Campground donated to town

In Freeport, Maine, the city’s campground came about because of a donation. Neil Lyman, park manager for Winslow Park and Campground, explained the land for the park was “donated to the town in the 1950s but with stipulations.”

The stipulations included that the park would have campsites and no town tax money would be used for the park and no revenue from the park would go to the town.

“It came with a trust, and it should be self-supporting,” Lyman said, adding the campground started off slowly with a few campers and scout groups until the late 1990s and early 2000s.

“The previous park manager before me built it up, and now it’s a legitimate operation and is full all the time,” Lyman said.

According to Lyman, the deed states the park is 93 acres, but it’s actually 70 acres and includes a mile-and-a-half waterfront.

“We have 12-foot tides,” he said.

The park has 102 sites all together — 23 are right on the water and the rest are wooded. None of them have hookups, but most can take RVs up to 40 foot.

“The only amenity is a dump station and a couple of water filing stations,” he said. “There are two restroom buildings and one has showers.”

He said the most expensive sites are those right on the water at $45 a night for RVs and $40 for tents. Inland, the sites run $35 for RVs and $30 for tents and all those fees go to operate the park.

Lyman explained he is the park manager for this park only. “We operate as a nonprofit that is a town entity, overseen by the town manager and town council. We have to go to the council to get our budget approved.”

He said Winslow Park and Campground has its own employees who work at the park and use the resources of the town for payroll and hiring. He noted he is considered a town employee. There is a park commission that mainly makes recommendations.

“There’s a trust attorney who oversees things to make sure the town operates it as they’re supposed to,” he said.

Lyman said the campground is at 93% capacity most of the time. “We do get a lot of locals within 30 miles, but we also get campers from all over Canada and from out-of-state,” he said.

Some issues Winslow Park has had include those who just want to party. “Our sites are fairly spacious, but we’re basically an island, so it gets loud, but we have three rangers on duty 24 hours a day.”

All three rangers live on-site as does Lyman. He said the only sites with electricity are the rangers’ sites. They live at the park about seven months a year while Lyman is there year-round.

Winslow Park has a two-week stay limit. However, he said there are some seasonal sites that started back when the campground wasn’t making any money, so the seasonal sites became part of the town charter. Campers can pay a fee for camping for the whole season, and they get to re-up every year.

Dog walking

Lyman said because the park is in a nice neighborhood, it’s become a popular place to walk dogs, and at times, they’re allowed off leash.

“It’s not the best place to walk dogs — one lady got knocked over by a dog, but no one’s been bitten,” he said.

People are adamant about walking their dogs there, Lyman stated. The town had a piece of property with a pond and trail that was fenced, and officials thought it would be a great place for a dog park, but the community didn’t want it.

Lyman advises other parks to have dogs on leash at all times and keep it simple. Personally, Lyman would advise against seasonal sites, but if they have them to remove everything at the end of the season.

“You don’t want it to become a trailer park,” he said.

If camping is allowed for more than a month, he would have them sign a contract stating they have no rights to the property, because apparently in Maine, there’s a law that makes that an issue. He would also set limits on all sites. “Always have staff 24/7 so they can patrol and enforce quiet hours, otherwise it can get out of hand and you’ll lose business if a bunch are partying.” He further advised, “You have to run it like a business — like a private campground — and enforce all the rules, otherwise they’ll be abused.”