Best RV Parks & Resorts near Sparta, TN

I’ve not reviewed before but felt a need to review here. Pros: it has the essentials -water, sewer, electric hookups. It is far enough off of I40 so that you don’t hear the constant highway noise. Accommodating person at the desk. Quiet after dark. Cons: lots of long term residents. More like a trailer park than an RV site. The men’s bathroom was unusable due to feces on the floor left by an inconsiderate resident or unsupervised child. Thankfully not spending any time here.

We were on an sudden, urgent trip with minimal pre-planning and no reservations. We contacted Spring Lake an hour before arrival and they were super helpful, providing a level overnight pull-through site reservation. We were arriving an hour after the office closed and they made arrangements to help us get settled. We were so appreciative of the consideration. Overall we felt the amenities and the setting were the nicest of this 1200 mile trip. Pretty, very well maintained. Level sites with picnic table and convenient hook-ups. The sites are built around a small lake. I suspect most of the leases are long-term. Friendly manager and friendly residents. We walked around the lake and found they had sitting areas and gazebos where you could relax during the day or at night. A couple of miles off the interstate so no road noise and very quiet at night. You can pick up fast food dinner on the way to the park.

Seems to be a lot of permanent or seasonal campers here. Spots are a little tight but concrete and pretty level. At our particular sight the sewer was toward the front of the sight but I had enough hose to get to it. Amenities are nice, there is a pool and pavilion, paved walking trails, shuffle board, basketball court, and boat docks and fishing pier. Our loop didn’t have cable but I believe the others do. The WiFi is spotty at best. Staff and long term campers seem friendly.

We love this campground. If you are lucky enough to get one of the lake front spots the views are amazing. Some spots have full hook ups.

Of all of our stays so far (RV resorts, state parks, private campground)...Defeated Creek is our hands-down favorite. **Edited to say...salt lick has it beat in our opinion. It was beautiful, clean and peaceful. Our beautifully shaded site backed up to Cordell Hull Lake, and we had front row seating to the most exquisite sunsets. People were very friendly and the general consensus was that defeated creek is everyone’s favorite campground. And we have our eye 👁 on site #71 for next time! Primo spot! We had site #47 and it was massive...plenty of room for everything even our cornhole set. Book way ahead...it books up fast.

Tip💡: follow WAZE directions rather than RV Trip Wizard!!! Trip wizard took us a bass ackward way through winding narrow back roads only to end up on the highway we were originally on!👎🏻

Several of the good reviews are for the state park with the same name, make sure to read the full reviews and look at the photos. Lesson learned.

I'm going to start with the good, it's short and sweet.

Good Beautiful grounds Clean-ish bathroom Clean laundry Trash can at each site Deb at the office the only one who was friendly That's it.

Now the not so good, (here me out)

Sewage the leach fields for these two sites are right next to the sites, not good if you want to spend anytime outside or sit with your windows open. Everytime someone uphill from us drained their lines it just floated our way.

The smell of sewage was so overwhelming in a two week span ( stayed only because we couldn't find anything elsewhere). That we basically stayed in the trailer all two weeks. Except for the quick walk to the water and grassy area to break our dog. Which you could smell sewage through the whole area.

Animals Dogs tied to trees and bumpers of peoples RVs, and left alone all day( mostly fill time rivers) camper's dogs wandering, had to call nothing really changed, kept happening but didn't want to be that person who called daily. No enforcement of rules that are clearly stated in the the email. Non stop barking from surrounding properties ( yes not the campsite fault) but very very noisy.

Long term residents Not the most friendly people they seem to be bothered by those who are temporary.

Did I mention the smell of sewage???

Check-in Digital check-in, some may appreciate this, but we had sever older people ask us to help them check in while we walked/ drove past the office. Offers discount for military/ Sam goody, but not online reservations, and good luck getting them on the phone to make a reservation. Asked for a adjustment on our reservation and they gave us a "campground" credit. We could use in the office for items. (They said if we don't use it, it will be refunded to our account after we leave, I'll report back on if this actually happens) Seems like they cater to long term mostly, lots of long term spots available once we got here that you couldn't see online.

Most facility closed Restaurant permanently closed, Hot tub was drained (which is inside) Pool drained ( understandable for time of year)

WiFi they say on their site that there is WiFi, there isn't.. unless you want to hang out in the office only. 😶

Light pollution Big streetlights near campsite, hard to even imagine what sitting in the woods under the stars is like.

Traffic noise Also you can really hear the noise from the highway all night long..

The reason I gave it a 3 star.. The grounds are beautiful, the laundry is clean, shower isn't to bad.

We probably won't ever stay here or recommend, which is to bad, because there is so much potential. If you decide to venture here and get one of the spots open stay away from W 17/18

The campground is not level at all. There are a few heavy wooden tables, but not anywhere close to the campsites. Tena, the lady that runs the campground was nice, but a little off. When I spoke to her to setup reservation, she was helpful. When we got here, she seemed put out by our presence. Also, the site I had reserved was taken by someone else she referred to as "squatters" and so we had to pick another site. One of the long term campers has dogs and they barked a lot during the night. Plan activities for yourself. There are no trails, or anything to do to entertain yourself. I'm seriously having trouble giving this 2 stars. I want to just put 1 star.

Campground has Cabins, Bunk house, full hook-ups and primitive spots. There are stalls and tie lines with round pens and paddocks scattered around. Trail system is wonderful with all the views anyone could ask for. Love this place will be coming back!!!

COE-Campground. I love this campground, but hate the reservation system. Problem seeing sites booked, and the party no shows leaving a great site unavailable. Very frustrating. This reason knocks it down a couple notch’s on rating system.
Otherwise this is one of the best campgrounds in Tennessee. Beautiful lake views with rolling hills. Phone, TV, Satellite maybe unavailable on some sites. Campground does offers full hook- up, however some sites do not have sewer or 50 amp. Great for families! Kayaking and fishing and also beach for swimming. Picnic table and fire ring at all the sites. Book early!

I'll start with my "not so happy with" list. Bathrooms are pretty clean but dated. We saw where the campground had WIFI. We work from the road so this is important. We found that the WIFI does not reach the actual campground. If you sit at the picnic table at the office, it works!! We have a work around but WIFI at the camper would be best. It did not appear that our site had been cleaned prior to our arrival. Firepit full of ash, some small paper debris around lots if cheese "goldfish" scattered about the site.

The "We love it" list. Camp staff has been very pleasant. Park is close to spotless, most sites are large, water fronts are beautiful. Numerous long term rentals here but appeared unoccupied, good for us. Well stocked store. 2 sided dump station. We will be back!

This is a great rv park. Many of the sites are on the water, and some are decently spaced out. The hosts are so kind! We rented a kayak for the day and had a great time on the water. It was super noticeable to us that the campsite was very quiet at almost any hour. Many of the spots are filled by people renting for the whole season, which means that even at full capacity, there weren’t many people around it the quiet was lovely. Our site wasn’t on the water, but we still had amazing views of the sun coming up on the water. Will definitely be coming back.

This is a beautiful campground!

Bathrooms/showers were very clean & nicely decorated. 

Campground was laid out very well. We had site 6, which is a short pullthrough. Almost too short for us, since we didn't unhitch. There were tent sites in the back by the pond, which looked nice.

 We had to pull in late & leave early, so I couldn't explore the hiking trail.

The worst thing you can say about this campground is the traffic noise from I-24. The campground is easy on- easy off the interstate, but it's only a few hundred yards from it. The noise never lets up. 

We camped at The Broken Banjo RV Park in a Travel Trailer.