Pickwick Landing State Park is approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes from my home in Nashville, and is located in Counce, Tennessee. It has 1,400+ acres, fishing, boating, a marina, 10 cabins, camping, a lodge, a restaurant, a swimming pool, a golf course, a three mile paved trail, three small swimming beaches, an aviary, a butterfly garden, and a visitors center and gift shop. The town surrounding this area was originally called Pickwick, after Dickens' The Pickwick Papers. This was the spot of a riverboat stop in the 1840s. The lake was named Pickwick Lake. During Roosevelt's New Deal, this was the site of a new dam, named Pickwick Dam. The 53 mile long dam was completed in 1938. In 1969, the city was purchased by the state of Tennessee to become a new state park. The state park opened in 1972. This whole area is gorgeous and has a lot of water recreation, so if you're a fisher or swimmer, this park is for you. There's not much in the way of untamed wilderness, but this park is absolutely chocked full of amenities that's sure to please every member of the family. read more

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Tonight, my husband and I attended the first, hopefully an annual, State Park Christmas lantern holiday hike. It was the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge and the Christmas Carol. The trail hike, a family friendly, short and sweet, hike, with the lead of an incredible State Park Ranger. The park Ranger graciously led the way and read the story aloud. It was a family fun event. Afterwards, we were able to drive through the Christmas lights through the park. It reminded us as a similar show, from the Memphis Shelby Farms starry nights, so nice to have this here at the Pickwick State Park. Thank you so much for all who arranged these events, we enjoyed it very much! read more

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Terrible food and worse service. Asked to have the rancid salmon taken off our check and was met with a blank stare. Will never go back. Awful. read more

Amazing lodge with spacious rooms and great food. All rooms face the water which is less than 50 yards away. They have pavilions, basketball courts, indoor and outdoor pools along with great walking trails. And, all family affordable. read more

Just a garbage place, run down by apparently bad management, because the staff themselves are pretty good. waste of a wonderful location. Bed bugs and cockroaches--good luck. Never going back. Food is sub-par, with jacked up prices. Used to be line of people out the door to get in there. Those days are long gone. Terrible what they have done to that place! read more

This is a very clean looking beautiful State park. It offers options for concessionaire lodging and dining, putting boats in and out of the water to explore the Tennessee river and its area, and some beaches some can enjoy while there. Stop by the next time you're in the area even just for a looksee. We think you'll enjoy it. There's no fee for entrance. read more

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The food portion size is excellent and you definitely leave full and the service is pretty good too. The floors and tables are nice and clean but sitting by the windows could benefit from some serious outside cleaning. read more

Short outing to celebrate getting our second Covid vax shots. The new remodel is beautiful, the staff friendly and professional. There is a mask mandate but unfortunately most folks did not abide by it. The whole place is update with lots of public space, the rooms are new. The rooms, mattresses could have been a little softer. The rooms could have been a little cleaner especially since there is no daily maid service. But it did harm the trip. The restaurant is great. Gone is the all you can eat buffet. Order from the menu. Breakfast was good; biscuits and gravy, omelets and oat meal and the seasonal fruit were all good. So good we had the biscuits and gravy and oatmeal two days in a row. Dinner the catfish tacos were loaded with catfish filets and the fried catfish filet dinner was so good we had it twice. It as good a river catfish as I'd ever eaten. Overall a pleasant short get away. read more

This review isn't for the lodging or camping, but just for the hiking trail as a day use visitor. I wouldn't go far out of my way for this park, but since I was staying in the area for a Thanksgiving getaway, it was definitely worth a visit. There's an easy, 3 mile hiking trail that takes you mostly through the woods, with nice views of the lake. There are a few interpretive signs along the way to give you some info about the park's history and various trees, etc. It was a lovely, pleasant walk, and on the Saturday after Thanksgiving we ran into only one other group on the trail. The parking was confusing; the GPS took us to the wrong spot, and we wound up asking someone at the stand to enter for camping where to park. I recommend checking in at the visitor center for a map - there is good day use parking for people using the trail, though not a ton of it. Apparently the paper mill nearby sometimes smells funky; thankfully, it didn't when we visited! I appreciate that the park is free; state parks in TX where I live charge admission. read more

