Don Carter State Park — Attraction in Gainesville

The Cottages at Don Carter State Park There was one main problem with the cottage which I will save for last: the bathrooms, toilets, and the water. It was so bad that we won't return. This would be a 5 star review otherwise.

The cottage was beautiful and very spacious. Two bedrooms each with two queen size beds and full baths bookend a great room. The great room has an entry niche well equipped with coat hooks and a seating bench. The living room area had a 3-person sofa and two chairs surrounding a wood stove. Though very sturdy the seating was too hard to sit on for very long. The ceilings were about 18 feet high.

There was a dining table with seating for eight. Take cushions as the chairs are too hard with quite small seats. The kitchen is a full sized kitchen with a galley layout. It was fully stocked with pots and pans and dishes, silverware, and cooking accessories. It has full sized appliances with a high power M/W, a dishwasher, and a frig with an ice maker. Unfortunately the water is undrinkable. Take bottled water!

The porch was fantastic. It had four rocking chairs and two side tables. Stairs led down to a picnic table, fire pit, and basic ground level grill. The view from the porch was a densely wooded hillside overlooking the lake. The porch was not screened in. It had overhead fans with lights. Nearby was a boat ramp and floating dock for the overnight guests.

The beds were well used, a bit lumpy, which strangely made it more comfortable because they were broken in. Take a foam pad if you want something more modern. The sheets weren't too rough. The comforter was heavy. The pillows were super firm so bring yours from home. There was a closet with extra pillows and one blanket. The bath linens were plush and numerous. Thank goodness there were so many because we needed them due to problems.

And here is where the problems lay: the plumbing. The toilets were nearly unusable due to design flaws. The toilets were too high even for my 6'1" husband. But the worst part was the toilet seat. It was oddly shaped, almost saddle like. It curved up at the edges and created a bowl shape to the seat which restricted movement. It was as if the designer had been trained to create bicycle seats. We had to leave the cottage and use the park's public toilets which had standard flat toilet seats. For this reason alone we will not recommend the cottages at Don Carter State Park. If you pay for a cabin with indoor toilets you should be able to use them.

Another issue was the lack of water pressure in the shower. Despite adjusting the hand held shower head, there was never enough water. Were it not for a removable wand, we would not have been able to bathe off. The tub feature was just wide enough to sit in the tub but neither of us could adequately move around to bathe in the tub. We had to finish rinsing off with the shower wand. The tub had no lip on the wall side so getting out of the too narrow tub was difficult. I slipped and fell three separate times in the tub trying to get out. Water went everywhere and I ended up bruised. You couldn't stretch out your legs in the tub either.

The bedrooms had a double sink separate from the toilet and bath. The sinks were equipped with water saving taps which never stayed on long enough to have hot water. The times varied on the tap plus the aerator spewed water all over the counter top, the floor, and onto our clothes. We used so many towels just trying to clean up the water. We ended up using the kitchen sink to brush teeth, wash our faces, and shave.

In the welcome book for guests there was an emphasis on saving water. Ironically we used more water bathing than normal because the water pressure was so low we had to use the hand wand for three or four times as long. We didn't get a proper bath until we arrived home. The park also emphasized using fewer towels but we used more after slipping in the tub and cleaning up the bathroom sink area.

The "lake turnover effect" creates undrinkable water. The smell and taste was awful.It stunk of Sulphur & tasted like...

We were able to book this site online using the Ga State Park website. The site is hosted by Reserve America which hosts many other private and State Park locations around the country. When you make a reservation, you will be charged the full fee for your stay at the time you book. Refund policies vary based on different states and campground policies, so be sure to check that before booking.

As with most RV parks, Don Carter SP stays full so booking in advance is your best option. On our last trip, we had to split our reservation and book one site for Friday and Saturday nights and then a second reservation for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights at a better scenic site we wanted. There is no fee for each reservation.

Check-in begins on the day of your reservation at 1:00 PM. Check-out on your day of departure is by 12:00 PM. On each of our visits, we have found the entire staff in the office, at the front gate, and the campground hosts to be fantastic and helpful.

All Georgia State Parks charge for vehicle entry in addition to your campsite fees. Parking is based on per vehicle. This is from the GA SP website as of 8/17/2023 regarding fees for vehicle entry.

