Townshend Lake Recreation Area
This place has sites and nobody may sleep in them.Ask for camping here →
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Townshend Lake is a flood control project operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, serving communities within the West River Valley, and those downstream. In addition to protection from floods, the lake provides many recreational opportunities, including picnicking, hiking, and fishing. Keep reading
Recreation
Townshend Lake offers ample recreation opportunities. A boat ramp provides access for canoeing, kayaking and small motor boats (10hp or less). The lake is stocked once a year with Rainbow Trout for the enjoyment of anglers. The three group shelters are surrounded by many individual picnic tables with charcoal grills for smaller groups to enjoy. The Ledges Overlook Trail offers stunning views of the Green Mountains along the 1.7 mile loop, with Townshend Lake Nature Area a short drive north up Route 30 offering access to the West River Trail.
Facilities
Within the Townshend Lake Recreation Area, three large picnic shelters are available for reservation, each equipped with electrical hookups to better accommodate your events. Individual picnic sites can be found throughout the park, providing a resting place for those who wish to enjoy all that the park has to offer, including playgrounds, volleyball courts, horse shoe pits, scenic views, and hiking trails. Restrooms within the Day Use area provide flush toilets and potable water during the recreation season.
Natural Features
The recreation area sits in the West River Valley behind the Townshend Dam on the shores of Townshend Lake. The picnic area offers many large trees for shade along with other sun-basked open areas. Contact Info This location has limited staffing. Please call (978) 318-8915 for general information.
Nearby Attractions
The Townshend Lake Nature Area is located 2 miles north of Townshend Dam on Vermont Route 30, near West Townshend, VT. The Historic Scott Covered Bridge is located 1/2 mile south of Townshend Dam, on Vermont Route 30.
What the agency tells you
Townshend Lake will be open Thursday to Monday for the 2026 recreation season to drive-in visitors. Visitors may walk in at any time.
Townshend Lake is a flood control project. Occasional retention of floodwaters may inundate portions of the recreation area and access road. Any shelter reservations impacted by flood-related closures will be fully refunded.
Any special event, gathering, or activity that may affect the atmosphere of the park must receive prior approval from park staff.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
No dumpsters are available at Townshend Lake. Pack it in, pack it out.
Pets must remain on a leash no longer than 6 ft.
Pets are not allowed on the swimming beach.
Campfires are not permitted.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS (SEASONAL) on 2 of 3 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…Day Use area provide flush toilets and potable water during the recreation season. Natural Features The…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Biking
- Birding
- Canoeing
- Cross Country Skiing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Picnicking
- Sledding
- Snowmobile
- Snowmobile Trails
- Water access
- Wildlife viewing
- Fall color · reported 3 days ago, in Windham County
- Peak color
Nothing here to sleep in
The agency files 3 records here and marks every one of them day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
3 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 3 mapped sitesAll 3 records
| TOWNSHEND LAKE DAY USE AREA | Burrington | day use | 15 amp | yes | 261 ft | 638 ft | $70–$90 |
| TOWNSHEND LAKE DAY USE AREA | Davis | day use | 15 amp | yes | 321 ft | 373 ft | $70–$90 |
| TOWNSHEND LAKE DAY USE AREA | Stratton | day use | 15 amp | yes | 261 ft | 470 ft | $70–$90 |
The agency files 3 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It files them as day use. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Winhall Brook Camping Area8.9 mi
Grout Pond CampgroundGreen Mountain National Forest · 13 miGrout Pond Recreation AreaGreen Mountain National Forest · 13 mi
Hapgood PondGreen Mountain National Forest · 16 mi
Surry Mountain Lake Beach20 miSurry Mountain Lake Campground20 miTownshend Lake is located 19 miles north of Brattleboro, Vermont, on Vermont Route 30.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Townshend, VT
Typical weather
Typical October night 36°F, day 60°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 10°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Townshend Lake Recreation Area is in Vermont’s at-large congressional district. Its representative, Becca Balint (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
The agency’s own record files sites here and marks every one of them day use. The draft asks whether any could open to overnight camping, and if not, why.
- The member who votes the moneyBecca BalintU.S. Representative · Vermont, at-large
- Your senator, on the same appropriationBernard SandersU.S. Senator · Vermont
- Your senator, on the same appropriationPeter WelchU.S. Senator · Vermont
Read the draft, or change the wording
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Townshend Lake Recreation Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Becca Balint, I’m a constituent in Vermont, at-large. Townshend Lake Recreation Area, Vermont carries 3 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Townshend Lake Recreation Area (Vermont) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Townshend Lake Recreation Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Bernard Sanders, I’m a constituent in Vermont. Townshend Lake Recreation Area, Vermont carries 3 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Townshend Lake Recreation Area (Vermont) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Townshend Lake Recreation Area has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Peter Welch, I’m a constituent in Vermont. Townshend Lake Recreation Area, Vermont carries 3 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Townshend Lake Recreation Area (Vermont) via campanac.com