A brown tourist attraction sign on the side of I-81 still directs weary travelers to the Lee Hi campground behind the TA Travel Center on North Lee Highway.
But would-be campers will find that there is no longer spot to hook up at for the night.
On July 31, TravelCenters of America announced that the campground along the grassy ridge behind the busy truck stop parking lot will permanently close. A notice posted on the door said the truck stop, which used to be known as the Lee Hi Travel Plaza, would no longer be taking daily camper reservations effective immediately. Longer-term residents were notified that they would have to move out by Sept. 30.
Last week, a hodgepodge of around 25 campers were still parked among the 50 RV campsites. Some of the RVs looked like permanent structures tucked into the hillside with gardens, dog runs and outdoor eating areas. Clearly, long-time homes.
Many of the “monthly” campers have lived on the grounds for years – even some more than a decade.
The abrupt closure has forced those campers to search for a new place to live.
“There aren’t any full-time campsites anywhere around here,” Dave Patterson said. “So, everyone’s pretty much going to be displaced.”
Patterson has lived at the campground in a converted school bus for about six months after losing his job at the Rockbridge Motel, which changed ownership in the spring. He said the campground offers hook-up sites at just over $500 a month, which is easier to afford when you’re in a low-income job or unemployed.
Each of the full hook-up sites offers electricity, a dump site, access to a bathhouse and all the truck stop’s amenities, which include a restaurant, laundry, gas and RV service.
Patterson said the bath houses, which he claimed were always filthy, were part of the problem.
“People have been constantly going up there, complaining to the management about how we’d like it to be cleaned. They refused to clean it,” Patterson said.
He said after repeated complaints, management with Travel Centers of America made the decision to close the campground.
But some residents say recent changes in ownership are what have caused all the problems.
The Lee Hi Travel Plaza opened in 1959 and was bought by local businessman Bobby Berkstresser in 1981. Berkstresser also bought White’s Truck Stop (now Petro) in Raphine in 2011. He ran both until his death in 2022.
After his death, the family sold Lee Hi to TravelCenters of America, which was renamed TA Lexington. TravelCenters of America was sold to BP in 2023.
A long-time resident who didn’t want to be identified said that the new management team didn’t vet perspective campground residents as well as they should.
“This campground used to make money. It was a nice campground when he [Berkstresser] was alive, you know,” he said. “Anyway, long story short is they’re allowing people in here without screening them. So, when you do that, you got trouble with the law.”
That resident said there have been problems with fights, drugs and people not paying their rent.
“Management should have taken care of the evictions a long time ago,” the long-term resident said.
The News-Gazette couldn’t independently verify that people are behind on their rent.
As for crime, Rockbridge County Sheriff Tony McFaddin said he hasn’t noticed a significant increase in criminal activity, but any time people live together long-term, problems can come up.
“Of course, whenever you have a large congregation of people, you’re going to have an uptick in crimes and problems and calls,” McFaddin said. “Anytime that you take a campground and turn into something other than a temporary recreational area, you’re going to have problems.”
The Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Office released incident reports from the campground from calls in the last few years that revealed some minor disputes and drug use. There were at least a dozen calls made to the sheriff’s office in 2025 but only three so far this year. It’s unclear if anyone was charged.
The longtime resident said there are issues with the bath houses, but blamed people who don’t live at the campground for “trashing” them. He said residents have installed cameras to try to deter visitors from using them. But on the day The News-Gazette visited, a car that the longtime resident said didn’t belong at Lee-Hi was parked outside one of the bath houses.
Managers at TA Lexington were instructed not to say anything about the campground’s closure and referred people to a media hotline.
TravelCenters of America released a statement to The News-Gazette, writing: “Following a review of our long-term business priorities, Travel-Centers of America made the difficult decision to discontinue operations at the Lexington Campground, which will permanently close on Sept. 30, 2026. We provided advance notice to campground guests to allow time to make alternative arrangements. Our Lexington travel center will remain open and continue serving guests.”
The long-term resident said it’s a shame the campground is closing because for a long time, it was a great place to live.
“I’ve seen a lot of people go. This campground used to be a nice campground,” he said. “It was all mainly construction workers. We had high dollar campers coming here all the time.”
Now, the residents are left scrambling to get out before the deadline.
Most other Rockbridge County RV sites and campgrounds have time limits for rentals or only operate seasonally. A resident who only identified herself as Ruby said some campgrounds also require application fees and background checks. Ruby has lived at Lee Hi for eight months and said she doesn’t know where she’s going to do.
“A lot of places, even if they do have openings, they won’t take older trailers,” Ruby said. “Some of them want $40 to do an application and background check, which doesn’t mean you’re going to get (accepted).”
Some of the long-term residents at Lee Hi told The News-Gazette that they likely will be forced to leave town entirely and seek out other campgrounds in neighboring counties.
“There’s no other campgrounds to get into here,” Ruby said. “There’s a lot of us that don’t’ have anywhere to go.”
