Would love to see something like Burton Island State Park here
 

Last Summer I spent a few wonderful days on Lake Champlain and got to enjoy some time on Burton Island State Park.

See: http://www.vtstateparks.com/pdfs/burton.pdf

In addition to day use (for a fee), the park has campsites, cabins and overnight transient boat slips (also all for a fee). It's really nice.

I have also spent time on Lake George and most of the islands on that lake are all part of a park system that allows camping and overnight docking for a fee. It's also really nice. See: http://www.lakegeorge.com/guide/island-camping.cfm

It would be awesome to see something like this (on a smaller scale) on one of the Winnipesaukee Islands. Ragged would be ideal, IMO, since it already has docks, power, outhouses, and a building that could be converted to headquarters and a camp store. I realize it would probably never happen, but I think it would be sweet.

Ragged
 

A few years back when I spoke to the Steward of Ragged (Muriel Robinnette) for the LRCT, the initial plan was to have camp sites there and to turn the existing building into a camp headquarters / store.

They have come a long way since then with the demo and removal of the old rotted buildings on the island as well as the fixing of the dock system (twice!) and the addition of outhouses and trails.

Considering 99% of the work being done there is by volunteers and donations, they have done well thus far in my honest opinion. I hope their long term plan eventually comes to fruition....

Dan

While I agree that something like Burton Island would be very attractive on Winni. I think that one of the big obstacles, would be setting something up that could handle the volume of visitors that would likely want to use it.

Lets look at Ragged Island for instance, while they have the land to put a few campsites, and maybe a couple of small cabins... That just the problem they really only have the ability to put a very small number of them. Then you have to have docking for every campsite.

At the end of the day, I don't think they could make it profitable.... As there would need to be employees on staff etc. I am not saying that it isn't doable.... just not easily profitable.....

There are a few other Islands where this could potentially be looked at, but once again the scale just isn't right. Burton Island was established long ago....

.... Timber Island, 130 heavily wooded acres
 

Prior to 2001, Timber Island, the seventh biggest island on the lake at about 130-acres, that was owned by one individual in its entirety, was looking to sell it.

It seems to me that almost any other state except for New Hampshire would have considered it for some state public use like for a state campground, or an educational center, or a children's camp.

For about the last 16-years, since 2001 when it was sold for about 1.3-million dollars into a conservation easement, the island perimeter has shown a continuous line of 'No Trespassing' signs, all along the water, as seen from a boat.

At 1.3-million dollars, Timber Island with 130-acres, all totally wooded with an old, old, old, old primeval forest would have been a great steal-of-a-deal for the state, except the State of New Hampshire was not interested .....which was just too bad.

NH already has a hard enough time funding state parks as is. They surely couldn't afford to build another state funded park on an island without collecting more tax revenue.

Self supporting
 

NH state parks do not operate with any tax dollars. The state park system is self-funded. Some charge a fee, but many of the day parks are free.

Burton Island vs Lake Umbagog?
 

Try Lake Umbagog State Park in Cambridge NH. I think it has all the things you describe.
https://www.nhstateparks.org/visit/s...tate-park.aspx

A.M.C. 3 mile island?
 

I thought there was an AMC campground on 3 mile island ?

I guess that explains why they are so underfunded.

There's an AMC family camp on Three Mile Island.

I was thinking of something that caters to boaters by offering overnight docks and such (transient, not long-term). Unless you know someone that will you let you use their dock, there are no overnight boating destinations on the lake and all you can do are day trips. That's really sad, especially when you consider all the overnight capable boats on the lake.

I've done quite a few multi-day boat trips and spent many nights in transient slips at friend's docks or sleeping on the hook and it's just awesome.

Reservations would make managing the supply and demand easy, that's how VT and NY do it.


Docks are simple and easy to deploy and they already have a bunch .



Ragged Island does not profit now and would just need to break even. They will likely sell out nearly every night between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

On slow days, they could leave the island un-staffed (like they do with great success now) and deal with payments online.

Doesn't cow island have Tuftonboro camping land? You have to approach by one of the beaches.


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mostly day uses
 

It's mostly a day-use type of area, for hiking or swimming, with a nice beach (no docks) access on the north side of the island, but there are no campfires allowed for overnight camping