I spent a couple of days this week on a school retreat in Lone Star Texas. The town is about a half hour north of Longview, and was built around the U.S. Steele plant (formerly Lone Star Steele). Lakeview Baptist Assembly, (a local church in Lone Star), owns and operates a camp for organizations like schools, churches and Boy Scout troops to hold conventions and getaways. The facilities at Lakeside are fairly new and well maintained. They offer dormitories, a conference building, a beautiful, brand new cafeteria, an admittedly older but fully functional gym, a pool, volley sand pit, zip line cord, of course access to the Lake, and a number of areas to accommodate other events. All buildings are air conditioned as well, a bit to my surprise, so the stay is less like camping and more like a hotel with bunk beds. That is certainly not a complaint by the way. I happen to enjoy camping and the outdoors but not so much August.
As for critiques, I don’t have a ton. Road access isn’t great, and since everything is built on a bit of a hill side parking is really limited. There are evidently plans for another building as well, given the presence of some heavy equipment in the middle of camp. Otherwise, the grounds are really nice and offer some picturesque views of the lake.
So would I recommend Lakeside Baptist? That sort of depends on where you’re coming from. For Tylerites, it’s a bit far for a school or church group to choose as a destination, unless they’re looking for something out of the way. In that case I think there are maybe better options. For us however this local has worked fine. It’s fully equipped and for the kids the event is all about having a shared experience, and hanging around together for a few days while everyone else is in school, anyway. For those based in the Longview / Gregg county area, looking for a campground / convention / retreat location I suggest taking a look at Lakeside Baptist Camp in Lone Star.
