Yurts, campsites open for reservation at new Western Maryland state park

The yurts are open for business.

This Friday, the gates will officially open at Maryland’s newest state park, Savage Highlands, unlocking some 55,000 acres of Western Maryland woodlands outside of Frostburg for public use, free of charge.

But already, online bookings are open for overnight stays at four small but luxurious yurts — at a cost of about $200 per night — as well as $20-a-night primitive campsites along the property’s hiking trails, complete with a fire ring, picnic table and bear-proof storage container.

Once a privately held vacation resort called Savage River Lodge, anchored by a rustic ski lodge with its own restaurant, the facility used to be geared toward adults, advertising romantic getaways for couples and even charging added fees for children to tag along.

But the state park service is determined to welcome families. In other words, out with the loveseats and in with the sofa beds.

“Under state ownership, children and families will experience this remarkable property together at a price point in line with what our Maryland state park visitors can afford,” said Angela Crenshaw, director of the Maryland Park Service, during an opening event for the state park on Saturday. “That represents a meaningful shift from a private past.”

For now, the yurts and campsites are open for bookings through the end of October. The state plans to close them over the winter due to the bumpy condition of the steep gravel road entering the property, which the state is hoping to repair.

State parks officials say even more improvements are in the works at Savage Highlands, which they hope will become a hub for visitors to other nearby state lands, including nearby Savage River State Forest, New Germany State Park and Dan’s Mountain Wildlife Management Area.

The property also features 18 quaint cabins — which, like the yurts, have electricity, indoor plumbing and other amenities — but several need new roofs, so the state has opted against opening them to reservations, likely until next spring. Those facilities will likely come at a similar nightly cost to the yurts, officials said.

Other things also still remain unfinished. The lodge will be open to any visitors — both day hikers and overnight campers — come Friday, with its plush armchairs beneath the taxidermied head of an antlered buck, and its sprawling deck with Adirondack chairs and benches aplenty, overlooking the park’s forested surroundings.

But state officials are still puzzling through how they might utilize the old restaurant space in the lodge. Maybe it could be a wedding venue. Maybe a contractor could serve food of some sort.

The jury is still out, but one thing is for sure: “Park rangers are not the kind of cooks you want in the lodge,” joked Jonas Williams, director of planning for the park service.

The state purchased the property for $8.7 million in 2024, an eyebrow-raising figure to some critics, especially given that it does not include the investments the state must make to modernize the facility and add new features.

But state officials consider it a worthy investment, especially considering high visitorship, which reached a peak of 21 million visitors at all state parks in 2020, forcing the state to temporarily close a small group of the most popular parks 292 times because they had reached capacity. And even amid budget crunches, the state has the cash set aside.

The money to purchase the Savage property came from Program Open Space special funds, derived from a portion of the state’s transfer tax.

At Savage Highlands, in addition to the new cabin roofs, the park service plans to build ADA-accessible additions to two cabins, so that they each have a private bedroom on the ground floor, Williams said. Currently, the cabins have loft bedrooms reached by climbing a small staircase. The state also wants to add stoves to the cabins, which only have a microwave, sink and miniature fridge, Williams said.

The yurts, of which there are eight on the property, currently have heated floors and a woodstove but no other heating or cooling, the state has already added small air conditioning units, and is considering enhanced window HVAC units.

The state also evaluated the park’s roughly 5.75 miles of hiking trails, implementing new trail designs to replace routes deemed unsuitable for long-term public use.

Despite the price tag, at least one of the three members of the Maryland Board of Public Works, who must approve land purchases and other infrastructure costs incurred by the state government, thought it was an easy sell.

Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman (D), a former Baltimore City delegate, said she began traveling to the property with her family while it was still in private hands, during the coronavirus pandemic.

“When the secretary came to me and said, ‘Hey, we have this idea about bringing this into the state park system,’ I did not need a lot of convincing,” Lierman said.

Lierman made a return trip on Saturday to attend the park’s opening ceremony.

“My son, who’s now 13, actually remembers the cabin that we stayed in, remarked on, ‘Oh, we had s’mores down there by the campfire,’ and remembered the hike that we went on,” Lierman said.

The state is eyeing additional park openings following the uniquely high popularity of the state park system during the coronavirus pandemic.

In May, the state opened Freedman’s State Park in Montgomery County. The state is currently in the planning phase for Wicomico County’s first state park, a 445-acre property called Wetipquin Creek State Park, and is soon to open a new natural resources management area at Holly Beach Farm in Anne Arundel County, a 293-acre waterfront parcel donated by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in 2024. The state also accepted the donation earlier this year of Catoctin Furnace Cemetery at Cunningham Falls State Park.

Over the last year, the state has also implemented — and then expanded — a new online registration requirement for daytime visitors to some of its most popular parks, including Sandy Point, Rocky Gap Swallow Falls and parts of Gunpowder Falls.

Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz, who oversees the Park Service, hears it all from state park visitors.

“People either tell you what bathrooms were dirty when they went to the park, or some wild story or adventure that they had in our parks,” Kurtz said on Saturday.

“Moving forward, there will be marriages here. There will be proposals here. There will be first hikes here. There will be first campsites here. There will be first s’mores here,” Kurtz said. “And I think those are the kind of things that leave a lasting indelible mark on people.”

For one Maryland couple, the memories began this past weekend. Newly married Matt Smith and his wife, Maggie Leathers-Smith, of Pikesville, were hiking on their honeymoon in West Virginia when they learned that they had won a free stay at Savage Highlands, and would become the first members of the general public to stay at the newly minted state park.

The couple were participating in the Miles for Maryland challenge for 2026, which pushes participants to hike 250 miles in honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary this year, and received the free stay after a random draw for program participants.

“We’re very fortunate in Maryland to have this now for the public,” Smith said. “I didn’t know this existed privately, and just learning about it recently, it’s like: Wow.”

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) also made the trek from Charm City, and stayed in a yurt at the new park Friday night.

He told the small crowd on Saturday how he and his family turned to an Eastern Shore state park after a contentious General Assembly session this year, marked by Ferguson’s feud with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) over middecade congressional redistricting, and a trying primary election, during which Ferguson defeated the most formidable challenger of his political career.

The family’s trip to a cabin at the state park brought far quieter moments beside the campfire, Ferguson said, including a heart-to-heart with his son about his plans for the beginning of high school.

“It was that moment of connection between a father and a son that was unbelievably powerful in the middle of Tuckahoe State Park. To me, that is what these investments do,” Ferguson said.

In 2022, in the wake of record park visitorship during the pandemic, the General Assembly passed the Great Maryland Outdoors Act, which set aside tens of millions for park acquisitions and improvements.

On Saturday morning, Ferguson said he texted a picture from Savage Highlands to Rep. Sarah Elfreth (D-3rd), who was the lead sponsor of the Great Outdoors bill as a state senator.

I said, “This is everything you imagined,’” Ferguson told the crowd.