Best Tent Camping near Hampstead, NC

Our family has tent camped here twice and recently reserved a camp cabin for a week this summer. This is a quiet and spacious campground mere miles from Carolina Beach at a price that's hard to beat. We tent camp here around $30 a night for a tent site. Each site is very large and spacious. It could could comfortably fit 2 tents and a car.

This Campground offers bathhouses, picnic tables, and fire rings. Dogs allowed, but not in the cabins. Plenty of walking trails.

Campground is flat and shaded, although there are some primative group sites away from the main campground but they don't have as much shade. Grocery store is maybe 6 miles away.

We camped here in October 2020 and stayed in site 17. It is a great site with lots of room between you and the next camper.

The bath facility is in a very nice building, is heated and has individual locking shower rooms so you have total privacy and security. The roads are paved and the paved pads accommodate up to a 70 ft camper/vehicle. Each site has a smooth, flat, gravel area equipped with 2 lantern poles, one large picnic table, and a fire ring with swing away cooking grate. Beyond the gravel areas are flat level areas of grass. The campsites are shaded by large, tall pines and other assorted trees.

The bath facility was very clean and well kept. The host was very friendly and helpful. The grounds throughout the park are extremely well kept.

Upon arrival, you check in with the host, drive to water fill area and fill up your fresh water tank. There are additional water fill faucets throughout the park. Your site is equipped for both 30 or 50 amp campers.

We really like this little campground and plan to come back again soon.

Cedar Point RA is a small campground along the White Oak River in the Croatan National Forest. The campground has 40 sites with electric hook up. The sites are level and have a paved parking pad that they are pretty strict on you keeping all wheels on and a gravel area with a picnic table, fire pit, and two lantern poles (that also work good for putting up a clothes line or dog zipline). The sites do not have water hook ups so make sure your RV fresh water tanks are topped off, or there are plenty of potable water points throughout the campground to fill up you jugs. The sites are large and separated by space, not trees, for privacy. The sites on the southeast side seemed to have more shade than those on the northwest side. Campground map is in my pictures. 

There is no office or signage for check-in, so we just drove in, found our reserved spot that had our name on the tag and set up. The Camp Host came around a little later and apparently we were supposed to know to check-in with him somehow. We stayed on site 24 on this visit. Lots of sun throughout the day until late evening, so a little miserable on this stay as the area had heat advisories every day. 

The bathhouse could use a little TLC. The bathrooms were functional but not very clean. The showers are separate from the bathroom and half were out of order on this stay. Additionally, in typical National Forest fashion, there is no heat or air or even a fan in the bathroom or showers, so again, pretty miserable on this stay as the area had heat advisories every day. The heat in the bathrooms and showers had to be over 100 degrees. Also, typical National Forest setup, the showers are push button, with no temperature control (you get what you get) and the water only flows for about 15 seconds with each push of the button. 

Firewood was available at the camp host. There is a full grocery store 5 minutes from the campground. The resort has many amenities like a boat ramp about a ¼ of a mile down the road and a hiking trail that loops for about 2 miles along the marshy shore line. There is a dump station and trash dumpster behind the camp hosts location. 

We found good cell phone service with Verizon throughout the property. The campground did not have wi-fi. 

While in the area we enjoyed the public beach on Emerald Isle, which is only 15 minutes from campground. There are lots of water sport rentals nearby and restaurants. Camp Lejeune is less than 30 minutes away and on some nights we could hear the artillery in the distance as the Marines trained. However, as a retired Army guy, the faint sound of freedom did not bother me at all. 

The heatwave during our stay really hindered us. Not sure we’d revisit in the middle of the summer again, but during the cooler month I’m sure it would be much more comfortable.

The group campground is isolated from the rest of the camping areas and is quiet at night. There are a lot of park visitors who walk through the area, but the trail through goes around he main campsites. The pit toilets are in need of some attention, but have always been well stocked. It’s about 400 yards to hike in, so we used a wagon to bring in gear. No water on site, but a really nice fire pit with grill top and 2 picnic tables. Shady tent sites available, but really hot and buggy in summer. Group camp site is about .5 mile hike from the river which is great for wading, but swimming is not allowed.

Many species of carnivorous plants grow here and abundant wildlife.

in the summer months there is a place to rent kayaks and paddle boards at the marina.

The camp ground was really easy to get around with kids, plenty of trails that preschool kids can enjoy as well as adults. Lots of beautiful views just a short hike away. We camped in a primitive tent site, plenty of shade with nice picnic table and fire ring with grill grate. The bathrooms were so clean, we were really impressed. The rangers are super helpful and very nice. One of our best camping trips ever. Fort Fisher Historic site and Aquarium are less than 15 minutes away. Beach accesses are less than 5 minutes away by car. I would highly recommend visiting in early Spring or late Fall. I live a short distance away and the mosquitoes are unbearable in the warmer months.

