not for for swimming; trash is visible along most of the shoreline.
Not worth the drive.

We visited Point Lookout State park on the first ‘leg’ of our vacation. This is our first visit to a Maryland State park as we are from Virginia.
We camped at Point Lookout for five nights. Originally we were booked for a full hookup site. Upon check in we were told that the full hookup sites did not have access to a bath house. No problem, we thought and changed our site to electric only. We were also told that we would not have been «allowed» to check in had we arrived after 10pm. I’m not sure how that would have worked with 2 dogs and a tired 3 year old. Thank god we didn’t have to deal with that!
The campsites were fairly level, and we had a site that was fairly private surrounded by tall reeds.
We visited the «dog beach» as we have 2 dogs that like to visit the beach. It’s a good thing we chose the dog beach as the public access beach was filled to capacity (closed actually on Saturday) on the weekend (our first two days there). No priority is given to campers for beach access. In addition, the public visitors completely trashed the area in and around the beach.
Since we are talking about trash, the dumpsters at the campsite were full by early on Saturday. There were 4 or 5 dumpsters overflowing with garbage leaving no space to put your trash. Disgusting and smelly and bugs everywhere.
On the up side, by Monday most of the weekend traffic was gone and we enjoyed the quiet, beautiful campground. We walked the dogs regularly and our 3 year old enjoyed riding his bike around our ‘loop’.
The bath house was clean and the showers were too.
Overall our stay was just okay.
We have certainly been spoiled by Virginia state parks.

I really enjoyed coming here! This has been on of my favorite trips. I brought the RV here to go fishing and crabbing. The crabs were good! There was plenty of space to go fishing on multiple piers. The park is very large with a beach and at night there are people fishing all over the place. Very nice park with an amazing view.

Went to wedding at this park on the beach near the pavillion. It is a beautiful site. The nearby Ridge Fire Department also catered the wedding nicely. Great economical way to hold a wedding.

Beautiful Area. We loved checking out the sights & even ran into some deer. SO relaxing

A very nice park. Each campsite has a very nice pad for tents, a fire ring, and a picnic table. The rest rooms are very nice and very clean. I loved the showers. It’s a very quiet campground. My only complaint, while I realize that bugs are to be expected we were mobbed because right next to our site was a gulley of water.

