A couple weeks ago I was planning for the Kentucky Derby that was last Saturday. We camped across the border in Charlestown, Indiana. A tiny country town just north of Louisville.

Charlestown, Indiana

We stayed at Charlestown State Park. It cost $25 per night for 2 nights. The campgrounds were pretty close together but being the beginning of camping season the area in which we stayed was relatively empty with a few empty camp spaces on either side of ours. We did have an RV across from us but they were unobtrusive. The dimensions according to the website were about 40’ x 20’ which was more than enough for 4 decent sized tents and 2 cars. Every site had a fire pit as well. Since it was the beginning of May fire was vital because temperatures dropped into the low 40s or below. On our first night it was raining hard basically all night long, consequently waterlogging anything that wasn’t inside the car.

Accommodations were pleasant: each individual campsite has electricity and there are warm showers and a drinking fountain were within 100 yards of our campsite. Most of the campers at the park that weekend were in town for the Derby. In fact “y’all here for the Derby?” was the most common question we got everywhere. However “Derby” was pronounced closer to “Derrbeh”.

I believe we bought firewood at firewood at Bethany Gardens just a short drive outside of the park. Going out of the park, you turn left to go South, drive a few blocks and you’ll see a gardening store on the left side. Their firewood is in a pile outside. It was raining so the wood we bought was wet. It came out to be roughly $7 for a big bucket of wood. We loaded up on groceries at Jay C Food Stores which must be a subdivision of Kroger supermarkets because they sell a lot of Kroger stuff there. At Jay C we bought some bundles of dry firewood in addition to some fire starter bricks that were basically pre-molded chunks of sawdust held together by a waxy binding agent. We bought a case of America’s finest beer: Bud Ice (blech). Since it was raining we found rain ponchos at Family Dollar which was much nicer than the Dollar General across the street. Later that night the 2nd half of our crew appeared with sustenance. We feasted on Papa John’s pizza that they picked up on their way into the campgrounds. The pizza was tasty as usual.

Nearby Jeffersonville, Indiana is closer to Louisville directly across the river. Jeffersonville is larger than Charlestown and has a number of motels. They had most every chain fast food restaurant you ever wanted. The highlight of them all being Sonic Drive-in. I love sonic, I love tater tots, and I love tater tots with chili on them. The fried macaroni bites were also amusing and delicious. Moby Dick was another interesting Jeffersonville eatery that we did not have the opportunity to visit. It looked like it would be good, however. We also went to the nearby Waffle House which probably used to be called “Waffle And Steak” according to MerchantCircle. This Waffle House was sorely disappointing. They ran out of grits and they also couldn’t serve the gravy because it looked — and I quote — “nasty”. The service was slower than what should have been tolerated but we were tired, hungry, and burnt out from sitting in the sun too long.

The 2008 Kentucky Derby is May 3, 2008. I’m planning to go there with some old college buddies. Since the Derby is 2 weekends from now hotel prices in the area are astronomical. As such we’ve decided to be a little adventurous and we will try to camp somewhere in Kentucky for nights (Friday and Saturday) around the derby area. By camp I mean tent or cabin not RV. Most of the “camp” sites I have seen thus far are for RV camping.

Look at a Google Map of the Campgrounds listed below.

A basic Google search for “camping near Louisville, kentucky” does not yield many good results. However, after perusing various local chamber of commerce and Kentucky tourism websites I found Kentucky’s Derby Region. This appears to be Kentucky Camping Gold. I have yet to look it over in detail but they have a good list of campgrounds in Kentucky’s derby region

Some highlights include:

• Elizabethtown Crossroads Campground
• Guist Creek
• Lake Jericho
• Nolin Lake
• Otter Creek

• Rough River Dam State Resort Park

Indiana: solid alternative

Indiana has at least 2 large parks near Louisville that may provide a better value than the other campgrounds in Kentucky proper. These Indiana campgrounds are also closer to Louisville than some of the other sites in the list above!

• Deam Lake
• Charlestown State Park

• Indiana State Park Rates & Fees

I also noticed that West Point is somewhat near to Louisville. West Point has at least one promising camp site within 1 hr of Churchill Downs.

http://www.westpointky.org/tourism.shtml#recreation
Salt River Recreation Area
99 Salt River Drive
West Point, KY 40177
502-922-4065
Camping: $10 per night (no hook ups)
Directions: From the north or south, U.S. 31W to Salt River Drive