Never have I ever been through a state that can’t make up its mind as to what it wants to be. Within a 3 hour drive through California we traveled through barren desert, high mountains, rolling grass hills, giant sequoia forests, and gorgeous beaches. California has such a variety to it!
So no shocker when I say that California also has a variety of unique campgrounds throughout the state! Just north of Bakersfield is a unique campground where you can camp and experience history at the same time!
Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park is a restored town of old buildings teaching the history of the old African American town of Allensworth. So not only do you get to walk through the history, you can camp in it too!
History of Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park
Colonel Allensworth was born in slavery, but had a deep love for learning. His mother taught him to read, and he in turn taught other slaves as well. Education to slaves was against the law so when he got caught at 12 years old he was sent away.
By the time he was 20 years old he escaped enslavement to join the Union Army forces and later the Navy. After the Civil War he received a higher education and moved up in his military rank, retiring as a lieutenant colonel; the first African American to attain such a high rank.
Still believing that African Americans deserved a life free of discrimination, along with others he helped found the town of Allensworth. This was a town for African Americans to settle in a discrimination free environment and further their lives and education.
The town later struggled with water issues and thus began its decline, but the town was restored to honor and remember the dreams and visions of these amazing pioneers and what they stood for.
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What makes Colonel Allensworth so unique?
Waking up and opening up our tent door, I couldn’t help but feel like we had gone back in time! Surrounded by long grass that looked almost like waves in the wind, the only other things in sight were a village of old historic buildings. This is what makes Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park so unique compared to other campgrounds. You are camping back in time!
Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park is located 40 minutes north of Bakersfield and an hour and 20 minutes south of Fresno. There isn’t much around it other than a few residential houses and the railroad track. It really is in the middle of nowhere.
The cool part is that you are not just camping in the wilderness, but on the outskirts of an old time town. There are about 20 buildings that have been restored to look like the originals. They have everything from a grocery store, library, dairy barn, bakery, church, and post office. You can not enter the buildings, but you can go and peak through the windows.
Planning Your Camping Trip
- How to get reservations? Reservations can be made on reservecalifornia.com. Once you get to this site just type in Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park and input the information needed; type of camping and length of stay. You will be rerouted to a list of state parks in the area and click the Colonel Allensworth campground. You then will be shown a map where you can pick the campsite that you prefer. The campground portion of this park is technically called the John L Whitehead Jr Campground.
- Camping Supplies: Instant Tent, sleeping bags, bug spray, mosquito repellant, lantern
- Price of Admission: $20 for tent sites, $30 hook up sites
- Tours are self-guided, unless you call and book for a guided tour.
- Location: Grant Dr, Earlimart, CA 93219
Camping Experiences Pros And Cons
PROS:
- Walk by buildings. It is really cool to walk through the town and study the history. At each building you can scan to get the audio tour on your phone!
- Not crowded! This park is literally in the middle of nowhere in what residents call the armpit of California. So people aren’t exactly lining up to get into this park because it is out of the way. Don’t take that as bad, that is great! It means the park is never super busy!
- Free day use. If you just want to walk by the buildings and through the visitor center, it is free. I love free activities.
- Self-Guided! For someone with little kids, guided tours can be a nightmare. Self-guided tours are so much better for families with little kids and their lack of patience.
- Dogs Allowed! Just not in the visitor center.
- It is very flat! It was nice to not sleep slanted downhill.
- The dirt is really soft. It was a perfect environment for pitching a tent! We didn’t even need the hammer to hammer the stakes in the ground!
CONS:
- Mosquitos! I have never in my life been that attacked by mosquitos before and I lived in Georgia! They swarmed around our tent and bombarded us any time we left the safety of the tent. I was bit several times in my backside because there are hundreds of them in the bathrooms. I cannot stress enough that you HAVE to have mosquito repellant or you will be eaten alive. Or a mosquito bracelet! I love these things they are just a scrunch bracelet and they do wonders to keep the bugs away.
- Can’t go in the buildings. It is cool to see these old buildings and learn more about the old town, but all you can do is look in the windows. You can’t even see much looking through the windows because it is so dark and the windows are so faded.
- Train! We couldn’t even get into the park when we first arrived because the train came by and stopped right in front of the entrance to the park! We had to drive 10 minutes out of the way to take a round about drive around the train and through the residential neighborhoods. Also you will hear it at night, it is literally right at the entrance of the park.
Final Thoughts:
Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park is unique in that it is a campground surrounded by a historic village. It was nice. I wouldn’t describe our experience as bad, just simply nice. We had a problem getting into the park because of the stopped train at the entrance and there were a million mosquitos, but we slept comfortably and it was quiet.
The village was nice, nothing exciting, just basic and unique.
Would I camp here again? The answer would be no. My number one reasoning it that there were so many mosquitos. They were everywhere! I mean even swarms in the bathrooms. The only relief we had from the mosquitos was taking a shower where they couldn’t get to us through the water. We literally drove with our windows down up to Fresno and still had a dozen or more mosquitos in our van! I can handle mosquitos, but not swarms.
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