Let me start out by saying my husband and I used to spend a lot of time wilderness camping. I personally have spent a large portion of my childhood and young adult life in state parks, national parks, regional parks, in general the great out doors.
As a BSA camp councilor, previous venture scout (Boy Scout, co-​ed), and outdoors woman I have had many positive encounters with various federal/​state/​local park rangers and police.
That said. Maryland State Parks have rubbed me entirely the wrong way.
MOST campsites across the country require that someone register a campsite, the vehicles, etc… Once SOMEONE has does this necessary task, people who were perhaps working late on a Friday night may venture to the site later, so long as SOMONE has checked in and registered the site. This is apparently NOT something you may do at Point Lookout State park… My friend and I who carpooled up to meet friends, who had previously arrive, registered, and set up camp earlier that day, were turned around at the camp entrance by a INCREDIBLY rude park police officer (Officer Brown I believe-​who apparently has a reputation for being rude to park visitors). He treated my friend and I like ignorant girls who didn’t understand how parks worked… apparently no one is allowed to enter a campsite after 10 at MD State parks… I later found out this is NOT the case, if only our friends had simply asked for an orange window tag to place on our car mirror… then we would have been allowed to enter… or if our friends had met us somewhere off camp, that would have been allowable as well. This was all done for the «Safety» of those people camping at this location. More to follow regarding campsite «safety» later.
My friend and I slept in a walmart parking lot until the park opened at 0800. where we received our all important orange window hang (NO ID required… simply a LP#)
Again for security. We were pointed toward our campsite and sent on our way.
We arrived at the site which our friends had all ready occupied for one evening to find the site was essentially a crushed rock and (what I can only assume is campfire ash raked into the rock) pad with a fire pit and picnic table. The grey dust quickly covered everything. It was quite disgusting. Our site was surrounded by scattered pine trees and we had a wonderful view of the rest of the campsites populated by various large families and vehicles. NOT a pretty view. NOT quiet or serene.
Our friends had pitched a tent in the grass adjacent to our rock/​ash pad. We also had a backpacking hammock that did not use any sort of screw to attach to the tree, as we practice «leave no trace» unlike the rest of the camp apparently… as there was a fair amount of trash scattered around the sites. We were told by yet another VERY unfriendly and rude park «person» that we were not allowed to have either the hammock (as it put undue stress on these massive pine trees), nor pitch a tent in the grass, as it was the rock pad we had paid for… not the grass.
For anyone who enjoys a little Vino whilst camping, or a nice cold beer… FORGET it at this park. It is apparently illegal in ALL MD state parks to have any sort of alcohol even IN YOUR CAMPSITE. This was strictly enforced as through out the two days we stayed in this hell hole we saw park police slowly drive by our site approximately 6 – 10 times per day. Often they would park and enter your campsite for no apparent reason other than to look over your picnic table or scowl at you, your family, and friends. To say I felt like a naughty school child under the scornful watchful eyes of an angry nun with a oversized ruler would be putting it lightly.
As I had mentioned previously regarding campsite «safety», the camp had a key code entry gate. It was not monitored. Nor were noise complaints as we listened to dogs bark for about 2 hours in the middle of the night. OUR dogs were polite for the most park (less one chewing through the leash incident, as puppies will do). This park was not however very dog friendly, only one beach to take your dogs to. The maximum amount of leash your dog is allotted is 6′ according to their dog handout. NOT a lot of room for fido to roam.
FINALLY my biggest pet peeve of all– for all the «safety talk» our campsite had not one but TWO 50′ or higher DEAD PINE TREES on both sides of our camp. THIS is a HUGE Safety concern considering the proximity to the campsite. It is a lawsuit waiting to happen. (No we didn’t hang our hammock on these dead trees :)
This trip put such a sour taste in my mouth I will NEVER return to a MD State Park again. I will take the extra time to travel to Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia, or Pennsylvania to camp before giving this horrible park system money.
I am still so angry I may write a senator…
*side note bathrooms were nice the first night, but they were not cleaned well over the weekend, and besides your camping… who is worried about the bathroom?
**there was also POISON IVY EVERYWHERE!

Great place for families who like to camp with amenities — and with campsites starting at $ 20/​night, it’s a steal.
The camp sites are very well maintained (be sure to bring a tarp and broom/​dustpan for the tent — it’s pretty dusty). The bathrooms are pristine! I didn’t spot a single bad odor, cobweb or bug during our stay. The camp store is very well stocked. We bought everything from duct tape to lighter fluid to ice and firewood.
We camped 2 nights in the Hoffmans loop on site 118. It was a nice location — away from the bathroom but close enough you could get there quickly. The loop itself is wooded but open unlike the Malone or Lanier loops. These are very private, but are surrounding by tall grasses. If you’re camping with a group or with children, the Hoffmans or Greenspoint loops are probably the best bet. There is a nice and large playset in the Hoffman loop and you have access to a nice pier to fish or crab in Lake Conoy.
While we didn’t take advantage of it, the park had several activities planned for children and families. Even with 2 days, we didn’t have enough time to enjoy those. We were busy with digging for shells on the Chesapeake side near the lighthouse, walking around Fort Lincoln and playing/​swimming on the beach.
I can’t wait to go back and try one of the mini-​cabins in the fall and one of the waterfront camping sites in the spring (it seemed spots 98 and 99 were right on the water and were relatively private).

