Campgrounds and RV parks near MacArthur, WV

MacArthur sits in Raleigh County in southern West Virginia, a few miles west of Beckley and within easy reach of the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. The area works well as a base for RV travellers because it combines developed state park camping with free primitive sites managed by the National Park Service, plus private and county options for hookups and amenities. Little Beaver State Park, just east of Beckley, is a 562-acre day-use park with an 18-acre lake for year-round fishing and nearly 20 miles of hiking trails. Raleigh County Parks and Wood Mountain Campground offer additional nearby options, while Army Camp and Grandview Sandbar sit right along the New River within the national park boundary. The national park protects a long stretch of the New River and tens of thousands of acres of the surrounding gorge. Most park campgrounds are riverside and primitive, so RV renters typically pair a night or two in the gorge with a stay at a fully hooked-up campground closer to town.

Reservation systems split cleanly by land manager. At Little Beaver State Park, campsites can be reserved online at any time, by phone or at the campground office, with a minimum of two consecutive nights on Friday and Saturday or one night Sunday through Thursday. Only 25 of the 46 sites are reservable, and the rest are first-come, first-served, so arriving early on peak weekends matters. National Park Service sites work differently. All sites are free and first-come, first-served, with no advance reservations accepted, and stays are limited to 14 days within a 28-day period in any park campground. Private and county campgrounds like Raleigh County Parks and Wood Mountain Campground handle their own bookings directly, and summer weekends can fill weeks out.