Rockland Recreation Area
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 16:52 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices
In the agency’s own words
Rockland Recreation Area is located on the shore of Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Old Hickory Lake was created by the Army Corps of Engineers on the Cumberland River. The lake is named after former president Andrew Jackson, nicknamed for his tough and aggressive personality. Keep reading
Recreation
Visitors enjoy a vast array of recreational opportunities at Old Hickory including waterskiing, fishing, boating, swimming and hiking. The area provides excellent fishing for several species including bass, crappie, walleye, sauger and catfish.
Facilities
Rockland Recreation Area contains five group shelters and one gazebo. All shelters are covered and readily equipped with tables and grills. Many of the visitors to the shelters find the ease of bank fishing popular within the Rockland Recreation Area. A volleyball court, playground, and large grassy areas are also available.
Natural Features
Set in a moderately wooded area, Rockland Recreation Area is host to numerous wetland species that occupy the wooded areas along the nature trails within the area. Migratory birds visit the area during the winter months as well as year-round forest birds.
Nearby Attractions
Nashville, Tennessee, is located within a 20 to 25 minute s\drive from Rockland Recreation Area. The Old Hickory Lake Resource Manager's Office and Visitor Center are located directly within the Rockland Recreation Area. A trip to the Visitor Center is an excellent way to learn more about the history, navigational facilities and other programs at Old Hickory Lake. There are numerous stores with amenities within the Old Hickory Lake area.
What the agency tells you
Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Facilities
- Playground
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Archery
- Boating
- Fishing
- Picnicking
Nothing to book until it reopensread 16:52 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
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.
Every line of the receipt · 11
What you actually pay
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 · 4
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at Rockland Recreation Area closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.
There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.
Open within 150 miles · 4
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Houchin Ferry CampgroundMammoth Cave National Park · 66 mi · 12 sites
- Meriwether Lewis Campground, Milepost 385.9Natchez Trace Parkway · 70 mi · walk-up · 31 sites
- Bandy CreekBig South Fork National River and Recreation Area · 110 mi · 145 sites
- Rock Creek Campground (TN)Obed Wild and Scenic River · 112 mi · 11 sites
recreation.gov availability, read 16:52 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
6 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 5 mapped sitesAll 6 records
| ROCKLAND RECREATION AREA | Gazebo | day use | 20 amp | 98 ft | $35 | ||
| ROCKLAND RECREATION AREA | Shelter 1 | day use | 20 amp | yes | 372 ft | 243 ft | $50–$200 |
| ROCKLAND RECREATION AREA | Shelter 2A | day use | 20 amp | yes | 129 ft | 80 ft | $50–$200 |
| ROCKLAND RECREATION AREA | Shelter 2B | day use | 20 amp | yes | 129 ft | 115 ft | $50–$200 |
| ROCKLAND RECREATION AREA | Shelter 3 | day use | yes | 633 ft | 82 ft | $50 | |
| ROCKLAND RECREATION AREA | Shelter 4 | day use | yes | 652 ft | 122 ft | $50 |
The agency files 6 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
Old Hickory Beach0.9 mi
Shutes Branch5.7 mi
Avondale6.3 mi
Cages Bend7.5 mi
Cedar Creek (TN)7.9 mi
Nat Caldwell Park8.3 miFrom Nashville, TN, take I-65 North to TN-386/Vietnam Veterans Blvd. Continue East on TN-386/Vietnam Veterans Blvd. to exit 3 for US-31E toward Hendersonville. Turn right onto Rockland Road (1st red light you come to), travel approximately 0.6 miles. Turn right onto Power Plant Road. Turn left onto Overlook Circle. You are now in Rockland Recreation Area.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Hendersonville, TN
Typical weather
Typical October night 47°F, day 72°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 Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Rockland 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 →