Camp Connecticut had the opportunity to speak with Nicola Leonetti from the Stateline Camp Resort. She gave us the inside scoop on her favorite campsite, where to park your 42′ bus, and zombies. Listen to the full interview here:
Stateline Camp Resort
Camp Connecticut: I’m talking with Nicola Leonetti at Stateline Camp Resort, in Connecticut. How’s it going this morning?
Nicola Leonetti: It’s going wonderful.
CC: So, let’s start with how long Stateline Camp Resort has been there and how it got started.
Nicola Leonetti: Stateline has been here since actually 1979, and it used to be a private membership park. It was all timeshare way back when. And within the past ten years or so, we’ve opened it up to the general public. So, we still have members. We just don’t have as many. We’re primarily a non-membership park right now.
CC: Okay, and you guys have the unique situation of being right on a lake, which looks just gorgeous on the pictures on the website.
Nicola Leonetti: Yeah, it’s a huge lake. We don’t actually swim in the lake, but we have excellent boating. People bring fishing boats. We have really great fishing. There’s a lot of pictures on our website too. There’s bass. There’s pickerels. All kinds of fish.
CC: Yeah. And what are some of the most popular activities within the park that people enjoy?
Nicola Leonetti: We are pretty much well known for our activities. We do a lot of themed weekends. So, we do like a pirates and princess weekend, and everybody dresses up. Most of the staff gets involved. We do dinner. We have dances. We do lots of contests. We entertain pretty much adults all the way down to the children, but we always make sure the kids have something to do and the teenagers do a lot of contests. We do bingo. We have snack bar. We do carnivals. It’s pretty quiet during the week. We leave that pretty much to the camper that just wants to relax and actually just enjoy the park. So, they usually just go swimming in the pool or fish.
CC: So, lots of activities that, on the weekend, it sounds like you foster a strong sense of community there.
Nicola Leonetti: We do. And we do open up some of the things that we do to people that just want to come in for the day. Like next year, we’re going to do like a music festival weekend. We haven’t done that before, and a lot of people seem to be interested in it. Get a lot of local bands and try to do a camping specials where people can come in for one set price for the whole weekend. Kind of like a mini Woodstock, but not quite Woodstock.
CC: Fun.
Nicola Leonetti: With all kinds of music. Yeah, I think it’ll be great.
CC: Now, as far as the RVs go, how do those rentals work? Can customers rent a space for a night, a week, or a whole season?
Nicola Leonetti: We do nightly camping. On the major holiday weekends, we usually have a minimum of a three-night weekend. It depends though. If we get closer to a holiday and there’s still some sites available, then we’ll go down to a two-night minimum or a one-night minimum, but pretty much there’s no restriction. Only on the holidays. But we take anything from a tent all the up to a 42-foot bus. We also offer cabin rentals.
CC: Okay. And what kind of camping tents would be the most popular in the park? Is it mostly RVs?
Nicola Leonetti: It’s hard to say really. I mean it depends.
CC: Sure.
Nicola Leonetti: Like with this economy, you know, the way things have been the past two years, we’ve seen a lot more tenters.
CCC: Okay.
Nicola Leonetti: A lot more people in popups, where before it was more and more RVs. But we kind of mix everybody up. A lot of family reunions we get too. A lot of people come in and half the family will have an RV; the other half will have a tent. Some people want to rent cabins. So, we kind of have it all really.
CC: Okay. Now, if I was staying there for the weekend and I wanted to venture outside of the park, what are some of the attractions worth checking out in the area?
Nicola Leonetti: We are near two casinos – the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. We’re about half hour to 45 minutes away. And then we’re also about 45 minutes away from Providence, Rhode Island and the Newport Beaches. That’s popular.
CC: Okay.
Nicola Leonetti: And the other thing that’s popular is Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. A lot of people come here for that also. Everything is within like an hour’s drive. Mystic Seaport is about an hour away. Newport. Hartford is only an hour away. We’re kind of right in that right-hand little corner there. Thompson Motor Speedway is popular too. They do all the car racing, and they just did like a zombie run, which is really popular nowadays. A lot of people really getting into like these zombie walks and zombie runs.
CC: Yeah.
Nicola Leonetti: Yeah, those are fun.
CC: Two more questions for you. If you could spend just one hour in your park there, how would you spend your time? What’s your favorite activity?
Nicola Leonetti: Me? Just relaxing. Just sitting by the fire or just sitting up by the fence. During the day I’d probably sit up by the pool. Listen to the music, because we usually have music playing. But if it was an evening, I would just sit by the fire and just relax.
CC: And if you could spend just one night in Stateline Camp Resort Park, which specific campsite would you choose and why?
Nicola Leonetti: I like sites near the water. I just like to look out through the trees and look at the water. I’d probably choose, if I was in a tent or popup, probably sites 18 through 21; are really nice. Really nice, big level sites. If I was in an RV, I would choose sites like 203/204. Those are really great sites also.
CC: Perfect. Then we can. That’s exactly what I’m looking for. We can offer a little bit of insider info on the post. Cool.
Nicola Leonetti: Yeah.
CC: All right. Well, thanks for taking some time out of your day this morning. Much appreciated.
Nicola Leonetti: Thank you.
