Twin Lakes State Park

Twin Lakes State Park in Prince Edward County, Virginia, began as two parks created in 1939 on land the federal government had bought during the Great Depression. For decades, Goodwin Lake and Prince Edward Lake were operated separately under Virginia’s Jim Crow policies. Their history became tied to Maceo Conrad Martin’s 1948 challenge after he and his family were refused entry to another state park because they were African American. Virginia then developed Prince Edward State Park for Negroes, which opened in 1950 as the state’s only pre-Civil Rights era park created for African Americans. After desegregation, the two parks merged in 1976 and became Twin Lakes State Park in 1986.

Virginia · United States