The term camping has a wide-ranging definition. It can be as simple as a sleeping bag under the stars or in a tent with no nearby facilities. It can also be a recreational vehicle with most of the creature comforts of home including running water, heat, electricity and cable.
Regardless of how people practice camping, it is a recreational pursuit that can be an escape from the working world and a chance to be outdoors. Some camp for a weekend, some for a week and some for an entire summer as seasonal campers. A few area campground owners said campgrounds are fairly stable businesses, but they require a lot of labor to maintain and are not 40-hour workweeks.
Because camping can be done more inexpensively compared to hotels, campground owners say demand is not affected as much by economic factors, such as gas prices. Upper Vallley campground owners — who operate their businesses May through October — said they are pretty much booked for the summer with a few openings here and there.
“Campgrounds are pretty much recession proof,” said Doug Robinson, who owns The Pastures Campground on the Connecticut River in Orford with his wife Kim.
Pastures said economic recessions have not hurt demand at the couple’s business — nor did the COVID-19 pandemic, when people sought outdoor recreation because restrictions on gathering indoors.
“It is a cheap way for people to go on vacation,” Robinson said. It costs $35 per night to pitch a tents and $40 per night for RVs.
Campgrounds can offer a ranges of facilities and amenities whether it is the natural setting or something the campground built.
At Pastures, there are 40 seasonal and 40 transient sites. Seasonal campers stay all season while transient campers stay fewer than two weeks. The Robinsons also rent boat slips on along the Connecticut River.
Robinson said his location also benefits from being on a popular cross country bike route between Washington State and Bar Harbor, Maine, as well as being on the Appalachian Trail.
“So we get a lot of overnight people on those routes,” said Robinson, who manages the site with only he and his wife.
In Grafton, it is a different experience that draws people to camp in primitive sites at Ruggles Mine. Even without any hookups — electricity or water — people come to look for rocks and stay in one of the 20 sites, which were added because of interest in the mine.
“It is totally rough camping,” said Dorene Bodge, who owns the mine with her husband, Joe.
When they bought the mine three year ago, they did not plan to open it to the public or provide sites for camping.
“We decided to open it because we were inundated with phone calls from people wanting to come to the mine,” Bodge said in a phone interview.
The camping idea grew out of concern for people who travel a long distance to see the country’s oldest and largest mica mine. They welcome overnight campers Thursday through Sunday, at $25 per tent site.
“It was more a convenience thing,” Bodge said. “We have people who come here for the mine from Pennsylvania so going up and back makes for a long day so we thought if we offer camping it would be more convenient.”
Joseph DiPrima is president of the New Hampshire Campground Owners’ Association, which has its offices in Epsom, N.H. Its primary role is to promote camping in the state and to that end it publishes and distributes 150,000 copies of the New Hampshire Camping Guide. It also hold annual camping and recreational show.
DiPrima and his wife own an 184-site campground in Webster, N.H., that they bought in 2010.
“You have to be handy,” DiPrima said when it comes to being able to run a campground.
Though he will call in master electricians or plumbers for major work, DiPrima said he is able to do minor jobs and is also capable with computers.
“We make money and I try to make some improvements every year,” he said.
At Pastures, Robinson who bought the 12-acre campground when it came up for sale 10 years ago, said running a campground is “labor intensive” with daily demands including cleaning the bathhouse and pool along, as well as cutting the grass.
DiPrima laughs when asked about how he came to own campground: He attended a Northeast Campground Association event and everyone there had name tags with the name of their campground.
“Mine said ‘aspiring campground owner’ and some people asked me if I planned to buy a campground,” DiPrima said. “When I told them I wanted to build one, they thought I was crazy.”
He learned that the cost to build a campground with about 100 sites would be about four times the price of buying the same size facility.
The NCOA has about 125 members and DiPrima estimates that represents between 80% and 90% of all the private campground in the state. The association’s main function is to keep an eye on legislation that might adversely impact owners. Though there has not been any issues as of late, DiPrima recalled an attempt by the Legislature about a dozen years ago to apply property taxes to registered campers, whose owners already paid a registration fee. That led to passage of a law prohibiting local communities from taxing a camper with a license plate, DiPrima said.
Regardless of location, amenities or facilities, there is a common trait campground owners share, said Jeremy Sprince, executive director of the NCOA.
“When visiting member campgrounds and the conversations I have with campers looking for information about New Hampshire, I find as a common component is the connections individuals and families have with the owners and staff at a campground,” Sprince wrote in an email. “These are hardworking people who care a great deal about their properties and the experiences that individuals or families have when they choose to stay with them.
At Four Springs Farm in South Royalton, campers can get the taste of agriculture in what is termed a “farm vacation.”
Owner Jinny Hardy Cleland purchased the property in 2001 and added campsites three years later. There are also three cabins, which cost $55 and $80 per night to rent, with plans for a fourth. The isolated tents sites, which cost $30 per night, have no hookups, but there is a centrally located wash house.
Cleland said people usually stay anywhere from one night to five days and most are from New England and Canada. Adding campsites allows visitors to experience not only the agriculture on the farm but hikes in nearby woods and sunsets over the Green Mountains.
“I wanted people to have a place to stay and be on the farm,” Cleland said. “I believe if you own land you should share it and use it and there are beautiful views here. This is a way to learn what agriculture is like in a passive way and get outdoors.”
Correction: Joseph DiPrima is president of the New Hampshire Campground Owners’ Association. His last name was spelled incorrectly in a previous version of this story.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmtA@gmail.com.