This is a review specifically for the bar at the Pickwick lodge restaurant. Steph and Kim do a great job and make great drinks. Jello shots? Yup. Pb&j shots? Yup. Junt? Yup... What more do you need. Best bar I've ever been to at a Tennessee State Park. read more

A great location for family reunion. We rented multiple cabins, one of which was a larger more deluxe version to use as the central gathering space. read more

Wow, I got a lovely email from Michael L. Dobis | Park Manager III that said: "We certainly share your passion for cleaning up our waterways especially the ones that surround our park. We recently hosted a "Keep TN River Beautiful" event at our park just days before you and your families arrival. Volunteers collected over 3 tons of garbage out of the lake and river. We and several other organizations do strive to ensure our water ways are clean, but as you have stated, "it is appalling." I personally agree with you and strive daily to encourage efforts to keep the water clean. We certainly thank you for your comments regarding the cleanliness of our park. We take great pride in providing a safe, clean, and enjoyable outdoor experience for our guests. It is our hope that you will return in the future and have an even greater experience than this one. If I may ever be of assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. " That level of customer service makes me want to return to Pickwick Landing much more quickly. Great to know that they are concerned. read more

First of all our room did not have a refrigerator which is kind of ridiculous when you're staying there for four days and there was no hospitality, no one came to take out our trash or replace our towels which they said because of Covid but I think it's unsanitary to have trash in your room for four days and no fresh towels or any kind of housekeeping at all. The windows all over were dirty and had handprints and dust and cobwebs and bugs. It does not look well taken care of at all. The renovations look beautiful in some areas but the place needs a lot of help. In the pool looked so gross we never even attempted to get in and it's indoors. read more

Yum yum! The restaurant is beautiful and the food is delicious!! My second time here to eat this week So excited about this place read more

I really enjoyed Pickwick! It was so peaceful and the atmosphere was great! My daughter and I just relaxed, went swimming, and enjoyed the view! read more

Pickwick Landing State Park - Houses we viewed on our pontoon excursion! - Hiking Near Me - Counce, Tennessee

The newly renovated lodge and restaurant are very nice. We came for the weekend, stayed in one of the new cabins and had all our meals at the lodge restaurant. The staff are very nice and friendly, the food is good and very reasonably priced, and the views of the lake and dam from the restaurant are amazing! The park has a lot of space and plenty of outdoor activities. We would definitely come back here and bring the whole family. Thank you for a great getaway in these difficult days! read more

Pickwick Landing SP Campground was very nice. We picked lot 26 at random and it was ideal ! Some lots were smaller and less level, but ours was perfectly level and just beautiful. Bath houses were what you'd expect from a state park, but sufficient for a short stay. We were in a 31 foot travel trailer and stayed for 2 nights. read more

Overall, a very nice experience. My brothers and I plan holiday getaways now that we are all adults that lead separate lives, and after Christmas we try to travel somewhere for a few nights as an extended family. This year we opted for cabins at Pickwick, never having visited before. At first we were a bit concerned because after reserving on their website in late summer (it takes planning for 10 people to travel together, plus two dogs), and we got a call a couple of weeks prior confirming our reservation, but letting us know the park would be closed for the holidays during our visit. So no inn, no restaurant, no canoe rentals, all closed except for our three cabins would be occupied and on our own. After we dismissed visions of "The Shining," we opted to still go after they explained some staffer would be at the inn answering phones from 8-4 where we'd pick up our key, and a ranger did live on premise. We actually loved it having the whole area to ourselves, kids and pups could go for a walk or you could hang out on the deck and the silence was wonderful. One brother had a "villa" in park rental terms, an upgraded very nice cabin with 3 BR, a larger living room, larger kitchen, and felt like a Marriott basically. Lovely view of the lake, nice bathrooms, each BR had their own TV. The other brother and I had a standing park cabin because we had the pups. It was clean enough, and pretty much the primitive accommodations you'd expect when staying in a state park. You're not there for the ambience. My only real complaint with our dog-friendly basic cabin was the bathroom - wow. One of the smallest I've ever been in, smaller than even on a cruise ship. We'll just say that whenever possible during this getaway, I visited one of the bathrooms in my brother's villa cabin. Sure, the cabin overall was old, but the rooms (other than the bathroom) were large enough. The beds at all of the cabins were very low to the ground, not sure what that's about. The beds in the upgraded villa were the same on the floor not super comfy as in the basic units, just nicer bedspreads. The kitchens were adequate. The basic cabin's dishes were plastic and the coffee cups hilariously small, but we basically never used much in our cabin spending most of our time in the villa. For a girls getaway or obviously if you fish, it was overall a nice park and some good options. We'd go back at some point possibly. read more

