| Grand Isle State Park is located on, & takes its name from, the largest island in Lake Champlain. The Grand Isle, about fourteen miles long by three miles wide, is also known as South Hero. The Hero Islands were named to commemorate early Vermonters who had served in the American Revolution. The park, located on the east shore of the island off U.S. Route 2, began in 1959 with the purchase of Birchcliff, a private summer resort, by the state of Vermont. The original acquisition of 54 acres came with a hotel-like main building & accompanying rental cabins. The Activity Center in today's park is an original Birchcliff building.
Three additional property purchases brought the park to its present 226-acre size as park development during the 1960s was spurred by a successful effort to attract visitors to the area by providing quality family camping opportunities. Grand Isle is the second largest campground in the state park system & boasts the highest annual visitation. With 4,150 feet of Lake Champlain shoreline, Grand Isle is popular with many destination campers who spend their entire vacation here. The park location on U.S. Route two attracts a high number of transient campers while proximity to population centers in Burlington, Vermont & Montreal, Canada makes it an easy destination. Park property extends west to Route 2, where part of the land is being kept open by agricultural lease & some of what was pasture thirty years ago is reverting to woodland.
There are 117 tent/trailer sites, 36 lean-to sites, & four cabin sites that make this Vermont's second-largest state campground. Rest rooms have running H2O & hot showers ($). There is a trailer sanitary station but no hookups. Fifty percent of the sites are large enough to accommodate self-contained RVs. Lakeshore areas permit H2O access for swimming & shore fishing. There is a boat launching ramp for registered campers & kayaks & rowboats for rent through the park office. Check the Nature Center for interpretive programs, games, or entertainment. There is sand-court volleyball, horseshoes, a play area & a nature walk, all within the park. Campers are also allowed free entry to the sand beach at Knight Point State Park seven miles north & Alburg Dunes State Park nineteen miles north.
Area Attractions: Hacketts' Orchard, South Hero; Chazy Reef (world's oldest fossil reef), Isle LaMotte; St. Anne's Shrine, Isle LaMotte; Hyde Log Cabin (nation's oldest), Grand Isle; Grand Isle State Fish Hatchery, Grand Isle; Snowfarm Vineyard, South Hero; Lake Champlain Ferries, Grand Isle; Shelburne Museum, Shelburne; Vermont Teddy Bear Factory, Shelburne; Church Street Marketplace, Burlington; ECHO: Lake Aquarium & Science Center, Burlington; Royal Lipizzan Stallions at Knight Point State Park, North Hero; North Hero State Park, North Hero; Alburg Dunes State Park, Alburg; Sand Bar State Park, Milton; |
Grand Isle State Park Campground Web Site
Driving Direction GPS Coordinates:
44.692906, -73.294264
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Campground: Grand Isle State Park in Grand Isle Vermont *