Nickerson State Park — Attraction in Brewster

This place was built for tent campers and smaller travel trailers. They do have some sites wide and deep enough for Class A rigs such as ours at 36 feet, but the roads are fairly narrow and curvy. I encourage you to unhook and drive your tow vehicle to the site for a reconnaissance trip before attempting to go in with your full rig,

We stayed in Area 1 and I especially caution against staying in that area because of the poorly designed entry and exit. You are going down a two-lane road and then you have to make a 90-degree left turn through what is probably a 12-foot wide steel gate with strong steel barrier arms trailing back into the camping area. If that goes ok, then you have to immediately execute another 90-degree turn onto one of the paths to the actual campsites. Don’t choose the 1st of the two gates next to each other, because they elected to save one of the trees near the right side of the opening as you are entering. That means you don’t even get the full 12 feet in width! The roads on the loops to the campsite are narrow and not all the trees have been recently trimmed to allow a 12-foot tall vehicle such as ours to pass with touching.

We had problems backing into our site because the tent campers across the road from our site had parked one of their cars, with a large bike rack with a least one bike on it, almost exactly in front of the entrance to our site. I went to ask if they could move the car for a few minutes while we backed it, but no one was home in either of the two tents. We ended-up just driving in front ways which worked ok because there were no hookups to worry with. The site was not generally level, but the deepest part was fairly level and our levelers had no problems in getting us level there. Parked this way, there was plenty of room for the toad to park behind the rig.

The park is very beautiful and the many large kettle ponds were amazing. My dog got a good swim and lots of folks were having a good time with kayaks, canoes and stand-up paddle boards. The pond was very clear and some people even brought some snorkeling gear and seemed to be having a good time with it.

The park staff was friendly and not bothersome. My only complaint was they refused to give me any kind of comparison or recommendation between the two walk-up sites they had available. They did give me an entrance pass for my toad, so I could unhook and go look at both sites before committing. We did go look at the site in Area 1, but my reconnaissance unfortunately was inadequate to reveal all the problems I later encountered. In particular, I assumed that the entrances were properly designed, which I now strongly contest. I wish we had gone and looked at the site in Area 4, before choosing, We did later look at it and found Area 4 and that site far preferable.

The other reason I recommend against this area is that typical Class A camping is largely incompatible with tent and small trailer camping styles when no electricity is provided on site. The others are happily enjoying the quiet of nature and are happy with the prevailing outdoor temperature. My partner likes living in 74 degree indoor comfort. As I walked my dog, I realized that ours was the only generator I could hear running. Even though park rules said we could run our generator, except during quiet hours from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., we were being bad neighbors. I turned off the generator, opened windows and my partner dealt with the low 80s outdoor temperature after I promised 74 degrees by 9:00 p.m. and 65 degrees during most of the night according to the Weather Channel forecast for Brewster, MA. We never got anywhere 74 degrees all night, even with all windows open and our vent fans on. We did finally get down to 78 just before sunrise. I’m completely unable to understand why Brewster was at 65 degrees a couple of miles away.

Don’t go in there with your nice shiny new Class A or 5th wheel, especially not if you’re going to run your...

I've been staying here for years. It was formerly my happy place despite the offleash dogs on the trails. The one time a few years ago, there was an off leash dog roaming the campsites I called, and they came out and took care of it. The owners were on the pond in a canoe and just left it. I was impressed and felt like if it were a problem again, they would address it.

Fast forward to my latest trip. I was overrun by them. Three on one campsite in particular in my loop. I called, and nothing was done. Every time I had to pass the site with my service dog, I had a can of pet corrector in my hand because that seems to scare off leash dogs enough to get away if they approach. I didn't engage with this group of adults up to 4 men and a woman at any time. However, they would make harassing statements toward me. Making fun of my clothes and escalating into mocking how sexy I was. I'm queer by the way, so this felt like it was going to escalate until a hate crime. I ignored it and only responded to them one time because they accused me of walking around with a can of mace, so I pulled the pet corrector out and showed them then carried on. But at this point, I did not feel safe. If the park didn't take the off leash dog problem seriously, then I have no faith they would help with the harassment. I went there to relax for my birthday like I had done many times in the past. I checked out two days early and explained why. They offered to put me somewhere else, but I was not setting up camp for only 2 days. I am disabled and hadn't slept as well as it was. I have been camping alone for years and have never felt unsafe until this week.

I found out later I was only refunded one of the two nights and was promised a call back to discuss it, but the call didn't come.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only offleash dog problem I had this stay. My immediate neighbor would let their dog wander in our direction and call it back, but never was the dog secured. And a large poodle charged up the path to my campsite and upset my dog that was relaxing in our tent. The owner couldn't call it back, and my dog, rightfully upset and confined, tried to protect himself, and now my tent screen is ripped. This isn't counting the countless off leash dogs encountered on the trails.

I do not recommend this park if you have small children or are responsible dog owners who want to relax in nature. It's a shame because it's the most beautiful state park in Massachusetts, but nothing...

Tent camped here twice with kids and stayed in a yurt. We love the park. Tons of frogs, insects for little ones but a lot of moths (July) The screened in tent area was nice to put up around picnic table. Moths still got in but limited them. So happy we invested in a fan. Powered by USB charge. Highly recommend for July.

Cliff pond is perfect since it’s located inside the park. Our kids loved it. Bring a floaty! We had a sunshade which was nice as well. Pack a little cooler and spend a few hours here. Flax pond is smaller than Cliff pond but also recommend that too.

The camp store (area 4) is nice. It’s nice to grab milk or treats from here if you just need a couple things and don’t want to leave park. I suggest breakfast burritos from the corner store (food place) check hours and days open as they close Mon/Tues usually.

If you are a cyclist you will most certainly enjoy the trails that cut through the park to the rail trail. Beautiful park. We love coming here. If you are an out of state resident (MA) then prepare on spending more money as they recently added that.

Beach Tip: if you have camping parking pass you can use it for the Crosby landing beach nearby. Super nice beach. Park in overflow area and there is a trail that leads to beach. We took beach wagon. It...