forestville state park

Forestville is a must see when you are visiting Preston, MN! It has so many activities going on every weekend and offers a little something for everyone who goes there!

The historic village has much of its original flavor, including the amazing preserved 1910 general store. The interpreters were engaging and knowledgeable and funny. The setting is gorgeous. We also went to Mystery Cave, and again our guide was great and the cave itself was cool.

We only had time to visit for a day. We went to the Forestville historical site by the MN Historical society. Well worth the money. The old store has many of the original items from 1899. Can feed chickens. We walked the Hiking Club trail, but then it rained, so we ate lunch in the picnic shelter. It's a wonderful shelter, very spacious. The rangers pointed out the many activities going on that day, from a tour of the cemetery to bat counting. We didn't have time to participate, but there was a wide variety for everyone. We then went to mystery cave, which is also part of the park, but you must drive to get there. Very impressive cave. Handicap accessible. They also offer different types of tours. We just did the one hr. tour. I would highly recommend this park, but it really needs a full day to see everything.

The trails were mostly flat and had a variety of shade. Most of the trails are shared with horses so you need to watch your step. Nice place to visit and walk if you are tired of biking and want something else to do outside.

Just spent 4th of July weekend here camping in site 56 nice wooded site with privacy. Great 4th of July event at the old town, visited the cemetery and the caves. All the Rangers were awesome. Will be back again.

I came out here in July and hiked over a dozen miles at this park. It's quite stunning. When we came out here they were re-enacting some civil war times. It was cool crossing the bridge from the parking lot because it was like stepping back in time. After that we went and looked at the Zumbro hill cemetary-super old. Lots of nice rolling hills for hiking. There was a lot of river crossings here. You may want to wear old shoes for this one. We saw people fly fishing and on horseback. The hike culminated in the big spring which is awesome. The river was bubbling out of a cave in a giant cliff face. I had never seen anything like this anywhere. The water was cold with a blue tint to it. Well worth checking out.

Our favorite was the Mystery Cave, but there are lots of trails and plenty of nature to enjoy. The Root River also runs through and our guide at the cave mentioned the fishing, which must have been good since we saw several people headed to the river to fish!

This was our first time at Forestville, and we had a great trip! There are a lot of hiking trails and things to do (Mystery Cave and Forestville tours). The scenery was lovley, beautilful forest trails and open plains. The Root river also runs throught the park, which was nice to hike along. There are some spots you can swim in the river too. The park has nice shower/bathroom facilities....which is always a plus!! There were almost NO mosquitos in the park too!! The only drawback was the amount of noise in the park and it also seemed like this is the only state park that does not enforce the 10:00pm quite time, people were loud until at least midnight:( Overall, we had a great time and will be back!!!

Little to no mosquitos and a beautiful park! This place is worth checking out. Next time I go down here, I want to camp and fly fish the river. It really is a glorious place!

We camped in late July 2013 for a long weekend in an electric site. We like the park. Good camp sites. Big. Not the most private, but OK. The facilities were really nice (Showers and Flush Toilets). No mosquitos! Hardly a bug at all, really. The Mystery Cave tour is fun. It's really, really dark so be aware that it'll take some adjusting. Wear reliable grippy shoes. One thing that we noticed when trying to find the state park is that the signs are very confusing from the road. When you see any of the signs, take your time and really view them. Mystery Cave is not close to the camp sites so don't turn that way first (like we did). The old ghost town of Forestville is interesting. We were there on a civil war re-enactment day which made it more fun. The re-enactors were pretty good and informative. They also engaged the audience. You might be enlisted for a bit of marching/drilling! You might want to see the old cemetary. Be advised that it is a long walk. We were not prepared but kept pressing onward thinking "we can't turn around now". It was worthwhile, but it took us an hour and a half to do the walk both ways. It is truly up on the top of that hill. And we wished we'd brought water! And like all the signs in these parts, it was hard to figure out which path to take to go into the woods and up the hill. We overshot it at first. But take the journey--just know more than we did! No mosquitos gratefully in the woods. It is very pretty country in southeastern MN. Always worthwhile to drive through. We had a meal in Lanesboro which is nearby. It's also Amish country.

I just got back from my first horse camping trip to Forestville. I really loved the camp. Since there aren't lakes in Filmore County, there were very few bugs! The terrain is pretty rocky. I am a vocal advocate of keeping horses barefoot (no metal horse shoes) but you definitely need hoof boots if your horse isn't shod. It's great riding to historic Forestville. We really enjoyed it and may be back in the fall! That's saying a lot considering we never go to the same place in the same year.

My review is mostly from the viewpoint of a regular camper. However, I do see that if you have trail horses, love fly-fishing, or morel mushroom hunting, then you have found a place to go! The trails are for the most part well-maintained for hiking or horses. This was a shock to me considering the area is so wet right now they have a flash flood watch. As another reviewer mentioned, though, some of the trail is pretty rocky so I could imagine this being hard on a horses bare hoof. The trails are mostly flat or a little up/down. We were looking forward to biking the nearby state bike trails. Only drawback to this park is you have to drive a ways to get to a trailhead to bike. There are other campgrounds near or on the trail, but compared to state park camping, they pale in comparison. We camped in the electric loop and our site (59C) was spacious and private. There are 3 loops, electric, non-electric and rustic and the horse camp area. Maybe a few sites are close to each other, but really, I think these are spacious, private sites overall. We checked out a few private campgrounds and they pack them in with not much for trees or privacy to speak of. The campground is well maintained for a state park - nice bath building, nice workers and campground host. They offered campground activities over the Memorial weekend, too.No cell phone reception in park. Area is so pretty, very relaxing.

We visited the Forestville State Park on a day when a few inches of spring snow had fallen so we pretty much had the park to ourselves. Forestville has a little town in the center of it that is open in the summer with exhibits, but this was off season.We took a hike up to the overlook and you can see for miles into the valley from up there. A spectacular view and I am sure more spectacular in the summer. The trail was well kept and the quietness of the forest was not dampened by a noisy poorly kept trail.As we got back to our car, we noticed a fly fisherman at work on the river, looked very idyllic.Forestville is one of the less traveled state parks, this was my third trip and we have never encountered crowds. You really get a nice sence of walking through the woods.

So much to see and do at this park. Camping is wonderful, the 1800's town is interesting to see, many nice horse and walking trails. The park guides are knowledgeable and helpful. Give the Geo Cache's a try.

Went camping for one night recently. There are 3 loops with about 25 sites each. The sites are about 20-30 feet apart, with some brush between them. If the leaves are off the trees then there is very little privacy here. Not a big deal if it's not crowded but if they are full or nearly full, then you will see everything your neighbor does.The bathroom and shower facilities were incredible. Very clean and modern. There were two water spigots on our loop with very clear water from them. Wood is $5 a bundle, but make sure you buy it before the office closes because they will lock the door to the wood.There is a lot of hiking and water in this park. Lots of trails and many horses with many droppings. If that grosses you out then go somewhere else.