Pokagon State Park Beach and Bathhouse

实用信息

• Beach pavillion
• 9 kmfrom Angola center
• Wheelchair accessparking lot
• Parking
• Official site
• 4.8 / 520 reviews
• Angola

A beach shaped by the CCC

The beach and its gabled frame bathhouse are part of Pokagon State Park's remarkable collection of Civilian Conservation Corps work. Company 556 lived and worked here from 1934 to 1942, raising the stone and log structures that still dot the park's hills and wetlands. Building the beach was an unusually inventive feat: workers hauled gravel from a deposit elsewhere in the park and spread it in a thick layer across the ice of the frozen lake, letting it sink into place as the surface thawed. The result was a sandy-feeling shoreline and a smooth, fine-gravel lake bottom, completed in 1939.↗↗

That CCC legacy is easy to explore nearby. The park's historic gatehouse, just inside today's main gate, opened as a CCC Pocket Museum in 2016, with exhibits whenever the gate is staffed, and the Nature Center keeps a list of the structures the enrollees built—including this beach and bathhouse.↗

Swimming on Lake James

Lake James and Snow Lake frame the park—natural lakes carved by glaciers some 10,000 to 15,000 years ago in a county that holds more lakes than any other in Indiana. The beach here is one of two swimming beaches on Lake James, with its waters roped off into a designated swimming area. It is also the livelier of the pair: the bathhouse beach comes with a beach house, a concession stand for snacks and coolers, and a playground that makes it a natural base for families.↗↗

The swimming season is deliberately short and dependable. The beach house and beaches open the Saturday before Memorial Day and close no later than Labor Day, after which the bathhouse stands quiet until the next summer. There are no lifeguards on duty; swimming is allowed dawn to dusk at your own risk.↗

Around the park beyond the beach

The beach sits within one of Indiana's original state parks and its signature four-season recreation hub. In warmer months you can rent paddleboats, rowboats and pontoons, fish, wander the park's network of hiking trails through hardwood forest and wetland, play sand volleyball, ride at the on-site saddle barn, or visit the Nature Center. The rustic, fishing-lodge-themed Potawatomi Inn—named for the last great leaders of the regional Potawatomi—is one of the Midwest's best-known resorts and an easy anchor for a weekend stay.↗

In winter the same landscape becomes Pokagon's famous snow playground, with cross-country ski rental, sledding and ice fishing—and the quarter-mile refrigerated toboggan run that sends riders down at 35–40 mph. It is the reason many visitors who first come to swim return for the snow.↗

Visiting the beach

Plan your beach day for the late-spring-to-early-fall window, when the bathhouse, beach house, concession and playground are all in use. Parking at the beach is wheelchair accessible, and the park offers a motorized wheelchair that can be taken along trails and around facilities.↗↗

Keep the beach friendly for everyone: smoking, alcoholic beverages and pets are prohibited on the sand. Be aware that blue-green algae can appear in the lakes year-round—don't drink the water, and shower with warm, soapy water after swimming. Because the water is unsupervised, keep a close eye on children in the roped-off area.↗

The beach is reached through Pokagon State Park near Angola, just off I-69; swimming beaches are included with the park's day-use entry fee. For current hours, conditions and reservations, contact the park at (260) 833-2012.↗↗