Great end of the world location, and you can brag you’re going camping at a POW camp. The water at the supervised beach area, just above the mouth of the Potomac, seems very clear and clean. However… what do you say when your child is beach combing and comes up to you carrying a tampon, a rusty battery, and a hunk of colored glass from some rabble beer?
The campground has pretty spacious sites, that are pancake flat. Bathrooms and showers are usable, but don’t seem to get much attention from staff. Oddly, the ranger at the camp ground registration office wanted to see the drivers license of all adults in our group. That was the moment when we realized my wife just drove 100 miles without her’s.
The pier in the campground seemed to be a hot spot for catching blue crabs. Kids were tying string to chicken necks and pulling up some nice sized seafood.
I imagine the bugs would be brutal in the summer months, but in mid May all we needed was a little DEET and a citronella candle to stay pretty bite free. I plan to go back in the fall when the likelihood of being eaten alive is low.

Stunning. Amazing history. Great campsites. Ghosts. Peninsula. Bike trails nature center. kayaking. Lighthouse. Bay. Mouth of Potomac. Really! I’ll be back!

It’s a pretty park. You have to pay a nominal fee to enter (honor system… there was no attendant when I drove up, so I grabbed an envelope and put my fee in the drop box). You can see the eastern shore of Maryland off to one side and Virginia on the other… Norfolk is too far south to see. At least it was the day I went. Saw men and families fishing off at different spots along the way to the point. It was hot, lots of flying bugs, and no breeze. So bring some refreshments and bug repellant.

This was our first experience with Maryland State Parks. We did have to travel a bit further than we normally would off the beaten path to get here. I would like to also add that my review might be just a wee bit colored by the fact that our a/​c was out for the entire drive, with temperatures reaching 95 degrees in the interior. I know, I’m a big baby. The roads leading into the campground were well marked, with a few overhanging branches. «Tulip» Loop has full hookups, but no bath house. Sites were tamped gravel and fairly level. If you are looking for a water view, book early and remember that there is no full h/​u on water view sites. I’m not sure if you can get a 5^th wheel or larger back there. We saw mostly tents, pop-​ups and Class C’s.
This state park and the surrounding area gives the visitor many, many options. We chose to spend the morning at St. Mary’s City, which deserves a Unilocal all of it’s own. As historians, we are very critical of the sites we go to and St. Mary’s was probably one of THE best we have ever been to, in terms of the staff. The plantation tour and the tour of «The Dove» are highlights. Thumbs up to the docents, who were wonderful! We also ate at Sheible’s Restaurant, on the river, which was very good. Stock up well before you camp, because there was not much in terms of dining or shopping nearby. A short drive on park property brings you to the Point, which has a fairly well stocked camp store. Here you can get bait, fishing licenses, rent a boat or buy propane. Keep on driving an you will see the lighthouse and beach area, as well as the fishing area. The lighthouse is only open on a limited basis. It’s a really beautiful vista from the causeway: Chesapeake Bay on one side and Lake Conoy on the other. There is also a for-​fee fishing pier on the Bay side. Fort Lincoln is also on this side of the park. Spent the evening dousing ourselves with DEET and listening to the thunderstorms roll in.Sweet. (On a side note: if you are using DishNetwork, your chances of getting signal are haphazard at best. Just sayin’.)
The next day we decided to forgo the $ 75 deposit on canoes at the camp store and went canoeing with the Park Rangers instead. The rangers at the museum and Nature Center were really friendly and informative. This is just the right size for young naturalists and historians (learn about the Civil War prison camp located here). Even better for campground visitors, because it is located in one of the loops. For $ 3 per person we set out with Curtis (who was great, by the way) for more than an hour. I think we could have stayed out longer, if we hadn’t been so worn out! Great guided tour of Lake Conoy. We saw many osprey. It was just beautiful. I would like to come back, perhaps in the fall.
We camped here in a Fifth Wheel. Bring plenty of bug spray and sunscreen!

A great place to go visit if you are thinking about a Sunday drive or, a place to take the whole family to enjoy; camping, fishing, boating, hunting, swimming, causeway, etc. Stunning views of the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River.
See their website for more information.