We stayed in cabin 6. I didn't like it. There's a steep pathway from the car to the cabin. You can't have a stroller or an elder go up and down on that path especially with no lights at night. The cabin is old and unclean. There were many spider webs inside. The bathroom was clearly unclean. Many lights didn't work. I couldn't stay my second night there. Next time I will book the premium cabins. Huge difference. The staff were very nice. read more

It is hard not to give them 5 stars but very few flat spots. Clean bathrooms and the park is clean. The kids love it here. Walk to the river. Good safe place read more

This review is for the Pickwick Inn Restaurant only! The park is nice. Went there for a class reunion tonight & it was very disappointing. The buffet was not good. Salad bar did not have a good selection. The food itself was bland. I ordered a glass of chardonnay & took one sip of it was horrible. When I went to go find the server & she said sorry, but no refund. Speaking of the server she was not very service oriented, had to go get her a couple of times. Then was charged at 18% gratuity for bad service. If our class reunion or any other event is to be at this location, I will not attend. LA read more

On July 24-26 we had a family reunion and rented 5 of the villas.We like the size and the view from the decks. We also like the closeness to be able tp eat together. The villas were not clean though. As we entered there were cob webs hanging under the porch. There was dust under all the furniture and the floors were nasty. We had a toddler crawling and his knees and feet were BLACK. We don't know if the floor had ever been mopped! Then we had dirty sheets on one of the beds! The beds are so low on the ground and are very uncomfortable. Know that if you take little ones the walls are paper thin and you hear everything from one room to the next! We had not been in the villa 3 hours and had to call maintenance because we had 1 light in the living room that worked! Only 1 of the ceiling fans worked in den! He replaced all the light bulbs in the den while we are having a family dinner! There were also lights and fans that did not work in the bedrooms. The book with rules is different from the rules on the refrigerator and 10 is too early for check out! One of biggest issues was that we called numerous times asking about bringing golf carts and were told by 3 different people that we could and they didn't see why it would be a problem, because others had done it! We had old people and babies and the easiest way to get us to the dock at the marina was a golf cart! It is not posted anywhere on web site or any other place that GOlLF CARTS were not allowed! Then the park rangers thought they needed to show their authority and be rude to us! The weeds should be cleared behind the villas because we saw several snakes! There also should be a dock added so boat access would be much easier than driving to the marina, There is room for this to be done! Also another idea would be for a pool to be available in the middle area for the villas and cabins instead of once again getting in our car and driving to pool at the Inn! read more

Wife and I attended the Bluegrass Festival in nearly Savannah, Tennessee. After dinner and on a whim we decided to see if the Inn at Pickwick Landing State Park had any rooms. Arrived around 8:30 pm. The front desk staff was very pleasant and accommodated our request for a room. The last available room, ground floor and with a great river view. That late in the evening they could easily have turned us away and we would have been none the wiser. The rooms are a bit small and dated but over all it was a good stay. read more

The food was very cold, and lacked taste. The sad part of the whole evening besides paying $45 for a child and 2 adults. At the checkout counter, I tired to tell the woman that the food was cold, and she blew me off and acted like I wasn't even there. Also, the manger never came the table and asked about the food, but acted like she was hiding in the corner, I thought. Our waitress was pretty good and had very good manners. I was just so sadden because having been to thus establishment 3 or 4 times before it was very good, but it has sunken like the titanic. Maybe, it was that I went an 1 hour before closing, but I still believe that is not a reason to "close down shop." Try it for yourself, but that was my experience in a nutshell. read more