This recreation area is part of Hartwell Lake

Lake Hartwell State Park Campground

Camping and hiking in the fall when everyone else is either working or choosing to hunker down inside...is premeire!

Happening upon Lake Hartwell State Park, was a find!  We were traveling light, heading to the Hendersonville, NC area for bagging waterfalls and cascades and some ridge hikes.  So we opted to rent one of their camper cabins.  Spartan to be sure..its dry, solid and has a door.  Oh, and it had a window AC unit...but it was plenty cool enough. Nearby were the showers and restroom facilities.  For all practical purposes...we had the entire campground to ourselves.  The park is clean, well-maintained and well staffed.  The rangers were helpful in pointing us in the correct direction for dayhikes and local points of interest.

The Stumphouse Tunnel was of particular interest and made for a great hike centered around pre Civil War era.  Station Cove Falls were beautiful and the Oconee Station State Historic Site were delightful and well preserved. A military Outpost and Indian Trading Post from the late 1700's were awesome!

Back to the campground.  Our cabin rental was located on a pennisula and because the water levels of Lake Hartwell were down, we had plenty of beach area to comb.  Lots of downfall was present for scavenging...so our campfires were splendid.  The weather was fairly decent...and we enjoyed unseasonably warm days while we were there.

I'd definitely like to revisit, under the same circumstances...but would bring a tent...and my canoe.

Shoulder Season Sweetness!

It's a really great park. We stayed in the rustic tent site T8, and was quite surprised it had a water spicket (faucet) for easy water access. (Something we may have overlooked as a site feature, as it was our first visit). Our only complaint was the entire campsite was one large fire ant hill! We had to travel to the local dollar general to get ant spray to help with the infestation. We only camp rustic so we're used to bugs but this was insane. Every step we took or every place we sat would soon be swarmed with ants as that's what fire ants do. Once we sprayed the area we were finally able to safely enjoy our campsite. The view was wonderful! Besides the ants it was a fantastic campsite! (BTW I would not recommend hammock camping here as the ants were also on a lot of trees, ropes we had were covered when we took them down) 
Will provide photos I took off all the rustic sites: T3 - T8

August 2018 - OK park but Fire Ant infestation 

So we hooked up the camping gear and headed down to camp the weekend. We are big fans of space between neighbors and noticed right away that these sites are rather close to one another. The views helped make the closeness bearable. The bathhouses are clean and well stocked. Staff is friendly and helpful. The walking trails are well laid out and easy to walk on. The on-site store is well stocked with all your camping needs and there is also a nature center with taxidermy wild animals and history related to fishing gear. There is a free library available and laundry facilities at the store. They have check in and self check in available at the store. Lots of brochures from other state parks and things to do nearby. 


Love the campsites by the lake

Lake Hartwell State Park was a welcome relief after staying at an overcrowded RV resort. There was more privacy and definitely more shade. The site we chose was next to the lake, so it was also more peaceful. The back-in site we chose was also paved and had a good picnic table and a fire pit. Because of the shade, the heat didn’t bother us as much as it could have, but we chose not to have a fire(Who needs more heat in 90 degree weather?) The bath house was clean, updated, and had good sized shower stalls. The boat launch area was convenient for launching kayaks as well as boats, and there was a fishing pier. The parking area for the boat launch and fishing pier area was large enough to accommodate quite a few cars, and there was a playground for kids. One of my favorite parts of Lake Hartwell State Park was the nature trail. It was a pleasant, but short, walk and not too difficult. I also enjoyed the benches beside the lake. There are designated tent sites, which you have to hike to, but we were staying in our little teardrop camper. There are also cabins, which have nice views of the lake. Overall, this is a campground that I would like to come back to when I have more time. I wasn’t able to spend as much time as I would like, but it wasn’t because there weren’t things to do.

Great State Park

We really loved the privacy and the access to the lake from our spot! The only thing would be sewer hook up but the restroom and showers were a short walk from our spot! We rented 62 62 A we will be back! #Loveit We brought our 3 dogs and they enjoyed theirselves as well! This was our first trip since getting our travel trailer! #memories the water pressure was just to our liking! 

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS !

Recently stay at Lake Hartwell State Park and had a great time. Some of the sites are pretty close together, but we stayed at site 54 and our friends were at site 52. Both sites had nice tree cover and great views of the lake with plenty of space, close to the bath house. Lost power to our site during our stay, but the staff was quick to come out and fix the problem. It was very busy while we were there, but didn’t seem overly noisy. Definitely looking forward to going back.

Great Views

Lake Hartwell

I really enjoyed our stay. It was peaceful and clean. 

Cool, quiet and peaceful

After hours check in was very easy. Just paid about $20 for a site with a level pad to park on, water, and 20 amp electricity at the site. Bathrooms are dated but decent. Showers are hot. Access off the freeway is very easy if you’re traveling through this area. Sites are close together but it is heavily wooded to have some privacy, and there was no problem with noise when we were there. 

Checks all the boxes

The cabins are nice, but small and no plumbing. If you're used to tent camping then the cabins are one step above that. Bonus is the air conditioning. Great view in Cabins 1 and 2. Gentle slope to a nice beach as well for those two cabins.

Tent sites are on the water as well but are right on top of each other. I could almost touch two of the tent pads at the same time.