"Parking in Georgia's State Parks is just $5 and visitors can buy a $50 annual ParkPass that helps fund renovations, trail work, dock replacements and more. A family of five can enjoy a full day of hiking, biking, fishing, boating, birding, picnicking, swimming and more for only one dollar per person. ParkPasses are not valid at state historic sites. Overnight guests pay the daily ParkPass fee only once during their stay, regardless of duration.

$50 Annual ParkPass Purchase online or at park offices. Allow 7 - 10 business days for shipping. Valid for 12 months from the date of purchase. Annual ParkPass discounts of 50% are available for seniors 62 and older and 25% for active military and veterans*. Discounted passes must be purchased in person."

As a side note, during our check-in process, the clerk introduced us to the "Supporter Membership" and all the benefits. It is an annual cost of $125.00, and among some of the benefits it includes (2) annual ParkPasses, (3) Free nights of camping, (2) free picnic shelter rentals, and 10% off all campsite reservations for the year.

Most of the sites in the park are pull-through sites. Each site has a cable TV connection, 20/30/50 AMP service that is solid and clean, a Greywater connection, a fire ring, and city water. There is a dump station in the campground but not at each site for blackwater.

The road to the campground has a 24-hour security gate, and you receive a gate code for access upon check-in. The park has an entrance gate locked at 10 PM each night and requires a separate code to open.

Once inside the park, you will see abundant deer and other wildlife from your car and campsite.

The sites are all paved and mostly level. Sites also have a gravel picnic patio area, picnic table, and fire ring. The sites have neighbors nearby, but the park is very quiet, and there is enough room that you don't have any disturbance from neighbors. We stayed on site 26 for two nights and site 10 with a lakefront view, and everything was great. Bathhouses are an easy walk and immaculately clean. They also have showers, but we used our camper facilities and only checked out the park facilities for reference.

AT&T service worked with 3-4 bars of 5G and was sufficient at the park to stream using our ROKU TV. Pulling a 34-foot travel trailer was no issue with access or set-up, and this is an easy park for a get-away or for a vacation. We recommend it to other RVers and campers. The park also has a primitive camping area which we did...

I have heard so much publicity about Don Carter Park that I couldn't wait from about a year or so ago that I heard about it. I was hurt and disappointed at what my wife and I found when we went rv camping the 1st wk. in Aug. 2013. I was hurt to know that in a time of financial crises that the State of Ga. is in right now, we would waste $14 million. We have state employees that are having to take furlough days because the state doesn't have the money in their budget to pay them. Also, this is a reflection on all citizens in the State of Ga. as viewed by visitors from other states and nations. My disappointment began when we arrived and tried to park pulling a travel trailer. The parking was really tight at the visitors center. I will give the people credit, they were polite and friendly. After checking in, we went to the campground. The campground consisted of blacktop with narrow lanes to get to the sites. The sites were graded out bunkers for back-in and pull-through. There was not enough room to put a mat down on the uneven parking pad. The table and fire pit was at another level from the campsite with weeds growing through the gravel. We didn't have enough room to put out our beach chairs. Between the campsites there was shredded wood used for ground cover from the limbs of the trees that had been cut down to clear the spots. The trees had been sawed up and was lying on some of the campsites. I thought I was camping at the sawmill. This made the bugs and flies worse. I tried to hook up the T.V. The only channel that I could get using the antenna was WUGA because we were in such a hole. The cable didn't work on a park that was 3 wks. old. The cable co. was called. Two days later after my second call, I was told that it was not an easy fix for the cable and it would be fixed later. They told me that I could move to another site. I was leaving the next morning. Got ready to leave, went to the dump station, it was uneven so all of my waste water would not drain. This sound like something out of the movie "RVing". The people at the campground were nice, especially the campground host. When we left, there were only 3 campers at the campsite for the host to attend. At $29/ night, this would bring in $87. I hope his salary is more than that per day. In other words, if the campground had been built better, it would attract more campers and the State would not be losing money. I don't believe the designers and planners of the had ever been camping in an RV. It is like a man designing a woman's kitchen. I hold the administrators for the Ga. State Parks responsible. A State Park is forever. The best thing to do is Bull Doze...