Rick's Picks: Oak Plantation Campground, Charleston, SC

Oak Plantation Campground is located in the historic antebellum southern town of Charleston, SC. It is interesting that Charleston does not boast a truly class A resort given its notoriety for: restaurants that challenge the best of what is offered in NYC, Las Vegas, etc; the historic downtown with its mansions; the preserved antebellum plantations; the beautiful beaches and miles of waterways; offshore fishing, and temperate weather. However the traveler can avail himself of this rv park which offers an amenable experience. Its given name accurately describes the park as it is covered by large live oak trees that are all trimmed up a minimum of 20’ and back from the roadway. The acres of carpeted grass grounds are impeccably maintained, and although most sites are grass or minimal gravel the spaciousness between sites, the live oaks, a bucolic setting amidst the busy Savannah Hwy. belies its nature. This campground has been run by the same family for generations and has made a concerted effort to continuously maintain and upgrade the buildings and grounds. Entering and exiting is from Savannah Hwy. (Route 17); when entering from the north it is an easy right turn; coming from the south is more challenging as a left turn must be made across 4 lane Savannah Hwy. When exiting north it is far better to instead go south, then right at the first traffic light one hundred yards away and circle around on Bees Ferry Road.
We cannot recommend any other rv park in the area with the exception of James County Park Campground. James County Park is a pleasant rv park, the one issue being the 12’ height of the live oak trees that line and cover the city streets leading to this park which unfortunately want to grab anything on your roof as their own. Not to miss is the annual Holiday Festival of Lights.
Oak Plantation campground as previously stated is a huge 100 acre flat grassed environment with numerous old live oak trees. The sites are separated by large swaths of grass and the sites are long and level. Some sites have concrete pads that will accommodate small rv’s, and there are sites with water and 30 amp only. A pool up front by the busy Savannah Hwy. is the only amenity aside from a children’s playground and an adult size chess board with life-size chessmen. There is also a covered open air pavilion for rallies. The brick bathroom/shower buildings are exceptionally clean and spacious, although a bit dated; the showers are all tiled. Another separate brick building houses the laundry and additional bathrooms/showers. Note that just south of this park on Savannah Hwy. shortly after the first light and on the left is the fresh shrimp mobile trailer market, Southern Shrimp; the owner, Eddie Corley, shows up Thursday thru Sunday or until he runs out of shrimp. He stores his trailer at Oak Plantation so check with them to ascertain his days and hours selling fresh shrimp caught at the SC/FL border.
Entering the park is a wide parking area with the office/registration building on the right. We prefer to unhook when registering at the office. Although driving to the assigned site in our 45’ motorcoach with the tow is possible as there is good turning clearance some of the turns are hard against ditches (which keep the park from flooding) and so it is much easier to drive to the assigned site unhooked (for those with a 5th wheel or a shorter motorcoach this is not an issue). Also, to their credit, and this always aggravates me, the large oak trees have been trimmed high up so that our 13’ foot height was not an issue. FHU is provided, the 50 amp service is stable and provided 70 amp constant draw, the site was to their credit level, and new picnic tables are provided.
The few pictures on their website, rvparky, and Google Maps (Maps provides an excellent view of the park via Google cameras as they do a drive thru) are representative of current conditions. In addition reservations must be made by phone and requires a non-refundable deposit. WiFi was acceptable for retrieving email; it does support streaming music and movies (70% signal, -60dBm; also recorded 95% signal,-38dBm). Accordingly the WiFi spans marginal to HD streaming with our Winegard ConnecT antenna. Using our Winegard Rayzor Automatic enabled us to pull in the numerous local tv channels in HD.

The Takeaway: Charleston is a bucket list must and Oak Plantation is the campground of choice. A pastoral campground on the periphery of Charleston that has been well maintained and offers the best rv park experience in the vicinity. Not class A, not a resort; moreover offering quiet solitude among mature live oak trees with large spacious grassed sites. Accessed directly from Savannah Hwy. and 11 miles from historic downtown Charleston with shopping and gastronomic delights. WiFi ranges from marginal to HD streaming (not sure why the inconsistency). Pictures on web site, rvparky, and Google Maps are representative of actual conditions. We have visited this campground for over a decade; last visited June 2019 and again August 2019. Go to www.rickpicks.com for other reviews, critiques and essays with links to area attractions and a more detailed review of this park,etc.