Cody’s blog

Cunningham Falls State Park
6709 Cunningham Falls Park Rd
Thurmont, MD 21788

301-271-7574

October 27 – 31, 2024

Cunningham Falls State Park in Maryland was a bit of a challenge. The park has two campgrounds located several miles apart: the William Houck Area and the Manor Area, each with its own address, so campers are instructed to make sure to use the right address for their campground when finding directions. We were staying at the Manor Area, which was the only one staying open through the end of October. However, the William Houck Area is the only one with a dump station, which was closed when we were there. We were told by the park ranger that the dump station might still be usable after the campground closed (it wasn’t) or that we could use the dump station at the Gambrill State Park 20 minutes away. We were hoping to dump our tanks on arrival, since our previous campground had also not had a dump station, but we’d only been there one night so we decided to just wait till the next campground.

Also, while the park had water available, the signs indicating the water stations were pretty hard to spot. But I managed to locate one and fill my water tank.

Then I finally got to my site, which was the most sloped site I’d ever had the misfortune to camp in. After much messing with my leveling blocks, I finally got the front tires under three blocks each, but the van was still so unlevel I could hardly get the sliding door open, and I felt like I was going to fall over every time I stood up in the van.

My brother and SIL had their own issues — their site was more level, but the roads in the campground were narrow and the sites at sharp angles, and there were trees and boulders on the side of the road, making maneuvering a large trailer into the site quite a feat. I was again very glad I’d traded my truck and trailer for a camper van.

Despite our issues getting in and set up, it was a pretty park with lots of trees and nice sites with good privacy. The bathhouse was in the middle of the loop, with a path to it from behind J&J’s site, so I could just go across the road and through their site to get to it.

On Monday, our first full day at the park, we mostly took it easy. We did go for a drive to look around at the other area of the park — the campground was closed, but we were able to see the lake and its beaches and find the trailhead for the Falls trail.

On Tuesday we visited the Catoctin Iron Furnace, which operated during the Revolution and afterwards until 1903, producing iron for munitions and household goods.

Behind the furnace is a trail which the ironworkers, many of them slaves, used to walk from their quarters to the furnace. Following the trail, we came to a clearing where we could see the houses from behind. Most are private homes now, although many are still the original buildings. The Museum of the Ironworker is in one of the buildings, but it was closed the day we were there.

Near the furnace, we also visited the ruins of the Ironmaster’s Mansion. All that was left were the foundations and a few partial walls.

In the afternoon, we drove around the town of Thurmont, stopped at a grocery store, and had a delicious dinner of Mexican food at Los Amigos.

On Wednesday, we drove back to the Falls Trailhead and hiked out to see the Cunningham Falls. Since it had been a dry season, we weren’t surprised to see that the falls were fairly small at the time, but still pretty.

Our final stop of the day was the Roddy Road Covered Bridge in nearby Frederick. There was a pretty little park next to the entrance to the bridge, with swings and paths and restrooms. We walked around there for a while after driving across the bridge and back.

Thursday was Halloween, and also our day to pack up and head out for the next campground. I stopped at the Tractor Supply in Frederick to see if I could get my propane tank filled and valves checked, but they sent me to the RV place next door, who said they couldn’t check my propane tank that day, so I just traveled on.

All in all, we saw some cool sights and enjoyed our stay at Cunningham Falls, but felt that we’d have enjoyed it more if we’d been able to stay at the other campground, which was closer to the beaches and trails, and earlier in the year when the campground wasn’t about to close!