Forget the overcrowded coastal beaches. At Ellacoya State Park, you get a 600-foot stretch of clean, sandy shoreline right on the southwest shore of Lake Winnipesaukee. It is massive. Kids splash in the shallows while kayakers launch into the cool water. On hot July afternoons, the Belknap Mountains loom right across the lake, framing your view with jagged green peaks. You smell pine needles. No ocean salt here, just clean fresh water and mountain breezes.

RV campers actually get a sweet deal here. The park offers 38 utility sites packed with three-way hookups, meaning you get electricity, water, and sewer without sacrificing the rustic vibe. Hook up and go swim. A bathhouse lets you wash off the lake grime. Then, fire up a charcoal grill. Smell that char Just book your spot early because summer weekends fill up fast.

Long ago, local families farmed this prime spot along the southwest shore of the big lake. Then tourists arrived. By the mid-1900s, private owners ran a bustling campground and cabin resort here. They named the cabins after a legendary princess. The state bought the 65-acre site in 1968 for about $335,000. That changed everything. Bulldozers cleared the old structures to make room for a massive public beach. So, the cow pastures became parking lots and picnic areas. But some history remained.

You can still spot remnants of the agricultural past if you look closely. Old stone walls. These granite boundaries still snake through the eastern edge of the property, showing where old property lines and livestock pens once stood. They survived the beach construction. Actually, the giant pines near the RV park are historic too. They were planted decades ago. These trees offered shade to the very first car-campers who drove up on rough dirt roads in the 1930s. It is a gritty slice of vacation history.