Finding opportunities to camp in eastern North Carolina can be challenging with very few options. Thankfully, I was aware of Green Acres Campground because I grew up spending summers there in the small community of Bear Grass, NC near Williamston. Often I get the opportunity to work festivals assisting our team with social media marketing and recently I traveled to Plymouth, NC for the NC Black Bear Festival and needed a place to stay for a few days.
Green Acres is a small family owned campground that has been around for decades (over 50 years to be exact) and boasts its family focused atmosphere. If you sign up for their emails, you’ll receive weekly reminders of their upcoming events with each weekend having fabulous theme oriented activities like carnivals, luaus, holiday celebrations and more.
For me, staying at Green Acres was like stepping back into the past remembering my many summers in the late 1980s where I would meet friends there to hang out at the game room, swim in the pool, or spend a Saturday night listening to live music and laughing with my best friends. Not much has changed but I will say it looks a lot smaller than how I remember it (but isn’t that the way it always goes as you grow up and experience adulting?). One of my favorite memories was their hot dogs that always tasted awesome when I scarfed them down in a wet bathing suit after summer swims.
There are numerous activities at Green Acres like putt putt, paddling on the pond, walking their small nature trail, and on the weekends there is usually live music or a DJ to keep families entertained.
For me, I enjoyed spying young teens in groups walking around much like I did during my earlier years. I watched cars puttering down the long path while remembering my little 1973 green Volkswagen bug traveling that same roadway. Normally you would hear me coming because of the famous sound a VW bug engine makes but also because the car had no air conditioning and my windows were always down. I would blast my tunes from its terrible radio so I sounded even cooler.
Bill and Janice still operate Green Acres and were there when I worked as a babysitter for their son who has now grown up and married (talk about feeling old).
Green Acres is about 20 minutes from Washington, NC (aka Little Washington) and about 10 minutes from Williamston, NC. If you are traveling to the Outer Banks it isn’t a bad stop for the night or for an extended stay if you just need a quiet getaway with some down home values in a sleepy farm community. There are a few places you have to try if you want to eat out like Sunny Side Oyster Bar, which has been around since I was in high school and the Hitchin’ Post. Trip Advisor has a few more great suggestions for restaurants. My personal favorite restaurant is Deadwood, a western themed steakhouse about 10 minutes away in Bear Grass.
In nearby Williamston, there are numerous trails and fishing opportunities on the Roanoke River so pack up soon and explore this hideaway in eastern North Carolina.
