Twin Lakes State Park Beach
Green Bay, VA
Twin Lakes State Park's beach sits on Prince Edward Lake, once a separate, segregated park built for Black Virginians in 1950 after a lawsuit challenged the state's whites only park system. It merged with the neighboring, formerly whites only Goodwin Lake area in 1986 to form the park that exists today, a history the park now tells openly rather than glossing over.
The civil rights history alone makes this one of the more meaningful state park beaches in Virginia, though it's a smaller lake without the boating scale of Smith Mountain or Claytor.
How we score beachesRead the historical markers near the lake before writing this off as just another lake beach. Twin Lakes carries a significant piece of Virginia civil rights history that most visitors don't expect to find at a swimming beach.
A day use fee applies at the gate. The lot here is generally easier to get into than the busier large lake parks.
A short, level path connects the main lot to the beach and bathhouse on Prince Edward Lake.
Guarded swimming runs Memorial Day through Labor Day, with Piedmont summers here running warm and humid straight through August.
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