Looking to get away and reconnect with nature? Cabin camping near Bruce is the perfect choice. The Dyrt can help you find the best cabin camping destinations for your next trip. Each cabin rental offers quick access to one or more of Bruce's most popular destinations.
Shaded campgrounds and picnic areas complement the park's excellent swimming and boating facilities. The park was once used as a summer camp and an annual gathering spot for American Indians. Later, Samuel Mortimer arrived in 1869 and built the log cabin that still stands at the park.
$26 - $55 / night
Shaded campgrounds and picnic areas complement the park's excellent swimming and boating facilities. The park was once used as a summer camp and an annual gathering spot for American Indians. Later, Samuel Mortimer arrived in 1869 and built the log cabin that still stands at the park.
$26 / night
Camp on the Open Prairie Camping at Ingalls Homestead is a unique way to experience the prairie. All sights are located on the land Charles Ingalls homesteaded. With just a handful of sites - 4 covered wagons, 1 bunkhouse, 4 RV sites, and tent camping - the prairie doesn't feel crowded.
$24 - $45 / night
Two campgrounds at the park offer both electric and non-electric sites. Showers and flush toilets are found in the comfort stations. You can stay any time of year in the camping cabins, furnished with beds and heating/air conditioning. The one-room, log-style cabins sleep four. Cooking is not permitted indoors, so bring utensils for use on the outdoor fire grate. The large expanse of water at Lake Poinsett Recreation Area invites you to swim, water ski, boat and fish for walleye, bass, perch, northern pike and bullhead. The Lake Poinsett Visitor Center and Museum is a fascinating place to learn about the history of the area. During the summer, neighbor Harlan Olson's artifacts are on display. The exhibits will take you back in time from prehistoric days to the late 1990s. Hike or bike along the Poinsett Potpourri Trail through wooded area, grass and wetland and the lakeshore. A fun sight is the rearing pond for perch, which is also used for kids' fishing tournaments.
$22 - $55 / night
Traveler
Love that there are only 4 sites. We stayed here with family and had 3 of the sites. Beautiful land! Our suggestion if you stay here is, pull in the parking lot and back up the driveway to the camp sites. Unless you have a small vehicle and camper, it is tricky to get turned around if it is full. $20pp to tour the property for the whole time you are staying. Check out the dugout, house, barn, schoolhouse, church and garage.
Guide
This campground has both electric standard sites for campers and tent sites. Two shower houses and multiple vault toilets throughout the campground for accessibility. Walking trails in grass or gravel. Three walkways down to the water’s edge with one being a large swimming area. Boating is permitted as well. Be sure to use bug spray as mosquitoes were all over- maybe due to wet weather. This is a natural lake formed by farmland that flooded in the 1980s.
Guide
Camped in the more open area (72E in campground 2). Large grassy sites with fire pit and picnic table. Clean bathrooms with hot showers. Nice path around lake for walking the dog. Lots of families having a good time! Very pleasant evening.
Traveler
We visited during the week so we pretty much had the campsite to ourselves!! They have a playground which my 4 year old son loved! He can’t wait to go again! Bathrooms were clean and nice!
Scout
Had a great week time here! The staff was very nice and helpful!
TravelerCampground was nearly full of local campers but the kids played great together. Decent pool & showers, fun activities like bags tournaments and a potluck. We had a pull thru spot, leveling was tricky. They let us put up a tent for no additional cost. I think it was around $25 night for full hookup. Was a fun campground & the national pipestone monument area is right across the road. Really neat interactive place to visit.
GuideOne of the best campsites I've been to! Large lots, campfires allowed, lakes, trails, friendly people and sooo incredibly quiet.
Scout
Nice, secluded and wooded sites.
GuidePros: lotsa trees. Cons: Go to the lower park, more to do, more to see. Upper camp, not much to see, plus our site was really steep
GuideThe bathrooms are amazing for a campground. One of the few places I've ever camped where you get a full bathroom to yourself. Plus it was very clean. Seems to be a family oriented place rather than a "nature/wilderness" type of camping experience. Lots of groups gathered and up late hanging out, kids running through campsites. I got very quick responses via email from this place too which was great.
TravelerWe had a wonderful experience dry camping here. There are only a few sites with water and electric. There are no dedicated sites and they asked us to park our pop-up at the far end/bottom of the parking lot next to the grass. It was quite level and the tent campers next to us were very nice. A few other tents were further out in the field. The bathrooms are simple, but very clean. Little Horse on the Prairie fans, you MUST stay here!
GuideIt was raining super hard and this is an easy place to check in very friendly swimming pool kids. Able to camp in a quiet spot by the cornfield.
Scout
Very nice, our spot was large with electric. Quiet this weekend. 50 Amp service.
GuideWe stayed here for one night in September. The park was filled up. All RVs. We stayed next to the lake. Bathrooms were decent.
GuideWe stayed at campground 1 number 36 it was the perfect pull through spot to set up for the weekend! The bathrooms were very clean which made the stay 10 times better:) we celebrated my birthday there for the weekend and it was just PERFECT!
