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Roamstead, a “boutique campground” in Cosby, Tennessee, makes a lot of promises. And it delivers on all of them.
Photo Above: Climate-controlled yurts are part of the welcome package at Roamstead.
Dismayed by the lack of amenities at many campgrounds they’d visited on a cross-country RV trip, Roamstead’s founders, Thomas and Shannon Connolly of Chattanooga, bought an old campground on the edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2022 and gave it a massive facelift.
Roamstead strives to “make the outdoors more accessible for everyone,” particularly those with little or no camping experience. To that end, it offers a wide range of sleeping options, from flat spaces by the creek to pitch a tent to climate-controlled yurts to RV hookups to two-story cabins with comfy beds and mini fridges.
On a working vacation, my wife and I cared just as much about the campground’s strong Wi-Fi and complimentary coffee as we did its proximity to a trailhead that leads to a six-mile loop through old-growth forest. As much as we enjoyed the gourmet pizza options and cocktails sold in the lodge, our favorite aspect of the place was the communal feeling it created.
The fire pits next to the lodge encouraged us to have a seat and meet other guests. We made s’mores alongside a multigenerational family of women from Cincinnati and enjoyed conversations with members of a family reunion who’d come from Nashville, Charleston, and Greenville, South Carolina. I came away from these conversations thinking that Roamstead isn’t a campground or a resort; it’s a destination.
The story above first appeared in our March / April 2024 issue.
