Tom Sawyer's RV Park

The park itself is OK, unless they get a lot of rain. My issue isn't with the park, it's with the management... We arrived on 30 April and paid for one week. The ONLY reason we chose this park was (1) the Navy base RV Park in Millington. TN was not open due to COVID-19 policy and (2) the Agricenter is not what it used to be. We are full-time RVers and we're based out if Millington, so we return to the area once a year to visit family, see all of our Doctors and renew our scripts for the next year. After we completed our first week we elected to convert to a monthly rate as we felt it wouldn't impact our access to the Memphis side of the river. During our first week we were notified that the base had opened however we elected to stay in place. UNFORTUNATELY the Hernando De Soto Bridge closed down on the 11th of May which significantly impacted our transit to and from the Memphis side of the river. I informed them of the situation and explained we needed to move and they told me that I couldn't get a refund for the unused day as I signed an application stating there are no refunds for early departure from a monthly reservation. Regardless of their policy, they refused to consider the extenuating circumstances and the impact to my wife & I. I will NEVER consider staying there again.

Was this review helpful?  Yes   (0)

We have a 40 foot goose-neck car-hauler with living area. We did not use the restrooms. Nice and quite campground. We enjoyed our stay. But did not take the black truck out of the car-hauler because of the dust.

Was this review helpful?  Yes   (0)

The Takeaway: Tom Sawyer's RV Park is one of two great Mississippi River bottomland campgrounds made welcome by the hard working owners who clean and restore the park year after year as the flooded MS River takes it toll. Clean bath/shower facility. Their website links to MS Flood levels to ascertain whether the park is open. WiFi is acceptable for streaming and the views of Mississippi River barge traffic mesmerizing and Sawyeresque. A short trip on I40 east into Memphis provides guests with days of exciting exploration in this southern city. This is a destination campground. Go to www.rickpicks.com for other reviews, critiques and essays with links to area attractions and a more detailed review of this park as well as reviews of restaurants, etc.

Was this review helpful?  Yes   (2)

A great campground. Only stayed one night but a beautiful location. Lots of room between sites and right on the Mississippi River! Such a beautiful view. Staff was very friendly and helpful.

Was this review helpful?  Yes   (3)

I have nothing bad to say about this park. We stayed in a 40' motorhome towing and there was plenty of room. We had full hookups. The sites are staggered and angled so you feel as if you are not right on top of your neighbor. There were a few well placed trees, just a great, not fancy park to relax and enjoy. The best of all, it is literally right on the Mississippi River. There is a small grassy area with benches between the sites and river for sitting and enjoying the views. Right across the river is Memphis TN. We stayed during the Corona Virus time and the owners devised a way to not have person to person contact, which was much appreciated. We will definitely return!

Was this review helpful?  Yes   (7)

