Pleasant Grove Recreation Area
This place has sites and nobody may sleep in them.Ask for camping here →
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Pleasant Grove Recreation Area is a day-use facility, located along the shores of Dale Hollow Lake in the hills of Tennessee. Keep reading
Recreation
Dale Hollow is renowned for its fishing opportunities. In addition to yielding the world record smallmouth bass and being known as a trophy smallmouth lake, the Obey River below Dale Hollow Dam is also known for excellent rainbow and brown trout fishing. Boating and water skiing are also popular activities, and with 27,700 surface acres of water and 620 miles of shoreline, there is plenty of space for visitors to explore the lake. A boat launch is provided. Pleasant Grover also offers a picnic area with a reservable shelter, located on a beautiful peninsula with exceptional views of Dale Hollow Dam.
Facilities
Pleasant Grove Recreation Area offers a large group picnic shelter with five picnic tables and grills. Flush toilets and drinking water are also provided. A boat ramp provides convenient lake access.
Natural Features
Dale Hollow Dam and Lake was completed in 1943. Although the dam was built for flood control and power generation, it has now become a recreational oasis for more than 3 million visitors each year. The dam is located on the Obey River, about 3 miles east of Celina, Tennessee. Surrounded by a thick expanse of forest, the clear blue lake creates a stunning scenic backdrop for a variety of water and land recreational activities. In the late fall through early spring, the American Bald Eagle can be spotted flying overhead or perched on low-lying limbs. Dale Hollow hosts the second largest wintering eagle population in the states of Tennessee and Kentucky.
Nearby Attractions
The Dale Hollow National Fish Hatchery is adjacent to the dam. Operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the hatchery is the largest federal trout hatchery east of the Mississippi, producing 1.5 million trout annually. The hatchery is open to visitors daily.
Charges & Cancellations
Full rules and reservation policies for fees associated with changes and cancellations can be found at https://www.recreation.gov/rules-reservation-policies There is no fee to make a reservation. Customers who cancel a group day-use facility reservation (picnic shelter) less than 14 days before the arrival date will forfeit the total day-use fee. No-shows forfeit the entire day-use fee for a day-use facility. Applicable fees, including service/cancellation fees and change fees, are non-refundable and subject to change. No refunds for recreation use fees may be made at the campground.
What the agency tells you
If making a last minute reservation for the shelter (within one week of arrival) please phone the Resource Manager's Office, Monday thru Friday 7:30 to 3:30 CST at 931-243-3136 to inform our staff of the reservation so that a reserved sign can be posted. Thanks
We look forward to your visit. Please ensure your visiting guests either receive a copy of the confirmation or are advised of our policies.
Visitors are expected to be aware of General Park Rules. For more information visit US Army Corps of Engineers Rules and Regulations for Water Resources Projects.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
This is a day use area only, no camping.
$5 day-use fee per vehicle; $2 per walk-in. Credit card payments only at the automated pay station.
Alcohol is not permitted.
Firewood Policy – When picnicking at this recreation area, purchase your firewood from a vendor who sells certified heat treated firewood or commercial fire logs. Kiln-dried, unpainted, unstained lumber that is free of any metal or foreign substance, or dead and downed branches in the area adjacent to the area is also permitted. View the Nashville District Firewood Policy
Domestic pets (dogs/cats only) are permitted and must be leashed, controlled and attended at all times with proper removal and disposal of any waste produced by the pet.
Only licensed vehicles permitted.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…with five picnic tables and grills. Flush toilets and drinking water are also provided. A boat ramp…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…tables and grills. Flush toilets and drinking water are also provided. A boat ramp provides convenient…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Birding
- Boating
- Fishing
- Picnicking
- Swimming
- Water access
Nothing here to sleep in
The agency files 1 record here and marks it day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
“Full rules and reservation policies for fees associated with changes and cancellations can be found at https://www.recreation.gov/rules-reservation-policies - There is no fee to make a reservation. - Customers who cancel a group day-use facility reservation (picnic shelter) less than 14 days before the arrival date…” · this campground’s own no-show terms
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 6
rules read Oct 1, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 records · the site map
All 1 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
| Pleasant Grove Day Use | L1-Picnic Shelter | day use | yes | 77 ft | 406 ft | $30 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Dale Hollow Damsite0.9 mi
Dale Hollow Lake - Primitive Camping2.9 mi
Willow Grove Campground6.4 mi
Lillydale Campground and Day Use8.9 mi
Obey River Park15 mi
Roaring River Park15 miFrom Celina, Tennessee, turn northeast on Route 53 and continue for 4 miles. Turn right on Old Route 53 at the Cedar Hill/Pleasant Grove exit and follow signs to the park.
It is recommended that visitors do not rely on GPS or Mapquest to reach the park.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Celina, TN
Typical weather
Typical October night 45°F, day 71°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 27°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Pleasant Grove Recreation Area is in Tennessee’s 6th congressional district. Its representative, John Rose (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
The agency’s own record files sites here and marks every one of them day use. The draft asks whether any could open to overnight camping, and if not, why.
- The member who votes the moneyJohn W. RoseU.S. Representative · Tennessee’s 6th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationBill HagertyU.S. Senator · Tennessee
- Your senator, on the same appropriationMarsha BlackburnU.S. Senator · Tennessee
Read the draft, or change the wording
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Pleasant Grove Recreation Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear John W. Rose, I’m a constituent in Tennessee’s 6th district. Pleasant Grove Recreation Area, Tennessee carries 1 record on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Pleasant Grove Recreation Area (Tennessee) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Pleasant Grove Recreation Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Bill Hagerty, I’m a constituent in Tennessee. Pleasant Grove Recreation Area, Tennessee carries 1 record on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Pleasant Grove Recreation Area (Tennessee) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Pleasant Grove Recreation Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Marsha Blackburn, I’m a constituent in Tennessee. Pleasant Grove Recreation Area, Tennessee carries 1 record on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Pleasant Grove Recreation Area (Tennessee) via campanac.com