jamaica state park

Sons and I had enjoyed tenting at Jamaica State Park with Don and kids over 25 years ago! One weekend a year. Always chose a site with room-sized lean-to near the river. Attractive, interesting, well-managed, affordable, spacious, and fun ... with a broad array of possible activities. Flat-walking, hiking, swimming the West River, fishing, other sites and attractions in the vicinity. Finally we induced Mom to join us in tenting ... and she loved it! Then, 'tenting at Jamaica' become a couple's staple and we have stayed for a whole week, on occasion. Small capacity, tall trees, clean bathrooms and showers. Jamaica State Park is a keeper!

My husband and I headed in and did 2 flat miles and then headed up the mountain for 1 mile to go see Hamilton Falls! It was a HIKE, but so worth it! We were proud that we didn't give up and achieved the goal! It was nice walking in along the river, saw some kayakers, lots of walkers and dogs! The falls are beautiful! Getting back out the hike down the mountain was a bit slippery with wet leaves, but didn't get hurt when I fell. Was a great 2 1/2 hour trip.

This is a great park with excellent hiking trail from easy to difficult. There is a very pretty waterfalls up a fairly steep hiking path. There is also a wonderful little beach to swim in the West River just inside the park. There are also restrooms, changing rooms, camping site all within this wonderful state park. There is a $3.00 entrance fee.

We arrived on Monday afternoon and stayed until Saturday morning. The campground is well maintained, it is secluded and a relatively small camping facility with only 61 sites. They tend to be quite full on weekends, so by staying Mon thru Sat we missed all but the Friday night crush. The park is right on the West River (small river about 50 feet across at most and mostly rocks), the river flow is controlled by the Ball Mountain Dam, the flow is modest during the summer months. There is a small swimming area in the river which is really very nice and rather unique. We stayed at camp site # T27 which I would very highly recommend. It is next to a water spigot and close to the bathroom and showers... but not too close. T27 is a large site and is one of the most private sites on the campground. There are several trails inside the park, the West River trail is a converted rail bed which is very easy to walk and bike on and leads to the Ball Mountain Dam, Hamilton Falls and a scenic overlook. There is a very nice little store in town named the D & K Grocery where provisions and baked goods can be procured. Nearby towns within a one hour drive offer many nice side trips. You can also gain access to any of the other Vermont State Parks for free by showing your Jamaica Park hang tag to the ranger upon entry. If you go to nearby city of Manchester, which we highly recommend, do NOT miss the chance to visit Tilting at Windmills Gallery. They feature numerous New England artists and some of the work is simply stunning, really world class. The park offers ice and fire wood. Each site has a nice fire ring. At first we were a bit disappointed to see the fire ring instead of a fire place. But after using it we learned to appreciate the safety of the fire ring and the ease of using it for cooking. Showers required 5 quarters for 12 min, less can be used for a shorter duration shower. Restrooms were cleaned daily and well maintained. The park staff were all very attentive and friendly and they were also very professional. All in all this is a great forest camping experience that has it all. Reservations are available online and the Vermont State Parks web site offers photos of each campsite. We selected our site using the photos and we were pleased once we got there to see that we lucked out by selecting on the the best sites at the park. They are open from early May until Columbus Day.

The falls were beautiful and afterwards we hiked over to the dam and walked up the path cut into the side which was an awesome experience then hiked back. Gorgeous, fun trip.

Jamaica State Park is a great place for a day hike. For $3 you can hike as much as you'd like all day. And that's just the thing---it's a great place to hike a lot or a little. It can be easy or more challenging. The level path that borders the West River is beautiful in any season, though fall is the most amazing. If you hike after a good rain the river will have an impressive flow. You can hike the level path all the way to the dam, which round trip is about six miles. If you want more of a challenge, take the one-mile uphill path to Hamilton Falls after two miles along the trail, which also works out to six miles. The path and falls itself are worth the extra time and effort. Whether you concentrate on the river or the constantly changing forest, Jamaica is an outstanding place to hike!

Went for a day hike to Hamilton's Falls which is 6 miles round trip. First part of hike is along the river which has impressive boulders called "dumplings" in it. Very cool. Trail is wide and flat. Then, it's an uphill slightly rocky steep 1 miles up. Not for the unfit. Falls are pretty and peaceful- a 125 height. But, silly us forgot to bring bug spray and mosquitoes hiked with us the whole time. We made record pace since we couldn't stop moving.Bring your bathing suit. There is a place to go swimming (not in the falls) near the playground and bathrooms that looked really neat.

My son and I recently stayed in this park starting off in a tent site. The sites are very large. Big enough for a large tent and a screen house with room left over. We spent a day hiking the trails in and around the park. When we came back to camp in the late afternoon it looked like it was going to rain. We decided to rent a lean to in order to stay dry. The ranger applied our already paid for site fee toward the increased fee of the lean to. The VT State Park system needs to put this park at the top of the list for refurbishing the bathroom/showers. They are always kept clean but they are really in need of an update. When that happens I will gladly add the fifth star to my review.