GuideNice pebble beach, playgrounds, and walking areas. Flat camper parking. Power was great and showers were clean. Electric only. There is an area to dump waste on the exit. Stopped on Sunday on the way westward and the place was empty, stopped Friday on the way home and it was packed. Lots of kids and families, and almost every spot was full. Happy to see folks having fun. It was just a little busy for us. On the second time through one of the three bathrooms was very dirty, sad before the weekend- the showers remained clean. On the Friday stop there were a lot of people, some spots had 3-4 cars parked in the grass- it was too bad they allowed that. If one was to go here to find some quiet do so during the week or late weekend. It worked just fine as a quick overnight stop on our route. Lots of families having fun. Slept well. Well groomed area. Pretty views of lake. A little windy.
GuideGreat place to spend the night. Only a few campsites. Workers are great. Dirt road going to it.
Only “issue” is the Grey water dump is on a slight hill, with the ground washed away, and people sometimes park around it.
RangerNice place to stay! We visited on our family vacation in Aug. 2019. Lots of frogs here! Playground was at the other camp loop, but we spent some time playing before we left. Found some geocaches in the park, which was fun! The swim area was nice, no sand, but a nice place to swim where the water was clean! Camp site was a nice spot with privacy. Electric hook ups.
RangerWe stayed here in Aug 2019 - although it was a short visit, we had a nice time. Wasn’t busy, kids liked playground, walking path, and checking out Mortimer’s cabin. Electric hook-ups.
Scout
Camp host greeted us upon arrival and helped put water on. We stayed 2 nights, in town for a wedding. Most of the sites were flooded with only 3 available, we were the only TT along with the camp host. Showers were clean and ADA. The beach was mere feet out the rear of the trailer. Watertown is close with plenty to do if one needs to wander.
GuideWe stayed in the lower campground. It is very opened. The campsites are medium size and close together. The bathroom was well taken care of. There are train tracks really close to the campground. The trains didn't seem long nor did they blow the horns. The swimming area looked nice, but it was too cold to use.
GuideThere are two campgrounds in this park - the upper one is on the prairie while the lower one is situated among trees along the river. We stayed in the lower campground in site 30. The lower campground is close to the playground and swimming pond but it rained the whole time we camped so we didn't use either.
Sites in the lower campground are fairly close together and we didn't have cell service (Verizon), which wasn't a big deal.
I brought my fat bike and bike the Bluebird and Dakota Valley trails. Both are mowed paths that go through prairie and wooded areas. The actual mountain bike trail was disappointing, it was overgrown, narrow, and hugged a high ridge.
Our site, 30, sloped away from the parking pad. You wouldn't be able to set up.chairs under your awning at this site and the picnic table sat in a low spot that got muddy after 2 straight days of rain. There is a river that runs behind the sites in this loop. Our boys played on the rocks and had a great time.
There are nearby train tracks and trains ran by several times a day, though luckily they don't blow the horn so we didn't notice them much.
GuideGreat campground with a lot to do. Nice beach and walking trails and outdoor excessive area. Nice fishing dock.
GuideWe have traveled in a RV for 6 years and been to 48 states (3 or 4 times each), visited 300 plus small towns and I can say this was one of my favorite camp spots. There are only 4 RV lots, and they are pretty close together, but we stayed before season, so we had the place practically to ourselves. For $30, we had W&E, fire pit (firewood not sold), picnic table and free access to the homestead. Bathrooms were so clean and smelled like cedar wood. There is a dump station but be fore warned it's on a slope, so emptying your tanks completely will be a challenge. Also a sign says grey water only, this is not true, you can dump your black water too. Since we were off season, during the day, they had school trips daily, so there were a lot of children, having fun playing right behind our rig. But it was only for a short period of time during the afternoon. There's a museum right next to the sites, which is always open. There's also is a tower you can climb to get some really great views. Several houses and buildings are on the property you can explore and hay rides are available. They also have a nice country store where you can by your souvenirs. If your a Laura Ingalls Wilder fan, like me, this is a must stop, if only for a night! I also want to mention that the camp hosts and gal that ran the store, couldn't have been nicer.
LegendA very cool and unique campsite on the grounds of the Laura Ingalls Homestead near De Smet, SD. Unique in that you can camp right on the open prairie and for only $10 a night. Just pick a spot of grass and you’re good to go. There are some picnic tables you can choose to be near or just head out on the frontier. There are also options to camp in a covered wagon as well as a bunkhouse. RV spots are available and include water and electric hookups. Well appointed and clean bathrooms (electricity and flush toilets) are on site with showers.
The other really cool thing about this spot—especially for families—are all of the fun activities at the homestead itself. There’s a one-room school house with tours, a barn with animals, a covered wagon ride where you (or your kids) can lead the horse-drawn wagon, opportunities to learn how to make a jump rope, twist hay, wash clothes—all things the Ingalls family had to do on a farm from long ago.
A night or two in the summer is great though with no shade for the campsites field, it can get warm but evenings on the prairie are gorgeous. All in all, a great spot to set up that is cheap but with nice facilities and staff.
TravelerDespite being close to Brookings this park is quiet and i didnt find it very full. Nice place to go camping, especially if you are looking to go birding for waterfowl or fishing one of the nearby lakes.
ScoutThis state park in eastern SD is a great t place to camp, there are two modern camping areas, a swimming beach several boat launches, handicap accessible fishing dock. There is a a horse trail and trail campsites.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular cabin campsite near Bruce, SD?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular cabin campground near Bruce, SD is Campground 2 — Oakwood Lakes State Park with a 4.6-star rating from 5 reviews.
What is the best site to find cabin camping near Bruce, SD?
TheDyrt.com has all 13 cabin camping locations near Bruce, SD, with real photos and reviews from campers.
