Shutes Branch
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 · 2 notices
In the agency’s own words
Shutes Branch is located on the popular Old Hickory Lake, just a short drive outside of Nashville. There's plenty of opportunities for boating, biking, swimming and fishing, as well as sailing. Keep reading
Recreation
Bikers of all skills levels will enjoy the Shutes Branch Mountain Biking Trail, accessed from the picnic area. The first part of the trail is ideal for beginners, while the second portion will challenge more experienced cyclists with rockier terrain, ledges and tight turns. With its close vicinity to the water, Fishing and swimming are consistently popular activities at Shutes Branch.
Facilities
Shutes Branch offers various picnic sites, a boat launch and fishing platform. The reservable group picnic shelter holds 50 guests and comes with electric hookups.
Natural Features
Old Hickory Lake is a 22,500 acre reservoir created by the Old Hickory Lock and Dam on the Cumberland River. The lake is named after former president Andrew Jackson, a Tennessee-native nicknamed "Old Hickory" for his tough and aggressive personality. The lake features 440 miles of scenic shoreline, surrounded by wooded flatlands and plenty of access points.
Nearby Attractions
Nearby fishing piers attract anglers at Rockland, Sanders Ferry, Shutes Branch and Bledsoe Creek State Park. History buffs will enjoy a day trip to The Hermitage, a National Historic Landmark and home of former president, Andrew Jackson, during the early 19th century.
What the agency tells you
Parking is limited
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
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, River, Creek, Beach
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Paddle Boating
- Picnicking
- Sailing
- Water access
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 16:04 UTC
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.
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.
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
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 · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:04 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 records · the site map
All 1 records
| GROUP SITE | S36 | day use | 20 amp | 212 ft | $50 |
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.
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Cedar Creek (TN)3.9 mi
Lone Branch4.7 mi
Cages Bend4.9 mi
Avondale5.5 mi
Rockland Recreation Area5.7 mi
Old Hickory Beach5.7 miFrom downtown Nashville get on I-40 E/I-65 S for .9 miles. Follow I-40 E for 12.2 miles and then take exit 221A from I-40 E. Take Andrew Jackson Pkwy which turns into Saundersville Rd for 6.5 miles. Shutes Branch Recreation Area will be located on the right side of the road.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Green Hill, TN
Typical weather
Typical October night 49°F, day 72°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
Shutes Branch is in Tennessee’s 5th congressional district. Its representative, Andy Ogles (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 moneyAndrew OglesU.S. Representative · Tennessee’s 5th 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 Shutes Branch has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Andrew Ogles, I’m a constituent in Tennessee’s 5th district. Shutes Branch, 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 Shutes Branch (Tennessee) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Shutes Branch has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Bill Hagerty, I’m a constituent in Tennessee. Shutes Branch, 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 Shutes Branch (Tennessee) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Shutes Branch has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Marsha Blackburn, I’m a constituent in Tennessee. Shutes Branch, 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 Shutes Branch (Tennessee) via campanac.com