Best Tent Camping near Brookline, MA

There are 2 Fearing Pond loops at Myles Standish State Forest, the H & I loops. The H loop entrance is closer to the Charge Pond loops and is higher above pond. This loop is better suited to the larger trailers/tents with more space to drive around a loop , but some spots have slopes. The I loop's best feature is a small beach that is easily accessible from all sites. They've done a lot of site restoration and the fact that it didn't open in 2020 helped. In spite of that, many of the sites have awkward approaches and there is a large parking lot closer to the bathroom. There are no hookups, but there is a dump station available. Water is available, but no electric hookups. Fire rings and picnic tables provided.

The forest has miles of biking trails, ponds for swimming, fishing, and boating, and even cranberry bogs to explore (though harvest is late in the camping season and this section is not open at that time).

Cell phone coverage is poor to absent in the forest, so download maps for offline use prior to your arrival.

Plymouth is nearby for a any forgotten provisions and for sightseeing. Erickson's ice cream cafe is near the entrance if you need a treat!

Scusset Beach offers an extended camping season, although the extended season is restricted to self-contained units as the restrooms are turned off.  Also, there are only 5 designated tent sites during the peak season, so if you want to tent camp here, you'd best make a reservation well in advance.. You cannot reserve an RV site for a just a tent, though if you have a trailer, you may also have a tent on the site. The 5 tent sites have their own fire pits, but the RV sites must use a community fire pit, though in mid-November, just before the campground closed for the season, RVers used the firepit at a tent site that provided some additional protection from the wind.

The RV sites have paved parking pads and picnic tables, but the area to the side of the parking pads sometimes slopes away, so it's less usable for chairs, etc.  In the 2020 camping season, every other campsite was closed (thus the picnic tables across the entrance of the parking pad). Some of the sites, 32 34, 36, are along the back of the campground closer to the trees/scrub, and so have some degree of privacy and protection as compared to the others in the wide open park.

The campground is on the north shore of the Cape Code canal and provides access to a sandy beach, a jetty, and the Cape Cod Canal Trail for biking and walking. There's a nice playground for youth. You can fish from the shore or jetty, No need to cross the bridge to the Cape. Plymouth is also nearby to explore.

We stayed here for a season and loved it! The staff from the front desk to the front gate are incredibly friendly and welcoming!

Pros-

Front office is open late (9pm)

Offers wood, ice, fire starters, hoses and adapter cap for gray water drain.

Country Store

Ice Cream

Amazing views of the canal.

Bike path along the canal, easy access.

Lots of playgrounds for different ages

Bounce pad (in-ground)

Pool

Stair access to canal bike path.

Dump station

Inexpensive to have visitors\

Located near so much! Walmart, Market Basket, Target all within 15min.  

Cons-

No on site drainage for black water (grey takes an adapter). You will need a poop tote.

Lots of tight spaces

Anyone can pay to access canal, so they can access any campsite even without staying there. 

Highway noise.

BRIDGE TRAFFIC- if you know you know.

We stayed at Harold Parker State Forest Campground during Memorial Day Weekend. Reservation through Reserve America was a breeze. Check in till 9:00 pm was convenient. Checkout by 11:00 am but we paid for an additional night to be able to leave at night the day we checked out. Totally worth it!

Nice large campsites. The sites’ privacy is very diverse. You could be tucked away from everyone or closer together depending on the site you choose but they are all pretty decent in size. All sites have water which is a plus. All have a fire pit/box, charcoal bbq and a picnic table. Most of them are drive in. 

Quiet hours from 10 am to 7 am. No alcohol allowed (although I didn’t see an actual enforcement of this rule and guess it’ll happen only if people act out). Rangers are constantly patrolling. Felt pretty safe at night. You can’t bring wood. Bundles are $5 each and it burns really well. 

Lots of biking/hiking/walking trails, a nice small pond/beach, boat access, a few basketball courts, a volleyball court and a common huge fire pit added to the fun. A ranger ran a program to teach about the area fauna which was pretty interesting for kids and adults alike. 

Bathrooms were fairly clean although small and showers were free! Some sites were right in front of a lovely pond and there were many group sites available as well. 

The location is pretty good. Salem, Andover, Boston Are accesible while staying here. Close proximity to Richardson Ice Cream which you CANT miss if you decide to stay.  They have cheap but amazing ice cream, mini golf and battling cages which was entertaining for my whole crew. 

It rained a lot during one night of our stay and the site (301) did not flooded at all. All sites seemed in pretty good shape the morning after as well. 

Beautiful and will recommend to families with small kids, groups and couples too.

Five friends and I decided to compete in Questival, which came to Boston for May 11-12, 2018. There aren't many campgrounds open in Massachusetts this early in the season, but Harold Parker State Forest was! I snagged a group campsite since we'd have four tents. We had to set up after dark, so we wound up congregating in one corner of the group site. When we woke up we could see just how HUGE the group site was! We had 4 two-person tents; you could easily fit 3x that number of tents. PLENTY of flat ground to set up on, and we were far enough back from the road that we never heard or saw other campers arriving, even though we know most other Questival competitors stayed at this campground. It was about a 5 minute walk to the bathrooms and showers, and potable water was available right on the site. Even though it was early in the season and not very leafy, we could only occasionally see our neighbors' headlamps. There were 4 or 5 fire pits, 5 large picnic tables, and 3 driveways that could fit two cars each. Great value for the cost! We were pleased with the privacy, space, cleanliness, and amenities.

