State Parks in North Carolina With Cabins
Twelve North Carolina state parks rent cabins, and the first thing to know is which kind you are booking. Hanging Rock and Morrow Mountain rent vacation cabins with a full kitchen and their own bathroom for $110 a night. Nine parks, from Lake Norman to Gorges, list $78 camper cabins with bunks, heat and air conditioning but no kitchen or bathroom, so you cook outside and walk to the bathhouse. Singletary Lake's single family cabin sleeps 11 with its own kitchen and bath, also for $78.
Rates are nearly flat across the system, so the real choice is where you want to wake up. Only Gorges is in the mountains, near the South Carolina and Georgia line. Seven parks are on the Coastal Plain, including Carolina Beach and Hammocks Beach near the ocean, and four are in the Piedmont within reach of Charlotte, Raleigh or Winston-Salem.
Our picks
- A kitchen, a bathroom and the most cabins: Hanging Rock State Park. 10 vacation cabins, the largest fleet here, each sleeping 6 with a full kitchen and bath for $110 a night.
- A big group on a small budget: Singletary Lake State Park. The Canebrake Family Cabin has three bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom, and sleeps 11 for $78, the same as a bunk cabin elsewhere.
- Waterfalls and mountain trails: Gorges State Park. The only state park cabins in the North Carolina mountains: five camper cabins in a park with twenty-six waterfalls, with Asheville the nearest big city.
- A quick getaway from the Triangle: Raven Rock State Park. Forty minutes south of Raleigh, with six $78 camper cabins above the campground and the Cape Fear River cutting past the park's 150-foot outcrop.
- Closest to a beach cabin: Hammocks Beach State Park. Four camper cabins on the mainland, and Bear Island's four miles of undeveloped barrier island reached by seasonal ferry or paddle.
At a glance
| Option | Nightly rate | Address | Region | Nearest big city | Cabin type | Sleeps | Bathroom | Cabins at the park |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $110source | 1790 Hanging Rock Park Road, Danbury, NC 27016source | Piedmontsource | Winston-Salemsource | Vacation cabinsource | 6source | Private bath in cabinsource | 10source | |
| $110source | 49104 Morrow Mountain Road, Albemarle, NC 28001source | Piedmontsource | Charlottesource | Vacation cabinsource | 6source | Private bath in cabinsource | 6source | |
| $78source | 6707 N.C. 53 E., Kelly, NC 28448source | Coastal Plainsource | Wilmingtonsource | Family cabinsource | 11source | Private bath in cabinsource | 1source | |
| $78source | 759 State Park Road, Troutman, NC 28166source | Piedmontsource | Charlottesource | Camper cabinsource | 6source | Shared bathhousesource | 6source | |
| $78source | 1010 State Park Road, Carolina Beach, NC 28428source | Coastal Plainsource | Wilmingtonsource | Camper cabinsource | 6source | Shared bathhousesource | 6source | |
| $78source | 3009 Raven Rock Road, Lillington, NC 27546source | Coastal Plainsource | Raleighsource | Camper cabinsource | 6source | Shared bathhousesource | 6source | |
| $78source | 2190 Camp Leach Road, Washington, NC 27889source | Coastal Plainsource | Greenvillesource | Camper cabinsource | 6source | Shared bathhousesource | 6source | |
| $78source | 976 Grassy Ridge Road, Sapphire, NC 28774source | Mountainssource | Ashevillesource | Camper cabinsource | 6source | Shared bathhousesource | 5source | |
| $78source | 240 Park Entrance Road, Seven Springs, NC 28578source | Coastal Plainsource | Goldsborosource | Camper cabinsource | 6source | Shared bathhousesource | 3source | |
| $78source | 1572 Hammocks Beach Road, Swansboro, NC 28584source | Coastal Plainsource | Jacksonvillesource | Camper cabinsource | 6source | Shared bathhousesource | 4source | |
| $78source | 1541 Medoc State Park Road, Hollister, NC 27844source | Coastal Plainsource | Raleighsource | Camper cabinsource | 6source | Shared bathhousesource | 4source | |
| $78source | 8801 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh, NC 27617source | Piedmontsource | Raleighsource | Camper cabinsource | 6source | Shared bathhousesource | 6source |
Camper cabins versus vacation cabins in NC state parks
A camper cabin is one bedroom plus a bunk room, typically a queen or double bed and two sets of twin bunks, sleeping six, with heat and air conditioning. Nine parks list them at $78 a night, and most have six. Hammocks Beach's cabins have no water at all, and Cliffs of the Neuse has only three, on sites 7, 9 and 11.
