Right Bank Recreation Area
This place has sites and nobody may sleep in them.Ask for camping here →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 15 of the next 15 nights read 16:49 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices
In the agency’s own words
The relaxing family friendly atmosphere at Right Bank Recreation Area will have campers wanting to return as often as possible. Right Bank also known as Cheatham Dam is located about 11 miles northwest of Ashland City, TN and is a 30 minute drive to Nashville. Keep reading
Recreation
The temperate climate here allows for a lengthy recreation season, including boating, canoeing, swimming and fishing. Camping is also available in the adjacent Lock A Campground. There are several playgrounds for the children and horseshoe pits for the adults. The area also provides numerous individual picnic tables with grills, a designated swimming area with sand beach (no life guard, swim at your own risk), two boat launching ramps, two volleyball courts, a softball field, and three public restrooms. The large pavilions offer a nice location for family get-togethers.
Facilities
Within Right Bank Recreation Area there a four group shelters available for advanced reservation -- Cottonwood, Beachside, Willey's and Red Bud. Cottonwood shelter is smaller than the rest with four picnic tables. Willey's offers seven picnic tables, and Sycamore Creek has eight picnic tables. The largest shelters are Red Bud with 12 picnic tables and Beachside with 16 picnic tables. All of the shelters have multiple BBQs, parking to accommodate the group, as well as water and garbage service. Red Bud and Willey's are the only shelters with a fire pit and Willey's also has a fireplace. All visitors to the park between Memorial Day and Labor Day will be charged a day use fee of $5.00. Just down the road from Right Bank Recreation Area is another shelter known as Sycamore Creek, which also accommodate groups.
Natural Features
Right Bank Recreation Area is located on the right bank of the Cumberland River, hence the name. The park follows the contour of the Cumberland River (Cheatham Lake) for two miles. Beautiful old trees litter the area and provide cool shade on even the hottest days.
Nearby Attractions
Nearby attractions include the Ashland City Bicentennial Trail, Riverbluff Park, Lock A Campground, Harpeth River Bridge Campground, Cheatham Lake Wildlife Management Area, Doziers Dock, and Pardue Recreation Area. All the sights and sounds of Nashville, TN are just a 30 minute drive away.
Charges & Cancellations
A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation. Late cancellations are subject to additional fees. For full details see NRRS Reservation Policy.
What the agency tells you
Motorized, including electric vehicles: Golf carts, Scooters & ATV’s are permitted on roadways in Corps operated recreation areas. However, these type of vehicles shall be operated in accordance with applicable Federal, state and local laws, which shall be regulated by authorized enforcement officials. Must be 16 years or older to drive motorized vehicle. Prohibited items include: battery operated scooters/cars, hover-boards, non compliant golf carts and ATV's.
Facilities
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Swimming
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
6 of 10 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:49 UTC
The agency files 5 records here and marks every one of them day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in.
OpenBooked
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
“A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation.” · this campground’s own 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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:49 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
5 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 4 mapped sitesAll 5 records
| Right Bank Recreation Area | Beachside | day use | 20 amp | yes | 416 ft | 12 ft | $25–$50 |
| Right Bank Recreation Area | Cottonwood | day use | 20 amp | yes | 416 ft | 44 ft | $25–$50 |
| Right Bank Recreation Area | Red Bud | day use | 20 amp | yes | 183 ft | 345 ft | $25–$50 |
| Right Bank Recreation Area | Sycamore Creek | day use | 20 amp | yes | $25–$50 | ||
| Right Bank Recreation Area | Willey's | day use | 20 amp | yes | 183 ft | 161 ft | $25–$50 |
The agency files 5 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It files them as day use. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Lock A0.5 mi
Harpeth River Bridge Campground (TN)3.6 mi
Old Hickory Beach30 mi
Rockland Recreation Area31 mi
Shutes Branch35 mi
Anderson Road Campground36 miRight Bank Recreation Area is located approximately 11 miles northwest of Ashland City, Tenn. To reach the area, take Cheatham Dam Road off State Route 12 in the Cheap Hill Community. Right Bank Recreation Area is on the right bank of the lake, just upstream from Cheatham Lock and Dam.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Ashland City, TN
Typical weather
Typical October night 47°F, day 73°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 28°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
Right Bank Recreation Area is in Tennessee’s 7th congressional district. Its representative, Matt Van Epps (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: D-. 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 moneyMatt Van EppsU.S. Representative · Tennessee’s 7th 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 Right Bank Recreation Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Matt Van Epps, I’m a constituent in Tennessee’s 7th district. Right Bank Recreation Area, Tennessee carries 5 records 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 Right Bank Recreation Area (Tennessee) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Right Bank Recreation Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Bill Hagerty, I’m a constituent in Tennessee. Right Bank Recreation Area, Tennessee carries 5 records 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 Right Bank Recreation Area (Tennessee) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Right Bank Recreation Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Marsha Blackburn, I’m a constituent in Tennessee. Right Bank Recreation Area, Tennessee carries 5 records 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 Right Bank Recreation Area (Tennessee) via campanac.com