Andrew Jackson State Park

We stayed here for 6 nights mid-September, 2023. We were looking for something close to Charlotte as we had an appointment there and Charlotte does not have a lot of campground options around it. We initially booked a few nights, then added a few more. The lakeside sites are better than the interior loop sites. Our favorites were probably 14-19. Long enough, level enough, kind of close to the neighbors, but ok. Office was closed when we arrived, so just went to our site. Office has very limited hours, so I think it's best to just go get set up. Very small lake, but easy kayak launch from our site and easy walk up to the museum, which was very interesting. Saw lots of turtles on logs when kayaking.

We booked here as a last-minute booking on our way home from a trip. The park has walking trails, lake activities, and a museum. The sites along the lake looked nice and slightly roomier than the ones on the inside loop. Our site was a pull-through on the inside loop, but it was a tight squeeze. Your picnic table and fire pit were behind the camper. You felt like you were having dinner with all the other campers around. The sites were well maintained, and the bathrooms were clean. The Campground Host, Sonny, was friendly and helpful.

We have camped at this park many times over the years as it is only about a 30 minute drive from where we live. This is not a “destination” park as it offers relatively few amenities. Peace and quiet are usually what we are going for, and sometimes we actually get that, but often times not.

Amenities/Pros: Historic museum, but short hours of operation. Fishing lake. Sites are asphalt paved. Plenty of shade. Sites have fire rings, a designated picnic table area with a light post/hanger. Bathhouses usually clean. A limited number of sites are full hookup, but, are adjacent to the bathhouse (probably made the sewer connections easier). These FHU sites are also very tight/small.

Cons: Water pressure usually marginal. As others have said the sites were built in a bygone era when campers were much smaller. The campground loop road requires close attention when coming in. It is narrow with sharp turns and obstacles, so you will want to arrive during daylight hours and pay close attention to your mirrors in the turns. Some of the sites are literally at the edge of the road, so parked cars and campers can also be an entry hazard. Many of the sites are short, and well outside if level in one or more directions. Bring the wheel chocks plenty of leveling wood, time and patience. In fact, a good idea to do a drive-thru ahead of making your camping reservation. Take pictures and notes. And, this campground is prone to having loud crowds nearly anytime. Winter is quieter but when the weather warms up there are usually plenty of screaming little ones tearing through on bikes and/or adults having late night hootenannies. (Yes, I know, it’s camping and a family adventure…just stating facts).

Big rig sites are probably going to be 4, 19, 23, 25. Others possible, depending on your length and how much you need for vehicle parking. We are a 37’ class A with slides on both sides.

Decent small state park, pretty tight drive through, longer rigs may have challenges, it can be done just take time. There are really only 3-4 sites of the 25 that are pretty level, each of the others haves challenges either left-right, front-back or both! Some sites and campers require two sets of leveling blocks. The men’s room has VERY low water pressure at the sinks, can barely rinse a toothbrush. One toilet has been loose and leaking for at least the last year. It is a fairly quiet campground though with some road noise and somewhat convenient to Charlotte, Rock Hill and Lancaster. You can get some pretty sunset views over the lake.

The park staff was very friendly and helpful. The road though the camp ground is very narrow so as other reviews stated, large/long rigs may have problems. There is a fifth-wheel here so its possible. Each site has its own leveling problems. Site 17 in my experience was .5" out of level left/right. I had to squat the tongue jack all the way down to get level front/back. Not the worst I've had to deal with. there are some sites that will need more work to level. Since 17 backs up to a bit of a drop off onto a hill then into a lake, I have doubled down on my wheel chalking. I will defiantly stay here again.

Great coverage for T-Mobile and Google Fi.

Nice, shady sites, but they are all very TIGHT. Definitely built before today’s bigger RVs were the norm. Most of the sites are very short and not level. Some we would not have been able to get our rig level at all. Also no privacy at all between the sites. We were there mid week, and it was probably 80% full both nights. Not a lot of space to park your vehicle. We were lucky that our site enabled us to use our slide out, but a lot of the sites we wouldn’t have been able to. We were not able to let out our awning due to a tree in the way.

The park itself is well maintained, but it’s basically just a lawn area where there’s a museum/office (we weren’t able to go in because their hours were 11-12 and 2-3 ONLY), and a few structures depicting an old school and meeting house. The trail around the lake was nice. Decent fishing in the lake.

There was a “host” RV at the entrance, but it was unoccupied the entire time we were there. We never saw a park ranger at all, nor any patrols. The only park employee we saw was a grounds keeper picking up trash.

We did spend one day down at Landsford Canal State Park (about a 25 min drive south). No camping there, but it was a very nice park. Awesome trails by the Catawba River and we saw the River Shoals Spider Lilies in full bloom.

It's a pretty place with a scenic lake and Robert in the ranger's office is nice, but it's very tight for larger rigs and every site is unlevel. Not only are there steep inclines on virtually every site, but it's difficult to get level side to side. In general the campground is small and tight, and you can see pretty much all of the sites from any given spot. When your neighbors are making noise, you can hear every bit of it. The RV area simply wasn't thought out very well. Two shower stalls in the bathhouse, one of which had practically no water pressure, jagged edges from cracked and broken tiles, and when I showered, there were loose SCREWS on the floor of the shower.

Remember those fruit fly experiments you would do in high school biology? Well, they're apparently doing the same thing with mosquitos in the bathhouse, except instead of that weird blue food, they feed these bugs with the blood of their unsuspecting guests. Mosquitos in February. I'd hate to visit this place in the summer!