Tom Sawyer's RV Park is located in a heavily forested area, right along the bank of the Mississippi River. It gets flooding on a regular basis but they monitor river stages carefully and can give you ample notice before such flooding occurs. Our visit was rather last minute and they were still doing flood cleanup when we arrived. They were sweet and helpful by providing us a last minute spot to stay in for a couple of weeks during a very busy time for them. The staff are amazing people, fun, knowledgeable, and very helpful with every request we made. ...... Laundry & Bathrooms - we stayed in the forest area toward the rear of the park so we used the quaint two story building that has the restroom/shower area below and the laundry area above. The machines are free to campers, which is a big perk. They have newer model machines. Both the laundry area and bathrooms were immaculately clean and well maintained every time we used them. This building is rather like a tree house and fits the Tom Sawyer theme perfectly. The stairs may be challenging for some but I think they have another facility in the park that has only a couple of stairs leading to it...... Sites - This park has a wide variety of sites with something for everyone's camping style. They have sites in the midst of the forest with heavy shade cover, sites with no trees at all, and various types of sites in between. They have gravel and fully paved sites, long and short sites, narrow and wide. Most of the sites we saw had picnic tables. All the sites we saw had full hookups. Our site (#33) was in the forest area with trees all around. It was gravel, fairly level, and only required a small amount of manual leveling on our part. It is a long but narrow site and our picnic table was right against the neighbors electric/sewer hookups so we didn't spend a lot of time at the picnic table. However, there are many many sites with more width than ours had. I suggest that you reserve ahead of time and let them know your preferences when you reserve. The folks who work/volunteer there know their park well and can help you find just what you need. We will return there again, and next time we will make sure to get the type site we love best. This is a great place to camp because of the variety but if you want a certain type spot some planning will help...... Pets - they allow pets and we saw all types and sizes. There are snakes, coons and other critters around so keep an eye on your fur babies.... Phone, Internet, TV, cable - Our T-mobile phone had little or no service while there. Our AT&T phone worked fairly well. We didn't have much success getting the camp wi-fi to work from our site. We had good reception of local channels with only rabbit ears on the TV. The campground doesn't provide cable hook ups...... We really enjoyed this campground, we will go again, we will plan better when reserving our spot the next time we go. The campground had a few mosquitoes, some gnats and some woolly aphids but not nearly as many insects as we expected along the river. We didn't even need to use repellent to be comfortable. The campground has a variety or trails through the jungle areas, some are easier and some are little more than deer trails.... Ice is available at the visitor center..... Area - bike trails with bike rentals are just the other side of the levy on the road to town. You can bike and or walk along the levy. West Memphis Arkansas is a small truck stop style town. It has truckstops, a racetrack that is very active, a Walmart, fresh market etc. It is the location of the original Pancho's Cantina Style Mexican restaurant. If you take the "old bridge" over to Tennessee, you can be in Downtown Memphis Tn is about 10 minutes where you can enjoy all the tourist fun of Beale Street, take a riverboat cruise, sample some BBQ at the Rendezvous, etc.

Was this review helpful?  Yes   (13)

I travel for business and the RV way of traveling is the best. When I stay at a park Wi-Fi access is right up there with AIR! My wife called this park and the first question after "Are there any spaces available?" was do you have Wi-Fi, she was told yes. When I arrived at the park and after I paid I asked how to access the Wi-Fi, I was given a password, and then was told "there is no guarantee of access". Had my wife been told of this when she called we would have found another park. So I stayed one night and they were right access sucks. Cell phone did not even work well. If you are looking for a family RV park to enjoy the outdoors this is probably a good place. The reason for the bad access is people stream movies and eat up all the band width. I do not understand "WHY" people would plan to come to an RV park and then stay inside watching movies. Pretty stupid thing to do and is what's wrong with all this connectivity. Anyway, I hope this info helps. Enjoy the environment and praise God for the place we are blessed with.

Was this review helpful?  Yes   (5)

I love the river views from this park. There are two rows of sites that face looking out over the Mississippi River. The sites are a mix of gravel and some that are concrete. Each site has a picnic table and grass areas between the sites. The park has working wifi and a small shower/bathroom in a small cabin structure. They offer fishing ponds and great views of the boats moving up and down the river. This is a very reasonable park and we will stay here again when visiting the Memphis area. See our full updates, pictures and reviews at our blog at thegilliamsisland.

Was this review helpful?  Yes   (4)

Just an overnight stay. Watching the river traffic was enjoyable. Facilities were okay. Lots of insects particularly fire ants. Other campers were spreading fire ant poison around their sites.

Was this review helpful?  Yes   (2)

A beautiful park right on the Mississippi River. As you drive into the park, don't let all of the industrial buildings and train track worry you. Once you cross the berm into the park you will forget all about them. You will hear the train a bit, but it is not too bad. The road into the park was easy to navigate, the roads in the park are a little narrow in places. Check in was fast and friendly. There are 100 sites and it appears they are building more. The park is well maintained. Sites are gravel and grass, average width. We were in site 51 which was long enough for our 37-foot Class A, tow-dolly and parking the car. Full hook-ups, no issues and 50amp electric. They have a number of trails, along the river and through the woods. Walking the dog was a breeze and clocked in a couple of miles each day. There are benches along the river for watching the tug boats, and each one has a fire pit. WiFi was spotty at times and our Verizon signal was strong. We stayed November 6 - 8, 2017 and paid $35.00 a night with our Good Sam discount.

Was this review helpful?  Yes   (9)