Kevin and Laura Wilson outside one of the geodesic domes for Camp Yellow Cardinal. (Images courtesy Camp Yellow Cardinal)
Kevin and Laura Wilson are ready to welcome the glampers.
The husband-and-wife Richmond residents next month will open Camp Yellow Cardinal, a 25-acre “glamorous camping” site near Farmville featuring geodesic domes, a bath house and hot tubs, for a more luxurious experience than the typical tents and sleeping bags.
The Wilsons were granted a special use permit for the venue by the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors in March of 2025 and have since been working on the buildout of the camp off the southern side of C C Road, west of Meherrin and about 20 minutes south of Farmville.
Wilson, who previously co-owned StickyToGoGo restaurant in the Fan, said he and his wife had the idea for the business after dipping their toes into real estate and sought to help people like themselves from urban areas find some solace in the rural Virginia countryside.
The space includes six campsites (with more to come later), each consisting of a 19-foot diameter “retro futurist” dome with a king-size bed and table for two guests to eat at, atop a 25-by-25-foot wood deck. Each campsite will feature a kitchenette with coffee and tea, a fire pit, hot tub and propane grill, as well as a record player, which Wilson said is a “fun, analog way” to encourage people to put their phones away.
All of the domes are insulated with heat and air conditioning; they are each 75 to 125 feet apart to offer seclusion, Wilson said.
In December through April, Wilson said an average daily rate to rent one of the domes is $265 to $285, while in the hotter months, which he said is peak season, the price would be around $350. Some “key weekends” like Memorial Day Weekend would be upward of $400 per dome per day.
Other construction includes a gravel parking lot, a communal pavilion, a small camp store, a bath house with heated concrete floors and tile walk-in shower, as well as lit walking paths between campsites and utilities.
One of the geodesic dome sites, with a hot tub.
Wilson said vanities and bathing amenities in the bath house will be assigned by dome so people can leave their toiletries and other items there if they choose.
Work has been completed on the camp’s parking lot, driveway, decks for the domes and the bathhouses. All of the domes and hot tubs for the project are on site and are currently being installed.
Wilson estimated that project costs for Camp Yellow Cardinal have come in at around $750,000. The couple financed around 80% of the project with an SBA loan, which Wilson said has been a long process that put the glamping destination behind schedule on opening.
“Everything was secured, it was just the amount of back and forth that took forever, frankly. But once we had heavy equipment on site, we’ve been off to the races,” he said.
Camp Yellow Cardinal is to open for campers on Dec. 31. Reservations began in recent weeks and within five days of going live, the camp had more than 75 bookings, and now has around 120 bookings total. Wilson said he attributes this in part to the camp’s social media, where he and his wife have been documenting the entire process of building out the glamping destination.
“We fully expected Richmond (and Chesterfield) to be represented in the group of people showing up, but we got Fairfax and we got Charlottesville and we got Newport News, and we were like ‘Okay, cool, that’s awesome,’” Wilson said of the first bookings. “But then we had a Maryland, a Pennsylvania, and we were like, ‘Oh my goodness. The power of social media … people are following our story.’”
The master site plan for the Camp Yellow Cardinal site in Prince Edward County.
The Wilsons continue to reside in Richmond while owning and running the camp. Wilson plans to serve as the property’s full-time owner-manager. The duo also plan to hire a few local employees for cleaning and turnover service.
Wilson co-owned StickyToGoGo, the carry-out, delivery and catering spinoff of Fan sushi joint Sticky Rice, from 2006 to 2017. During that time, he also co-owned Cellar Door, a Peruvian-inspired restaurant at 1600 Monument Avenue, from 2010 to 2012.
Elsewhere in the region, another glam travel destination has recently opened its doors. Hunting event venue The Fleming Preserve, which sits on 2,600 acres along the Appomattox River, recently began taking reservations.
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