Philpott Lake · Virginia
Overview Deer Island is a boat-access only campground with 21 primitive sites available by reservation only. The sites are non-site specific. The closest launch ramp for Deer Island, from April 1st through October 31st, is located in the Salthouse Branch campground.
Sites at Deer Island are reserved through Recreation.gov. Sites here can be reserved in advance through the official system, and they are claimed fast — cancellations then trickle back all season, unannounced, at any hour of the day or night.
| Total sites | 22 |
|---|---|
| Site types | Boat-in |
| Location | Henry, VA |
| Book through | Recreation.gov |
| Official listing | Recreation.gov |
Because sites are booked months ahead, a steady share of reservations get cancelled as trips fall through. Each cancellation instantly returns that site and those nights to the official calendar — first-come, first-served, no waitlist, no announcement. Refreshing the booking page yourself, every few minutes for weeks, works in theory. In practice, the people who get these sites are the ones who hear about the opening first.
ItOpened scans the Recreation.gov calendar for Deer Island around the clock. When a site matching your dates and your vehicle opens, you get a text with a direct link to it. You book it yourself, in your own account, at the normal price. We never book, hold, or resell — your fee pays for monitoring, and openings are first-come, so speed is the whole game.
| Salthouse Branch | Cancellation alerts available |
|---|---|
| Goose Point | Cancellation alerts available |
| Horseshoe Point | Cancellation alerts available |
| Philpott Park | Cancellation alerts available |
Page data refreshed 2026-10-29. Site facts come from the official directory listing for Deer Island; cancellation statistics come from our own scanning logs.