The best camping near
Sharp , SOUTH CAROLINA

Poinsett State Park is absolutely beautiful and a true hidden gem. We recently visited South Carolina and after spending the weekend visiting nearby Congaree National Park, we opted to stay at Poinsett State Park for 4 nights in our Mercedes Sprinter campervan. As we had read online, the roads into and around the park are truly in desperate need of repair, but once in the campground, the sites are very nice. Site 24 was perfect as it is the last one with hookups and that allows RVs. The hiking is fantastic- I was able to easily hike several miles each day with my dogs and most of the hiking trails are very peaceful and pretty. Even though we were there in early February, we did encounter some gnats/mosquitos and we had to be incredibly vigilant about picking ticks off of our dogs. The only negative is that the park host was incredibly rude to us. We travel with our two well behaved dogs and ALWAYS keep them on a leash. I spent several hours a day hiking with them and walked through the campground with them on several occasions, which I know the host saw since we walked past him multiple times. On the third day of our stay, as I was bringing one of our dogs back and we were switching leashes and harnesses, our other dog jumped out and got away from us for a minute. We immediately ran after her, and after calling her name, she turned around and came back. She was out for less than a minute, and we were actively pursuing her with leash in hand the entire time. My husband was literally running after her without shoes on. The camp host came and yelled at us claiming that our dog"almost attacked his dog." She's a 9 year old Golden Retriever that is literally the most friendly dog on the planet. She was in our view the entire time and never barked or growled, only went up somewhat near them(several feet away) to say hello. It was clearly a mistake that she got out and something we rectified immediately. He kept yelling at us well after she was in our control. While I 100% understand and agree that all dogs should be on leash, it was clearly a mistake and absolutely nothing happened. It made us feel really awkward and uncomfortable. Then, on top of that, the next day, we couldn't even walk our dogs because there were 2 loose dogs running all over the campground with literal bells on- the camp host of course didn't address what was actually a flagrant violation of the rules by a neighboring camper. Other than that, our 4 day stay was perfect, but this really negatively impacted our stay.

Very well taken care of campground. Vault toilet was clean. There are a couple pull-through spots. We were the only campers there. $5 a spot.

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.

Very nice campground. Lots of trees. Must have access to Shaw afb to stay. $20 per night. No long term prices. No stay limit.

Sweetwater Lake Campground is a small RV campground. There is electric and water hookup and a dump station. Lots are decent size and fairly level on grass or gravel. The owners are very nice and available, if needed. Reservations are not taken, so you pull in and pick your spot. Drop your money in a lock box. The property has a nice size lake and all spots face it. There are fire pits and hammocks. The best and most fun part about this campground are the rescue donkeys. Their shelter and grazing area is situated directly behind the camper row. You can hear them bray and they will come to you and let you pet them, although, you should use caution as they warn you that donkeys bite. This is a very nice, quiet campground surrounded by private property of fields and lake. I really enjoyed our stay here!

Easy access from I26. Spent a week here and really enjoying it. Has 21 spots. All have legal gravel pads, fire rings with grill bars. Vault toilets clean and trash containers serviced. Within good driving distance to larger towns. Access for bigger rigs too. Ranger Bob was here and talked to him. Real nice and informative. 5.00 to me is great for the peace and quiet. Arrived after hunting season, informed was busy then. 4 or 5 come and go.

Clean bathrooms. Nice setting. Great hiking and Mtn biking on site. It is kind of off the beaten path but we did stop at a gas station fairly close by with a little restaurant in the back that was all a retro backwoods trippy kind of place. The sites are semi private, we especially liked the ones that back up to a large field.

Poinsett State Park near Wedgefield, SC. is a bit remote, but worth the effort. This is a good base to visit Congaree National Park which is a little less than an hour away. Most of the sites are dirt but are fairly level. As others have mentioned, the state road getting back to this Park is pretty rough, but nothing that will break your rig on the way in. We stayed two nights in December and enjoyed our stay while we visited Congaree. Everything seemed to be clean and maintained. The hiking trails are very nice. The main attractions here are relaxing, camping, and hiking.

We’ve stayed here two months and enjoyed it. They have an open area in a field and then a few sites more spread out with some trees scattered around. We got one of the spread out sites and quite liked our spot. The vibe is residential/family oriented. The park staff are friendly. Hookups are functional. Our spot provided enough area to let our dog have a good amount of space on the lead. Nice fire pit on our site as well. The only bathrooms and the laundry facilities are in the main office which can be a bit of a walk depending on where you are in the park. We have a bike so we enjoyed zipping around on that when we needed to get around the park. There’s a dog park that we used a lot and also there are a bunch of trails behind the campground. I don’t think a lot of people knew the scope of how extensive the trail system was - but it was really pretty back there and we explored and found a lot of beautiful little places back there. Check out the trails for sure. All in all a nice place. Felt safe. Felt reserved.

This park is beautiful and has plenty to do. I love the hiking and biking trails. The campground is in a beautiful setting of pines. The sites are all close to the bathrooms and have a nice amount of space. The park itself has a sprayground and a lake where you can rent paddle boats or canoes. The camp store has some supplies and the rangers were very helpful. This park is kid and family friendly. We will be back.