Lake Dennison

I’m sure the camping is fun, but don’t let your six year old fish in ankle deep water or the power hungry DCR employee will stop traffic to explain how he can’t «swim»?!?
$ 5 to park to basically read 6 sings that say NO on them.
Don’t you dare have fun… Don’t you dare

While this was not my first personal camping trip, this was our first family camping trip.
I have to say for a family campground, we had a great experience.
We chose a site next to the office/​entrance, just in case we had to boogie out in a hurry (emergency, thunderstorm, etc). Turn out it was a great decision.
The staff were really friendly and helpful. Check-​in was a breeze. We were close to the lake– 500ft and a mile away from the public beach, a real good hike.
There were plenty of fish. The kids were amazed how the fish just came straight up to them. They had a blast chasing the fish away or trying to grab them.
There is also a private, campers-​only beach that was closer (less than .50 mile), but it was small and no life guards.
We were also lucky enough to be near a bath house. If you are not sure how your kids will react to total darkness, this is your best bet to be near a bath house since the light is on all night.
Bath house was kept clean for a camping bathroom. 3 stalls and one shower.
Bugs everywhere but was expected.
Dumping site was nearby.
Firewood — $ 5 standard; but really did not need all of it since we had plenty of twigs and branches to keep the fire going.
Grill for firewood. Picnic table for each site (bring table cloth)
Nice and flat campsite. Kept fairly clean. Rangers passed by a couple of times, which made us feel safe.
Great star scenery at night, if you are at the lake.
Good hiking trails for kids (my range 17yrs — 8yrs).
We loved it the first time that we went the following weekend.
Overall, great camping trip for $ 12/​night and we love the outdoors!
Going again next year, possibly for a whole week.
Cheers!

The lake setting and proximity to Boston (~1 hour) is responsible for all of the stars, really. The place is a bit crowded and the toilets/​showers could use updating.

Nice place to camp however we had site 51 which was not as pleasant. Traffic from main road was very loud and the candiru station lights shine right through the tent. Also, people next to us were very loud and obnoxious. Lake is pretty and people are nice. Maybe try the North section,

I went there to get a season pass for all the state parks the other day. It’s a really nice, open area with lots to do. There is a beach separate from the campground. The beach was packed-​this was on a Thursday afternoon. On the camp side, every site had a fire pit and picnic table. The sites were all very clean and everything looked peaceful. There were many trails.
I know for those who are interested in leaving the camp to do other activities, like mountain climbing (a nice trail climb) there is Mount Monadnoc in Jaffery, NH. Also Rhetta Ranch, a great big flee market near by. There is fun stuff to do, if you plan accordingly.
If you plan to get groceries while there, do not got to the store in the center of Winchendon-​as it is way over priced and the choices are not very good. There is Hannaford in Gardner, MA. If you look at Mapquest, there is a back way you can take from Otter River Reservation to Hannaford in Gardner directly (Right across the street)
All in all it is very beautiful! Nice for out of towners. I will take my kids there for the first time today to go swimming!

Really pretty campground. At night you will fall asleep to the sounds of both crickets and ribbiting froggies. A lot of the campsites are right on the water, though not always parts of the water where you can swim. The lake was nice but really crowded.
Unfortunately, our campsite was surrounded by a bunch of Boy Scouts and they were really loud early in the morning. But that’s OK, we still really enjoyed our time there. We’d go back.

The campground office hours are 10am-​10pm. The camping season starts sometime in late May and ends in early September. There is loads of parking, but make sure you get a sticker for MA state parks cause there are employees that walk all around and tell you to get out of the water, ecc if you are not adhering to the rules.
If it’s the beach you are interested in — you can swim there between 10am and 8pm, but stay within the designated buoy areas. But if you are camping, or picnicking you can park elsewhere and there are all these little (not as nice to walk on) beachy places all around the lake.
There is also an ice cream truck that shows up, and they rent canoes and paddle boats, but make sure you are wearing a life jacket cause you’ll get kicked out of the park if you don’t.