If you're headed out to Twin Lakes State Park today, you're catching the last shift. Labor Day is the final day of guarded swimming at Goodwin Lake this year, and by tomorrow the tower sits empty and the snack window stays shuttered. If you assume that means the swimming is over too, you'd be wrong in a way that actually works in your favor.
Here's the part most people in Prince Edward County don't know until they've lived here a while: the beach at Goodwin Lake doesn't close when the lifeguards do. It gets cheaper. Virginia's Department of Conservation and Recreation allows unguarded swimming in that same designated area year round at no cost. The fee you paid all summer was for the guard, not the water.
Two Lakes, One Park, Different Rules
Twin Lakes State Park sits off Twin Lakes Road in Green Bay, an easy drive from downtown Farmville and about an hour southwest of Richmond. The name suggests symmetry, but the two lakes inside the park don't behave the same way, and knowing the difference saves you a wasted trip.
Goodwin Lake is the smaller of the two, roughly 15 acres, and it's the only place in the entire park where swimming is allowed. The park's own rules are direct about this: swimming anywhere else on the property is prohibited. That includes Prince Edward Lake, the larger lake at roughly 36 acres, which exists for fishing and boating instead. Prince Edward Lake is also where you'll find the Cedar Crest Conference Center and Bowen Lodge, a six-bedroom waterfront cabin that sleeps up to 16 and gets booked for family reunions and small weddings.
The two lakes were originally two separate state parks that operated independently for decades before merging into the single Twin Lakes State Park in 1976. That history is why the rules still split the way they do. If you're picturing one lake with two names, picture instead two parks that share a driveway.
What Actually Changes This Month
The guarded season at Goodwin Lake runs from the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. Once tonight passes, several things shift at once, and not all of them are obvious from the parking lot.
- The beach stays open, the guard doesn't. Swimming continues in the same designated area, now unguarded and swim-at-your-own-risk, with no separate fee attached to the water itself.
- The snack window goes dark. The concession stand at the beach building operates specifically between Memorial Day and Labor Day. After that, bring your own cooler.
- Boat rentals settle into their standing schedule. Rentals at the park office and gift shop run Friday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., which is the schedule now in effect for the rest of the season.
- Camping keeps going, further than most visitors assume. Sites remain available at $35 to $40 a night through the first Monday in December, not just through the warm months. Firewood runs $8 a bundle at the campground.
None of this is posted on a sign at the entrance. It's the kind of thing you learn by driving out here more than once, which is exactly why it's worth writing down.
The Fee That Disappears When the Guard Does
This is the detail that surprises people the most. Most public amenities get more restrictive once the staff goes home for the season. Twin Lakes runs the opposite direction. The guarded window is the expensive window. Starting tomorrow, the same water is free to use, provided you accept that nobody's watching for you.
That trade shows up elsewhere in the park's structure too. The picnic shelters near Goodwin Lake still rent for a fee, $90 a day for Shelter 1 and $60 for Shelter 2, regardless of season, because those come with a reservation and a guarantee. The swim area won't carry either charge once the guard shift ends tonight, so the state doesn't charge for it. It's a small piece of logic, but it tells you something about how the park is actually run: you pay for supervision, not for access.
Two Dates Left on the Fall Calendar
Two things are worth marking down before the season fully turns.
National Public Lands Day falls on September 26, 2026, as part of a nationwide volunteer effort that Virginia's state park system participates in every year. The state's program builds in loyalty points for anyone who puts in service hours, redeemable toward an annual pass or a future camping, cabin, or yurt stay at any Virginia state park. If you've been meaning to get more use out of the park without spending more on it, this is the mechanism built for exactly that.
The other date is less obvious because it doesn't get promoted the way a festival would. Camping at Twin Lakes runs through the first Monday in December, which means the campground has roughly three more months of active use left in it after this one. Most people mentally file state parks as a summer thing and stop checking the reservation calendar in September. Here, that habit costs you two extra months of open sites.
Planning the Rest of Your Season
If you're bringing out-of-town guests through Prince Edward County this fall, the practical version of all this is simple. Head to Goodwin Lake if the plan involves the water, the beach, or the playground next to it, and go in knowing the fee is gone along with the guard. Head to Prince Edward Lake if the plan is fishing, boating, or reserving Bowen Lodge for a gathering, and call ahead since boat rentals now run a shorter weekly window. If you want to put in a few hours of service on September 26 in exchange for points toward a future stay, that's the day to show up with gloves.
None of this shows up on a first search of the park's name. It shows up after you've been here long enough to notice which building has the snack window and which one doesn't, and to know that the lake named after the county isn't the one you're allowed to swim in.
That's the kind of knowledge that comes from actually living somewhere, not from reading about it once. It's also the same instinct that matters when you're trying to figure out what a piece of property in this county is really worth, or what a specific parcel near Twin Lakes can and can't be used for. If you're weighing a move to Prince Edward County, or you already live here and want a local read on what's changing in the market around you, Joey Wray knows this county the way you know your own street. Let's Connect.
