Is this the best RV Park in the country?

Is this the best RV Park in the country?

Well, that’s probably going to depend on how you like to camp. But as far as the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (ARVC) is concerned, the Mammoth Cave Jellystone in Cave City, Kentucky, is the best RV Park in the country. Owners Bill and Kay Pott received the Park of the Year Award on Nov. 7th while attending ARVC’s annual convention in Knoxville, Tenn.

Four days later, the park was also named the Jellystone Park Camp-Resort of the Year from Leisure Systems, Inc. (LSI), which franchises 75 Jellystone Park locations across the U.S. and Canada. The Potts, who run their park with their daughter, Emily Moss, took home other awards from LSI, including the Facility of the Year Award, the Spirit Award, the Pinnacle Club Award, and the Recreation Award.

If that’s not enough, the county Chamber of Commerce awarded the park its Small Business of the Year award in February, and Bill Pott received the Citizen of the Year Award in 2018. In 2016 U.S. News & World Report named it one of “The 8 Coolest Campgrounds for Families” and the Travel Channel named it one of the 10 best campgrounds for families in the year before.

So what makes it so great? well the new recognition comes after the completion of a 30-month, $10.1 million expansion that includes a 2.3-acre man-made pond and splash beach with a 110′ by 130′ floating sports park complete with water trampolines and slides. They Potts also added three playgrounds, three bathhouses, a pedal cart track, day-use pet kennels, and a new main building.

Along with the new recreation options, the park nearly doubled its accommodations with 100 new campsites and 20 cabins. “As fast as we expanded the park, we filled the park,” Bill Pott said, adding that he knew there was a lot of pent-up demand for the park’s attractions and activities because of its lengthy waiting lists for campsites and cabins as well as its Halloween-themed weekends, which sell out a year in advance.

The park first opened in 1974, and is of the oldest locations in the Jellystone network, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The Potts acquired the park in 2004.