James E. Johnson Memorial RV Park

Stayed here from Feb. 28-March 8. Very pleasant stay. Our reserved site was #4, right on the lake...beautiful view and excellent site to put out our canoe. I would recommend reserving this site. View from camper at sunset was gorgeous! Office was closed when we arrived, but went over the next morning and had no trouble signing in. TV reception and cell phone service was very good. Starke was the nearest city but was only around 10-15 minutes away. There is a small exchange on base with limited items. We really enjoyed our stay...and the weather FINALLY warmed up. As was stated in other reviews, there are no bathroom facilities in the RV section, but we didn't need them. Only problem we had was a "tripped" transformer that supplied our site and the one next to us. A squirrel triggered the tripping...one FRIED squirrel!! We reported the problem and within a couple of hours, the transformer was fixed. We would eagerly recommend this Famcamp for anyone wanting a relaxing and quiet time. Don't know what it's like in the summer, but winter was great.

Arrived with reservation, No camp host, was away on duty. Checked with Asst. Host who had no list of incoming folks, said to take any empty site. I did. The next day was told I was in a site that had been reserved for the previous two weeks, just hadn't shown up. I had to move. Would have been nice if names of incoming campers were posted on the campsite post and the reservation dates. Would make it much easier to locate your site, especially after hours. Site was great, on water, level, FHU. Interior roads could use some work, pot holes, water. Lot of "locals" using campground, not sure how that works. Great place to enjoy nature, fish, swim, boat, walk, bicycle...crystal clear lake with sand bottom and piers. Limited shopping, stock up in Stark eleven miles away. About 30 miles from Jacksonville NAS. Good TV reception on antenna from Jax and satellite easy to set up. No bath house in this side of park, are a couple on tent camper side but too far to be useful for RV campers. No washer/dryers or internet. Dining facility nearby offering meals, but not every day, schedule posted.

Stopped by to check the place out. Nice, quiet campground. If you're looking for a place that doesn't have a long waiting list and isn't near a lot of stores and tourists, this is a the place. Price is good for this location.

G. B. left this review using the Directory software: What pleasant surprise. The camp ground is on a lake shore of a nearly perfect round example of a Florida sink hole lake (estimate it's about 2 miles in diameter). CG is clean and quiet. The roads are hard packed gravel/shell surfaces. We have a full hook up (50 amp/'water/sewer) which is better than many other sites I've visited. The paved pads are large (my 40 foot coach has lots of room) and are quite level. Many of the sites face the lake. The grounds have several trees but there are a number of sites that are open and have unrestricted access to sat TV signals. We're only here for one night but I'll definitely come back for a longer stay just see if the lake has a fish population commensurate with it clarity and cleanliness. It appears you can beach or anchor your boat on the shore in front of you site. If you're considering boating, I ask the friendly office folks for guidance on this subject before you come. The office hours are from 0830 at 1630.

Jean (office lady) was friendly enough, stayed in my FW for a week while I was working with an ARNG BN on the north part of the camp; other reviews are accurate: beautiful lake-front campground but many semi-absentee "6-month" stayers limits site availability; poorly thought out landscaping has probably done more harm than good in area around newer sites; (I have posted latest site map so you can see the added sites others have described); base PX is OK (small "field" PX but adequate); Starke is 10-min down SR16 to W; JAX outskirts is about 30 mins NE and St Augustine is about 30 min SE; I got about 12 channels (digital and analog) with a standard roof antenna; you can launch boats/canoes etc from the shore or the nearby REC dock; there's a Conference Center/Restaurant within walking distance (Moody Hall, see REC Area map) that opens for daily meals on weekdays; concur that a bath house in the RV area and laundry facility would be most welcome. The primitive area had the 5 pads mentioned previously as well as several partial (no sewer) sites which serve as overflow when the RV area is full. The lake is beautiful, clear and does, indeed, have great sunsets.

Camp Blanding is an Army National Guard post which seems fairly deserted. Not much troop activity that we could see. There is a barber shop on post, but it's only open on Thurs, Fri and Sat. There is no commissary here and only a tiny exchange, which is sort of like an old country store with a little bit of everything but actually nothing that is of any use! Has a coin laundry. Not a particularly friendly RV office lady. Had mounds of fire ants outside our trailer. It's an 11 mile drive into Starke to get groceries. It's a very economically depressed area. Lots of shacks and delapidated houses along the drive. Have only one TV station here - ABC. It's a good strong signal though and cell signal is good. No cable TV. It really is pretty here. We were in the primitive section where there are 5 slabs with full hookups, which looked like the best place to be, as we drove around to check everything out. We were right on a lake, which we heard was created from a meteor, many years ago. They have a nice little beach. We had a real nice view of the lake from our living room area. You can hear occasional cannons going off and troops running to cadence nearby. You can walk out onto a nearby pier. There are herons and the water is VERY clear. We even saw an eagle in flight. Went to the Chapel on post on Sunday but it was locked up tighter than a drum. There is a museum on post and a mess hall.

The bathrooms showers needed cleaning. The office personnel were friendly. Had a good spot by the lake. Had a lot of new contruction pertaining to RV parking. It will take time to complete but will make the stay better. Over all enjoyed the stay, it was nice.

Checked campground out for friends interested in staying. Not impressed with their pet policy! Why would I want to pay for my pet to stay since their is a pet policy of picking up after your pet! If not adhered to DON'T let THAT PERSON bring a PET. DON'T punish other people who take care of their pets and adhere to the rules!
NO I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS campground to anyone with PETS who DO take care of their PETS!

Located kind of out of the way between Jacksonville & Gainesville, it is not too difficult to find although our GPS wanted to take us in through a gate that is closed. Rent-a-cop security guys are friendly enough and gave good directions to get to campground. Jean in the Recreation office was very helpful and pleasant to deal with. When questioned as to why there is a $2.75 per pet per day charge she explained that they receive no Federal or State funding and so the fee is a money raiser, not a form of punishment or disincentive for pet owners to stay away. I think this is an unfair method of raising money and would rather see a small increase in the camping fees if needed to fund the place. Also, pets are not allowed anywhere on the post outside of the campground. That's unfortunate because it limits the abilty to exercise with your dog. They really need a bath house in the "regular" RV area and a laundry facility in the office area would be a good enhancement. They are in the process of adding sites and that is certainly welcome, but they are doing it in an unorganized fashion. They are simply strip clearing fairly large areas with no idea as to how many sites they'll put there. After they get the area stripped of all living vegetation, they will lay our some sites and figure out what they'll put in. This is too bad because the already existing sites are nicely located under the trees and surrounded by naturally landscaped areas. The new sites will be out the the wide open and hot sun all day long. The only benefit of the work going on is that there is plenty of fire wood for the campfires as they are having the Florida Correction Department prisoners working on the expansion project cut up all the trees into a good size for splitting and burning in the provided fire pits.

Campground was O.K. - did seem like it is currently being worked on. Restroom - shower over at tent camping area is very dirty - needs cleaned - not new dirt - alot of dead bugs. Lake is very nice and could be alot of fun for folks who enjoy water activities. Would stay again - stayed here on our way home from Disney World- at Fort Wilderness. mimikv/ Pittsburgh, Pa.