The two vacation-cabin parks are a real step up. Morrow Mountain's six cabins have two bedrooms, a living room with a fireplace and a full kitchen; bring your own linens and towels. Morrow Mountain is also the only park that rents both kinds, so its camper cabins are the fallback when the vacation cabins are gone. The $110 rate applies from March 15 to November 30 and drops to $98 over the winter. Every listed rate already includes the state's $3 reservation fee.
Summer weekly rentals and minimum stays
Several parks will not rent you a single summer weekend night. From the first Monday in June to the third Monday in August, Hanging Rock and Morrow Mountain rent vacation cabins by the week only, Monday to Monday. Singletary Lake's cabin goes by the week in June and July, Sunday to Saturday, and with only one cabin it books out early. Goose Creek requires two nights on weekends and holidays, and Hammocks Beach two nights year round and three on summer holiday weekends.
Pets are another limit: Hanging Rock, Lake Norman and Singletary Lake all bar them from the cabins. Most camper-cabin parks name an accessible cabin, such as Cabin 1 at Lake Norman and Gorges and Cabin 3 at Raven Rock, while Singletary's family cabin is not wheelchair accessible.
William B. Umstead and Medoc Mountain: new cabins to check first
Two rows need a phone call. Umstead's rebuilt Family Campground reopened in 2026 with six new camper cabins, but as of September 2026 the reservation system still says cabins remain closed until further notice, and the state rate table marks them coming soon. When they open, they will be the only state park cabins inside a major city, eleven miles from downtown Raleigh. Medoc Mountain's four cabins are new and are not yet described in the reservation site's park listing, so call the park if the booking page does not show them.
The options in detail
Hanging Rock State Park
The Sauratown Mountains park north of Winston-Salem, and the one most North Carolinians picture when they think of a state park cabin. The cabins sit on their own road above the family campground and are the real thing: a full kitchen, a bathroom, heat and air conditioning, a fire ring and a grill outside. The park around them is the draw, with three waterfalls, the climb to Moore's Knob, a swimming lake and stone buildings the Civilian Conservation Corps left behind. The catch is summer: from the first Monday in June to the third Monday in August the cabins go by the week, Monday to Monday, so a two-night August weekend is not an option. Pets are not allowed in the cabins or the cabin area.
Morrow Mountain State Park
An hour east of Charlotte in the ancient Uwharrie hills, above Lake Tillery and the Yadkin River. Its six vacation cabins are the most equipped in the state system: two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room with a fireplace, and a kitchen with a stove, refrigerator and microwave, furnished for six with four twin beds, a queen and a sleeper sofa. Morrow Mountain is also the only park that rents both kinds of cabin, so it is worth checking the cheaper camper cabins if the vacation cabins are gone. Same summer rule as Hanging Rock: whole weeks only, Monday to Monday, from June into August. Bring your own linens and towels.
Singletary Lake State Park
A quiet Bladen County park built around a Carolina bay lake, most of the year given over to group camps. For everyone else there is one building to rent, the Canebrake Family Cabin, and it is the outlier in this whole list: three bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining table and a bathroom, sleeping eleven, for the price of a rustic bunk cabin elsewhere. Cabin guests also get the swim pier, which is closed to day visitors. Being a single cabin, it books out early, and in June and July it goes by the week, Sunday to Saturday. It is not wheelchair accessible and pets are not allowed.
Lake Norman State Park
The closest cabins to Charlotte, on the largest manmade lake in the state. Six camper cabins sit in the campground: one bedroom with a double bed, another with two sets of twin bunks, heat and air conditioning, and a picnic table and fire ring outside. There is no kitchen and no bathroom, so you cook outdoors and walk to the bathhouse. The park is the busiest of the group for a reason, with a swim beach, boat rentals and some of the best mountain-bike trails in the Piedmont. Cabin 1 is accessible; pets are not allowed inside any of them.
Carolina Beach State Park
Twelve miles south of Wilmington, with six camper cabins in the family campground and the ocean a short drive away. The park itself faces the Cape Fear River and the Intracoastal Waterway rather than the surf, and it runs a full marina, which is unusual for a state park. Its real oddity is botanical: Venus flytraps grow wild here, along the easy trails around Sugarloaf Dune. The cabins are the standard rustic pattern, a queen in one room and two sets of twin bunks in the other, with Adirondack chairs by the door and the bathhouse a walk away. The Centennial Cabin on site 42 is the accessible one.
Raven Rock State Park
Forty minutes south of Raleigh, built around the crumbling stone face that gives the park its name, where the Cape Fear River cuts past a 150-foot outcrop. Six rustic camper cabins sit above the campground, each with a queen bed, two sets of twin bunks, heat and air conditioning, and a tent pad, grill and Adirondack chairs outside. There is no bathroom or kitchen inside, so the bathhouse and the fire ring do the work. It is the easiest cabin to reach from the Triangle, and it pairs well with the park's mountain-bike trails and paddle-in campsites. Cabin 3 is accessible.
