Twin Lakes State Park
Virginia State Park Formed In 1986 From Two Formerly Segregated Parks Goodwin Lake And Prince Edward State Park For Negroes, Which From 1950 Was For Years The Only Virginia State Park Open To Black Visitors · Green Bay, Virginia
Two lakes in the Piedmont woods outside Farmville, and the reason this park matters is that for most of its existence it was two parks. Goodwin Lake was built for white visitors. Prince Edward Lake, next door, opened in 1950 as Prince Edward State Park for Negroes - and for years it was the ONLY state park in Virginia that Black families were permitted to use, which meant people drove from across the state to swim in one lake in Prince Edward County. When the system desegregated, Virginia responded by closing parks rather than integrating them for a period; the two halves here were eventually joined and renamed Twin Lakes in 1986. The park today is a quiet, ordinary and rather lovely lake park - two lakes, a swimming beach, cabins, a campground, boat rental and about five miles of trail through hardwood - and the interpretation of what it used to be has grown considerably. The Cedar Crest Conference Center occupies the old Prince Edward side.
788 Twin Lakes Road, Green Bay, Virginia, 23942, United States
Park open daily, generally 8 AM to dusk with seasonal variation. Swimming beach, bath house and boat rental are SEASONAL, mainly June to August. Visitor facilities keep shorter hours and are reduced in winter. Camping and cabins by reservation. Cedar Crest Conference Center is booked separately as a group facility. Parking fee per vehicle plus a separate seasonal beach charge.
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