This Vermont State Park comprises 772 acres, and includes 41 nice tent/trailer sites in the woods near the West River. Fees are reasonable and non-camping entrance fee to the park is $3.00 per person per day. There are marked trails in the park, allowing for many hours of great hiking; much of it alongside the old West River Railroad trail bed which stopped operating in 1927. Entrance to the park is located off of Depot Street in the village of Jamaica, on Route 30 (about 20 miles northwest of Brattleboro). There is a swimming hole near the park entrance, and this is also the site of white water kayaking events which occur at specific times each year, when the Ball Mountain Damn water is released from upstream. The park is dog-friendly, and it's clean with public bathrooms, potable water and a small playground for families with children. I brought a friend with me on this most recent trip. It was the first time I had had the chance to share the experience with someone. On Day One we started out in the afternoon and hiked the trail head up to the Overlook (also known as Little Ball Mountain). The trailhead can be hard to find, and is located between two campsites in the lower end of the park near park headquarters. The hike up is about 30 minutes, and starts out gradually, with steeper, more moderate climbing over small rocks and such toward the top. It offers nice views down into the village of Jamaica, and the trail down on the opposite side of the mountain (990 feet) comes out onto the West River Trail, about a 45 minute walk up on the trail from park headquarters. As we were running out of sunlight, we made our way back down this trail to the park entrance and 'called it a day.'On Day Two my friend and I entered the park from the backside. To do this we drove to the village of West Townshend and took the steep Windham Hill Road up the mountain. After passing through the hamlet of So. Windham, and across a small section of the town of Jamaica, you will enter again over the Windham town line, and turn left onto Burpee Pond Road. Shortly after that turn, the paved road ends and becomes packed dirt. While still alongside the pond, look for West Windham Road on your left. Follow it for a few miles. You will pass a couple of small family-run farms and fields/barns with horses and such. It will seem like you couldn't possibly be in the right place... but you are. The W. Windham Road bears right onto Hamilton Falls Road. You will see signs for Hamilton Falls at that point. Keep driving down the dirt road, and you will find a large dirt parking lot on the right, located across the road from the upper portion of the falls. (Please see separate review of Hamilton Falls / Ball Mountain Dam on this website). Walking back up the dirt road from the large parking lot, you'll see on the right, a trail entrance into the lower section of Hamilton Falls. (again, see separate review for further description). Take the trail past the entrance to the lower falls area. It descends gradually downhill alongside Cobb Brook, and eventually confluences with the West River, as you enter the backside of Jamaica State Park (no fee). The footbridge traverses the confluence and this is a lovely spot for a rest or a picnic (about a 30 minute hike from this trailhead to the bridge). From here you can bear left into the park, with the well-marked trail meandering alongside the West River (about 1.5 hours to park headquarters), or bear right on the trail leading to Ball Mountain Dam.

This is a great park for hiking or biking. Nice fairly flat trail along the river. Very pretty views.

We stopped at Jamaica State Park for some light hiking with my dog. We were looking for a particular trail but missed it because the signs were not very clear. We eventually found our way to the trail that brought us to a peak about half a mile up. The views were worth the strenuous hike!!! There were multiple outcroppings that had various views of the surrounding landscape.

Jamaica State Park was very clean and well maintained. No electricity or water at sites, but they have water faucets throughout the campground. Bathrooms were very clean. You have to pay for hot water in the shower ($1.00 for 10 minutes) so bring quarters and there are very few showers so you may have to wait. Don't expect any kind of signal for your cell.smart phone...though we found out as we were leaving that they have a signal near the office through their wireless. We stayed at a tent site, which was great (we had a chipmunk that had his home on our site), but will probably try a lean-to next time. The staff was extremely helpful and pleasant. They have a nice playground for the kids, lots of hiking trails and a river/swimming hole for swimming. Easy access to the river from the campground. Hamilton Falls was well worth the hike (though you can drive if you're not up for the hike). It is a 3 mile hike from the campground...the first 2 miles are flat and along the river. The last mile is mostly uphill. We had out 8 and 10 year old with us and they were fine with the hike, but the 8 year old was pretty tired on the way back. The signs will direct you to the bottom of the falls. Be sure to go back and stay to the path on the right (where it says to go left to the falls) and follow to the road....left on the road for a minute and you'll see a path on the left. This will bring you to the top of the falls. Beautiful view! We also hiked to Ball Mountain Dam...also 3 miles, but only about a 1/2 mile was uphill. A real nice view from the top of the dam. Though we spent most of our time hiking and swimming, there are plenty of other things to do in the area...horseback riding, Bromley and Magic mountain have lots of summer activities (check out their websites). I believe that there is also a beach? in Townshend,Even though it was in the 70's, we were quite cold as our site (as most) were in the shade as was the hiking. Bring extra sweatshirts for summer.I would definitely recommend this campground for anyone who enjoys the outdoors.

Nice out of the way state park. Nice camp sites. Excellent hiking trails. Easy flat dirt road to steep rocky hiking. Nice flat hike along a river.

We walked the 2 mile trail from the campground, winding our way upstream looking for a place to wade into the raging river. All the photos on Google Earth are of this shallow creek bed with rocks everywhere, not the torrent we witnessed on July 4th, 2013. The kayakers had it wild and fast. The water was frigid on the 90 degree day, and too fast to risk getting swept away in. We stopped as we were so close to the dam that we never got to ascend it, maybe on a cool, Fall day in the future...$3 admission per person was reasonable.

An easy trail up to the dam.Camping for tents and log cabins and hard standing for RVs. Playground for children. A swimming place. Good clean 'facilities'.What more can one ask for?