Goose Creek State Park
A tidewater park on the Pamlico River east of Greenville, where live oaks lean out over brackish water and a boardwalk carries you through cypress swamp. Six camper cabins sit in the newer loop beside the RV sites, each with a queen bed, bunk beds, heat and air conditioning, and an outdoor spigot; the bathhouse is a walk away. It is the flattest and quietest park on this list, better for paddling, birding and the butterfly garden than for hiking. Campsite 24 is the wheelchair-accessible cabin. On weekends and holidays a two-night stay is the minimum.
Gorges State Park
The only state park cabins in the North Carolina mountains, near the corner where the state meets South Carolina and Georgia. Gorges catches enough rain to be classed a temperate rainforest, and it holds twenty-six waterfalls, deep river gorges and a stretch of the Foothills Trail. Five camper cabins sit in the family campground at the Grassy Ridge access, each with a double bed and two sets of twin bunks, heat and air conditioning, and Adirondack chairs by the door. The waterfall hikes are steep and often muddy, and the drive in is a mountain drive, so allow more time than the map suggests. Cabin 1 is accessible.
Cliffs of the Neuse State Park
Ninety-foot bluffs over the Neuse River, fifteen minutes from Goldsboro and startling in a part of the state that is otherwise flat. Three camper cabins sit on sites 7, 9 and 11, each with a queen bed and two sets of twin bunks, electricity, heat and air conditioning, and potable water outside; the bathhouse is nearby. The park has its own swimming lake with boat rentals, which makes it an easy summer weekend with children. Three cabins is the smallest camper-cabin fleet in the system apart from Singletary, so book early. Cabin 9 is the accessible one and the only one with a charcoal grill.
Hammocks Beach State Park
The closest thing in the state park system to a beach cabin, though the beach itself is offshore. Hammocks Beach protects Bear Island, four miles of undeveloped barrier island reached by seasonal ferry or paddle, where loggerhead turtles nest above the tide line. The four camper cabins are on the mainland at the Simmons campground, drive-up and open year round, with bunk beds and a double bed but no water and no bathrooms; a bathhouse sits in the middle of the loop. Plan around the ferry schedule, because the island is the point of coming here. Two nights minimum year round, three on the summer holiday weekends.
Medoc Mountain State Park
The newest cabins on this list, and the least known park. Medoc Mountain is a low granite ridge in Halifax County, an hour northeast of Raleigh, with quiet trails and one of the cleanest streams in the region for paddling and fishing. The campground was rebuilt with Connect NC Bond money and reopened with four camper cabins added alongside the renovated bathhouses and full-hookup RV sites. The cabins have two bedrooms, heat and air conditioning, and no indoor kitchen or bathroom, so cooking happens outside and the bathhouse is a walk. Because the cabins are new they are not yet listed in the reservation system's park description, so call the park at 252-586-6588 if the booking site does not show them.
William B. Umstead State Park
Check before you plan this one: the renovated Family Campground reopened in 2026 with six new camper cabins, but the reservation system still says cabins remain closed until further notice, and the state's rate table lists Umstead's camper cabins as coming soon. When they open they will be the only state park cabins inside a major city, eleven miles from downtown Raleigh and minutes from the airport, in a five-thousand-acre pocket of forest with two lakes and boat rentals. The cabins sleep six with electricity, heat and air conditioning and a spigot outside, and share a central wash house with hot showers. Umstead also rents primitive group-camp cabins on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights for a good deal less.
How we researched this
The twelve parks are exactly those on North Carolina State Parks' own Cabins catalog, and the list matches the cabin section of the state's reservation rate table, so the set is the state's own rather than a roundup's. Private rentals near the parks, federal lodging in the Great Smoky Mountains, Pisgah and Nantahala national forests and at Cape Lookout, and group-camp cabins rented only to organized groups were left out. Umstead stays in despite its closed cabins because both official lists include it.
No cell in this table is blank. Where a park rents two kinds of cabin, the row describes the better one, which only affects Morrow Mountain. Addresses are park offices and visitor centers, not the cabins themselves; Hammocks Beach's cabins are at the Simmons mainland campground outside the main gate. Cabin counts for Hanging Rock, Morrow Mountain and Cliffs of the Neuse come from outside guides because the state's pages we read do not give them as a count. The summer weekly window and the seasonal vacation-cabin rate both apply by date, so check which one covers your stay when you book.