Sweetwater Lake Campground

is a mainly rv campground, i think 12-16 sites, only 4-5 open when we got here around 3pm. all sites have water and hookup, not sure if vans allowed but it’s family owned & they live at the bottom of the road so i’m sure you could ask. $30/night, self pay, shower/bathrooms are oddly homey and a lil gnarly looking but water has good pressure/temp control. neighbours are super friendly! the lake is no swimming unfortunately cuz it gets hotttt here. there are a few rescue donkeys that are super cute and not nearly as annoying as you would think. they have no fire rings at individual sites, but a group use one. oh and a public hammock, rope swing and a few adirondack chairs. overall very homey and welcoming, like we’re camping at our aunts big estate or something. def worth it if you can’t find camping in congaree!

First of all: this place is mainly an RV campground and I am a tent camper.

But I was desperate, so I showed up here without any prior contact or reservation.

They allowed me to pitch my tent close to the lake, far away from the RVs. They do have a bathroom with a shower and it’s not in the best condition, but when you haven’t showered in a week, it’s just fine.

This place wasn’t ideal, but it was great in a pinch for one night.

I would like to give an honest review of this campground because I rely on other peoples’ reviews to choose campgrounds that I have not been to before. I cannot in good faith recommend this campground to anyone. I called the week ahead to confirm that reservations were not required. I spoke with a lovely lady who shared reservations were not required and that their campground never fills up. (However I will have to say the night that I arrived, there were very few spaces left.) I told her I had read good reviews and that we were local and were excited to come.
My first impression - I would prefer to camp under the stars. Instead, at this campground you camp under a light pole at each campsite. We also like to have a fire ring to have a fire going to cook our food, but not at this campground. There’s a community fire, and no fire rings at the campsites. But the most deplorable part of our short stay was the treatment received from the owner. We arrived after dark, in the fog and after setting up our camper, we went to plug it in only to find that there was no wiring in the electrical box. Unfortunately we did not notice the small, paper sign, wet and faded stating that the electric box was out of order. When we spoke to the owner, he had no professional courtesy at all. He was the rudest person I have ever met. He blamed us for not reading his wet, faded sign that could not be seen in the dark. He did not offer to help, but instead raged on and noticed that we had South Carolina plates. He then said we weren’t even supposed to be there, that their campground is for out of state campers. I have never heard of such a thing and not to mention, the lady I spoke to earlier in the week knew I had said we were local and did not mention this policy on the phone. If I I am paying to camp, I expect a working campsite. If it does not have working electricity or sewer, it should be roped off so that people know not to park there. We packed up and left because of the unprofessional behavior of this campground owner. If you are looking for a place to camp, I would highly recommend skipping Sweetwater Lake Campground and checking out one of our State Park campgrounds instead. They have working campsites under the stars with electricity, water, fire rings, and park rangers that care about your camping experience.