This campsite loop at Myles Standish State Forest is closest to the headquarters and borders a small pond with beach. In addition to tent/RV sites, there are 3 yurts available with bunks. Sites that appear to be near the pond are pond view rather than pondside. Approaches to Yurt JC and J5, J 26, J27 are sloped. J14 is a little awkward. J33 is probably among the largest and nicest with a pond view. The sites aren't as large as those in the Charge Pond loops, but it's a smaller campground.

The loop has flush toilets and showers. Water is available, but no electric hookups. Fire rings and picnic tables provided. Cell phone coverage throughout the forest is poor to absent; download maps for offline use if you want to be sure to know where you are or find directions. There are miles of bike trails and ponds for fishing, swimming, and boating. There's a larger beach and picnic area at College Pond.

First of all, the location is a little quirky and I think I only arrived once without a wrong turn! Watch the GPS carefully. That said, it’s very close to Hampton Beach and you can easily drive or bike over. The campground is parallel to US1, so there is some road traffic noise. Some of the tent sites overlook the marsh. The tent sites are definitely tighter than trailer sites. Some sites back up to each other and it takes a moment to understand where one ends and the next begins. 

I was here early in the season and placed in a seasonal site with water/electric. Site was level. Neighbors were friendly. The bathroom was a short walk away and spotless. I did notice that in the tent areas, the main bathrooms are supplemented with portable toilets. Sites are mostly wooded, which will offer nice relief from the heat. It's a nice base for exploring the area.

There’s a gated entry and turtle-speed limit that they take seriously. The pool was not yet open. There’s a small store onsite for ice and essentials. All the big box stores and a number of restaurants are nearby. For a change of pace from seafood, I picked up Shane's Texas Pit BBQ and brought it back to my site. 

You may request a reservation online, but you have to confirm and pay for it via the phone. You’ll need to arrive before 9pm to check in. Bring $10 for a cash deposit on the gate card. Only 1 vehicle and 1 camping unit (tent or trailer) allowed on a site.

Downside: They charge for showers, the amount and duration is unclear and the duration varies depending on which shower you choose! Given the rates they charge, this seems petty.

Scusset Beach Reservation overlooks Cape Cod Bay and accommodates a multitude of RV sites. The campgrounds aren’t the most attractive, but the pull here, of course, is the beach- which is actually pretty amazing.

Not nearly as crowded as a majority of the nearby Cape beaches and rather quiet- especially shocking for the weekend just before the July 4th holiday- Scusset Beach has all the amenities you could really want for a low-key beach outing. The beach is clean, with beautiful, white, rock-free sand. There’s a small snack bar with basic food options, bathroom and locker room facilities, picnic tables and plenty of parking. Lifeguards begin their work around 10am and are pretty serious about announcing all the rules.

In the grounds, you’ll find rows and rows of RV sites. Not much in terms of privacy- basically a glorified parking lot with the occasional tree and nearby nature center. The Park, however, also has 5 tent sites towards the back that are really your best bet if you want anything close to a true camping experience. Tent sites 1, 4 and 5 are the most attractive options, offering shade and a fair amount of privacy. Each is set up with a grill, fire pit and picnic table and are pretty decently sized.

Additionally, there are several trails around the Reservation. A nice bike path along the waterway is literally feet away from the tent sites; and there also seemed to be smaller paths dispersed throughout.

If you’re a fan of the Cape and ocean, definitely give Scusset Beach a try- especially one of the tent sites. You can literally walk to the shore and stores and restaurants are a quick car ride down the street.

Pros - the campground is lovely to drive through and the sites are fairly nicely design with some privacy between sites (some sites have more some have less).  It's also nice to have access to the multitude of hiking trails and ponds.

Cons - the works.  We stayed around Charge Pond on a Friday and Saturday night, and even though the park has clearly stated quiet hours of 10 pm to 7 am (which includes generators), it was one of the loudest camps I've ever been to.  Several camp neighbors in our loop were up well past 1am loud as hell - talking loudly, screaming and yelling - even their kids!  And one site had their trailer generator running all night - there was absolutely no patrol of this campground at all, which is unacceptable on weekends in my opinion.  This place attracts some really awful people - there were several spots of vomit in the road Saturday morning, and on Sunday morning a neighbor could be heard at 6 am puking his guts out in surround-sound.  That plus the general noisiness, disrespect of other campers, and lack of patrol would keep me away alone, but the state of the facilities topped it off.  The women's room in Charge Pond loop A was filthy - it wasn't super outdated, but just not clean at all.  Every surface was absolutely disgusting, they had a 5-gallon plastic bucket to serve as the bathroom trash, and the entire place smelled like urine.  To top it off, when using it Sunday morning every single stall was out of toilet paper, and the whole place had very clearly had not been cleaned since Friday night.  I know campground bathrooms are usually not the best, but this was definitely one of the worst - I've used vault toilets that were cleaner!

I will never stay here again.