Carolina beach state park is one of my favorite places to go in North Carolina. Not only does it have an awesome campground, but it's right near one of the best beaches I've ever been to. The sites are nice and secluded, just how I like them. Most of the sites are tent sites, but they have a few full hookup sites for RVs and some cabins to rent too. All of the sites have picnic tables, fire rings, and drinking water.

Within the park, there are tons of hiking trails through a really beautiful area. I hear the fishing is also really good within the park, but I've never done it myself. The only downside is you can't swim within the park, because the currents can get dangerous. The beach is only like 5 minutes away though, so not really a big deal.

As for the beach, it's my favorite one to go to in the states. I like it because it's not really touristy like the outer banks or myrtle beach. Not a whole lot of people come to it, so it's always pretty secluded and clean. In July, the water temperature is perfect, the waves are nice, and it's great all around.

Awesome spot in NC.

The campground is in a nice area. The small lake is beautiful and full of fish. It is near a small bustling town with everything you need. The staff is friendly.

The only drawback is that the camp itself is outdated. The so-called bathhouses need a severe update. The bathhouse does not have HVAC in it. There’s one male toilet and one female toilet for the entire camp. There are two portable toilets on the back end of the property. There’s one shower of the two that works and it is a small shower. Do not weigh more than 175 pounds going in that shower.

All in all, it’s a good temporary campsite. This is not set up for long-term, even though there are multiple long-term campers here.

We camped here Wed through Sat for my son's fall break. We arrived on Wed afternoon around 4pm. I was wearing leggings and the mosquitos literally landed on my leggings and bit me through them. I didn't even know that could happen. I should have left the campsite then and gone to Walmart, 17 min away, and bought enough bug spray and candles for the weekend but we set up the campsite instead. We just got back so camped the first week in October, site 17. For the four days, I had two citronella candles, one on the picnic table and one near our camping chairs, a thermocell fogger in the tent (ran for about an hour before we went in to go to sleep)  and then two bottles of 40% deet spray...one for our car when we came back to the campsite and one on the picnic table. We brought our kayaks and launched from both the Carolina Beach State Park marina and also Trails End public access (intercoastal waterway). Both were great with plenty of parking while we were there. There are VERY large yachts in the trails end area which are cool to see, just be careful when paddling that area. We fished at both places and also at Carolina beach from the surf. I caught a HUGE drum there. Lots of dogs off of leashes (rules change Oct 1st) so that was cool to see. We mostly cooked at the campsite but ate dinner at Sea Witch Cafe one night. The place is dog friendly, which we needed, and the food was reasonably priced and so good. The park rangers lock the gates at 9pm and they don't open until 7am so you have to plan accordingly. This wasn't an issue for us, we just watched the clock and made sure we were back. Beach is about 6 min away, Walmart is about 17 min or so, several grocery stores nearby (Food Lion, Publix). Overall, it was a great trip, I just wasn't prepared initially for the mosquitos. I got 90 bites that first day. I even had to constantly spray down my dog to keep the mosquitos off of her. It was a bit much. Definitely put all of your food in your car or at a minimum in your tent. Raccoons come nightly. :) We lost a quesadilla, some dog food, etc.

Freeman Park is a beach area located in Carolina Beach. It's the place to take your 4x4 vehicle, your friends, kids, and dogs, and have some fun in the sand, wind, and waves.

First and foremost, make sure you know how to drive in the sand and what to do when your car gets stuck. It happened to us, as well as to many vehicles on the beach.

Also, be aware of the tides, it's dangerous to be driving near the water when the high tide comes in.

The camping is allowed on the beach Labor Day through memorial Day, but might require a permit, check the rules before you go. In the past, the permit was required only after April 1, so we always tried to come in February or March, when the weather is nice but not too hot.

The camping is allowed in the designated spaces. There's enough room for one tent. Remember, when camping on sand, you don't need stakes. Instead you bring 4 plastic bags, fill them with sand, tie the tent corners to the bags and bury them in the sand. This will prevent your tent from flying away,

There are several pit toilets on the beach, some trash cans are provided too. There's a store next to the fishing pier a short distance from the beach where we usually go to brush our teeth in the morning. 

I love Freeman park and give it 4 stars only because it's a primitive camping spot and people should be aware what to expect. It doesn't have fancy amenities, but the proximity to the ocean is priceless. 

Our favorite dining spot: The Shuckin' Shack Oyster Bar in Carolina Beach.