Lake Martin Recreation Area

We just arrived home after spending New Years Eve and Day at Chalet 1. It was the perfect place to bring in the new year!! It is an oasis of peace and quiet and with no distractions it was so very restful! We plan on making another reservation to bring my sister down for her birthday and we cannot wait until we are back!! Doug was so very friendly as was a young man with the name of Lindsay. We are so blessed to be able to stay at such a wonderful facility!!

We stopped by for only a one night stay. Although it is the "slow" season, we didn't see many sites open for camping. Actually, it seemed that 90% of the sites are occupied by long-term residents. Although, hardly anyone was around. It appears they keep their RV there and only visit occasionally. While I understand the financial benefit to the campground for long-term residents, many other military campgrounds have found a good compromise. I'm not sure that compromise is here. MANY of the long-term residents have built docks on the lake at their site, but has marked them as "Private Use Only". What? A military campground allowing PRIVATE modifications and restricting use to them!?!? One long-term resident has even built a building connected to their trailer. "Homesteading" has gone overboard here! It no longer seems like a military RECREATION facility, rather a military HOUSING area. But it's not all bad - this is a good, quiet location on the lake. It appears there's plenty of activities for the family during the prime season. Doug, the office staff was friendly and helpful.

The couple that run the camp are wonderful folks! The site was gorgeous - right on the water with nothing but peace and calm!! There are several LONG term campers who have a little ATTITUDE!! Retirees should not forget who owns the property we are VISITING! Even if we are paying... Camp was very clean - employees were all friendly - roads in good shape -- just a wonderful experience except for the long term folks attitude's.. Would go back in a heart beat!!

My husband & I absolutely love this place. We stayed in Chalet 1 the first time and loved it so much we brought my mom & step-father back to Chalet 3 for her birthday. The staff to include Johnny Davis, Doug and Penny Hooks are incredibly nice and so helpful and caring! We are already making plans to return again soon. Maxwell Gunter is so blessed to have such a special facility and such wonderful staff!

We stayed in Travel Trailer #80. It was nestled near the lake, with a small path down to the water. It was also a short walk to the marina, which worked well for us to fish with our young son. The trailer was a nice rig and so was the location. I agree with some of the previous posts: there does seem to be a lot of homesteaders, who have secured the best camping spots. If we had our camper here, we would have had a hard time getting into most of the remaining spots. That is our biggest complaint. The folks at the marina seemed very nice and helpful, but do not expect much of their country store. We did discover Oskar's restaurant which was affordable and good food (and a nice place to stop on our way out.) It rained most of the weekend and our trailer leaked a little where one tip out extended. But it was fine otherwise. The outdoor furniture was covered in mildew and infested with bugs so we used our own. I also had to clean the refrigerator, which also had some considerable mildew growing. It looked as though the previous occupants did not give it a good scrub down after they left, but it only took a few minutes for me to clean. Despite these minor inconveniences, we will go again and had a nice weekend stay.

This is a very nice campground. The lake this time of year is low as I was told they lower it in the winter. I was here for a week. Of the 66 RV sites and 11 cabins/rental trailers, I think I was the only person here except staff. The staff is very friendly and helpful. The bath houses are mostly clean. They are old and in need of TLC, but overall good. The floor paint is worn and peeling. There are three bath houses that have a washer/dryer in them. Bath house #3 in the area I was in (I was in space 57) the washer/dryer is in an exposed area so they are disconnected for the winter. Had to go to #2 to do laundry. $0.75 wash and $0.75 dry. Washer run about half an hour and dryers are 45 min. Most of the campers here appear to be here for the long haul. A lot have decks built by them, regular stairs to get into them, some skirting around them, fences, etc. Overall, it is a great place if you want peace and quiet at least this time of year. There were 4 empty spaces while I was here.

Maxwell/Gunter Rec Area is a very wonderful place to go. I've been to many lakes in my life and I got to say that Lake Martin is one of the best and cleanest lakes I have ever been on. The water is very clear and in the summer, it's very warm to jump in. The Rec Area is just wonderful. Has a very nice beach and a playground for the kids to play. Many RV sites and the new trailers are very nice and comfortable. They just added new screen-in decks on the trailers and that really makes a big difference. If you are like my family and myself and love being in the country to get away from everything to RELAX, then this is the place you need to be!! If you can not do without the city life and enjoy nature, then you need not come, because this is Mother Nature at her finest. The people that run the Rec Area are just wonderful. They will go out of their way to help, you can really tell that they care about the Rec Area. I can not say enough about them. I will give them an A+ on any rating scale.

The Lake Martin Rec Area now has 11 new mobile homes with new screened in decks and new patio funiture. There has been alot of construction at the rec area, which is why most have said it was trashy looking. New docks have been built at the marina. The Rec area has made a lots of improvements this past year, and the place looks wonderful! The park is out of the way from everything, that just makes your stay more relaxing. They do offer boat rentals, pontoon boats, ski boats, bass boats, and sea-doos, but be sure to call 7 days in advance. The staff at Lake Martin are doing there best to make your stay worth while. I recommend that you visit the rec area just once and hope that you experience the same pleasures that I have experienced. Note: Lake is Now at Full POOL!!!

Difficult to find and really out of the way, but all the staff are VERY friendly. No cable and just one TV station (PBS), so plan to watch DVDs or read when not enjoying the outdoors. Laundry is 75 cents for washers and 75 for dryers but the one located nearest to us isn't plugged in till the end of March due to possible freezing. Lots of walking for those who like the exercise. The roads are hilly and numerous and a walking trail too, but we were told there are a lot of ticks and scorpions. We didn't see any while we were there. I asked if there were "gators" in the lake and were told that there were "but they don't bother ya none". Hmmm.... Tiny town of Dadeville is about 8 miles away for shopping. Lots of trailers onsite but they were mostly all empty while we were there. We had most all of the place to ourselves, which has its advantages. This campground is mainly long term campers. The transient usually don't come until the summer months, we're told, when the staff says it is full.



NICE large beach area. Garbage cans are at each campsite, so no trips to the dumpster are necessary.

We didn't stay here just visited to check things out. I had called the reservations number to inquire about site sizes and whether I could get a 37-foot 5th wheel in. I had heard from others that it was pretty tight getting anything over 30 feet down some of the roads. The person answering the phone couldn't tell me anything because he was at Maxwell AFB. I called the site phone number he gave me for 3 days and didn't get an answer. I didn't want to go there without knowing if I could get in so we got a site at the nearby Wind Creek State Park (also on Lake Martin) and drove over to recreation area. The place was unacceptable. It looked trashy with many units looking as though they had been there forever. There were no one around to talk to including front gate. There was a large motor home trapped on of the roads trying to turn around and having a tough time. I didn't stop to offer help because several people were already trying to advise him how to get out. For all I know, he may be still there. I don't know how he was going to get out of that situation. We don't plan to go back there ever with or without 5th wheel.