Camping at Poinsett State Park, Wedgefield, South Carolina

On Tuesday, May 20, 2025 we left Falls Lake Recreation Area in Wake Forest, North Carolina and continued our trek south to Poinsett State Park.  We stopped in Vander, NC near Fayetteville, NC for essentials (Gas, Lunch-Hardee’s, and groceries-Food Lion.  We eventually crossed the state line into South Carolina (yep, we are slowly heading back home).  Thought this was pretty with the roses at the visitor's center.  I think we actually made it to this park the earliest of all our stops, arriving around 2:30-3pm.

The last small town we travelled through was Pinewood, South Carolina.  Pinewood is a very small town – per Google the population in 2023 was 499.

As we drove down some of the roads as we were quickly approaching the park we began to notice some signs on the right side of the road.  I wish I was prepared to take a photograph, but the last word in that sign (and biggest) was “BOMBING” ….ok, here we go again with the “Forest Gump and box of chocolates – never knowing what you’re going to get”.  Anyway, I assumed (hopefully correctly) that the park we were staying at was close to a military base. 

Jim did look it up and found that Shaw Air Force Base is located in Sumter, South Carolina not to far from Poinsett State Park (about 20 minutes).  Per Google, the Poinsett Electronic Combat Range which is part of the base is also located near the state park we are camping at.  The Poinsett Range is used for military training which includes the Marine Corps.  Hopefully we are not going to have any issues with loud noises that can be heard from our campsite (we didn’t hear anything).

Park Details

Address: 6660 Poinsett Park Rd, Wedgefield, SC 29168

Phone: (803) 494-8177

The hours (at least now with daylight savings time) is 9am – dark (about 8pm at this time of year).

Park Office hours are 11am-12pm, 4pm-5pm.  Hours are limited, so if you want to check it out, make sure you are watching the time.  They do have a nice gift shop here, ice cream and a few other food items.  Ice cream is always nice after a hike!

This park is remote, I see the address indicates "Wedgefield, SC" but we did not pass through it on our way to this park.  Ah, Google says it is an unincorporated community, so perhaps there isn't much there.  Population in 2023 was just under 1500.

Campsite Details

We stayed in campsite #15 which was fairly well shaded on the outside of the loop for the campground.

Water/Electric (has dump station)

30 and 50 amp electric

Picnic table, Fire ring

Back in sites

Shade/gravel sites (note some campsites are red clay)

Bathrooms/showers

Checkin is 2pm

Checkout is 12pm

Quiet hours are not specified that I was able to find in the reservation information

First walk

The first walk I did with the dogs so they could check out the area hooked up with a trail that was almost directly behind our campsite.  We walked far enough for the dogs to get the initial business out of the way and then realized – there are a lot of bugs here.

We set up our screen room at this campsite to help with the bugs.

This building in the campground area was built by the CCC (more information below on the CCC).  It appears to be a shelter and group meeting area.

Trails

On Wednesday, May 21 we went hiking using the trail map but we had a bit of a rough time with the map.  We started out where the trail sign was near our campsite.  I had 1 trail that I wanted to do and was having a hard time trying to figure out how to get to it.  We took River Road on the trail map, eventually hooked up with the Scout trail.  Scout trail took us to an old water tower at the Overlook shelter – interesting, but wasn’t where I thought I was going to be.  We then found Hilltop Shelter – but we never did find the park office which is what I was looking for.  So, we took Scout trail and other unmarked trails and eventually got back to our campsite.

One thing that I did notice about the trail map is that while it does tell you where the different shelters are, it doesn’t tell you the name of the shelter so you are kinda guessing as to which shelter is which on the map.  Overall it was a nice walk, but it was getting warm and a little frustrating because I was looking for a specific trail and didn’t find it.

After a break, Jim stayed at the camper with the dogs and relaxed for a bit.  I took the truck and drove down to where the park office was located and was able to see the mill ruins and the spillway (this is what I was trying to find earlier).  I hiked the Coquina trail solo – that’s a lot different than doing it with dogs.  Although, it’s also a little eerie because I was the ONLY one on this trail and what if something happened? I didn’t have cell service most of the hike either….so perhaps this wasn’t the best idea – but all turned out ok.

The above trail side shelter was built by the CCC and completed on August 21, 1937 (yes, it's quickly approaching 100 years ago).

The CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) is responsible for the building of many state parks across the United States. The CCC was created when Franklin D. Roosevelt was President and created the New Deal.  It provided employment for many young men and World War I veterans.  Recall that the great depression started back in 1933-1935 and the economy was trying to recover.  As such, President Roosevelt created the New Deal which consisted of a lot of programs to help the economy and provide relief for the unemployed and poor.

The spillway from the old grist mill was rebuilt by the CCC.  They created a nice 'waterfall' using the rocks and various layers to bring the water down from the lake into the small stream that is just beyond this photograph.

When I got done with the hike, I was back at the park office.  I stopped at the rest room by the park office – ah, air conditioning (it was nice and cool).  Temperatures today were heading towards 90 degrees (not there yet, but it was going to be).

I bought an ice cream for Jim and I while I was there.   Also picked up a t-shirt and hat.  I like this park – lots of trails, a good bit of diversity in the terrain, a lake, and dark at night (very little light pollution).

The rest of the day, till late afternoon, we chilled in the air conditioning of the camper.

Late afternoon, we all piled into the truck and headed down to the spillway – it was a semi shaded area, shallow water and nice for photography.

That night we drove down to the lake and looked at the stars – catching a glimpse of the milky way.  Unfortunately, the clouds moved in pretty quickly and that ended star gazing. 

I think this would be a good park to try going to do some star gazing and perhaps seeing the milky way during the summer months.  In addition, if you got up early, you would be able to do some hiking in the shade – although, when full summer comes, not sure what the bugs would be like if they are this bad and it’s mid May.

Trivia

Poinsett State Park is named after Joel Roberts Poinsett who was:

• a botanist who introduced the plant we know as the "poinsetta" to the United States in the 1820s
• former United States Secretary of War
• the first U. S. ambassador to Mexico

Maybe next time?

As we left the park heading to our last stop on this RV trip I noticed these historical signs.  Yeah, up until about 10 years ago, I never noticed these!

This one was the most interesting to me - perhaps if we go back here or somewhere near by, this would be an interesting place to visit.

Maps

All of these maps are available on the website for the Poinsett State Park.

Link

Link for additional photographs at Poinsett State Park.