40 graded lakes within 4 hr of downtown
Driving from Richmond to a lake worth swimming in
Ut To Chk Lake is the closest graded water to Richmond, 25 min away, and it grades D. Diascund Reservoir Off Dam grades B and takes 48 min — 23 min more in the car, each way, for water that clears the bar.
Every lake below is ranked by how long the drive is, and labelled with the water-quality letter it earned. Closest is not the same as cleanest, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
Closer, or cleaner — the whole ladder
40 lakes, sorted by drive time from downtown Richmond. Letters in range: 8 A, 1 B, 13 C, 16 D, 2 F. Some of the best water is over a state line — this list crosses into North Carolina. The furthest entry is Coles Run Reservoir at 2 hr 16 min.
| Drive | Lake | Grade | Road miles | County | Size | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 min | Ut To Chk Lake | D | 13.5 | Hanover County, VA | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 48 min | Diascund Reservoir Off Dam | B | 34.3 | New Kent County, VA | 1,100 ac | ✓ Public |
| 54 min | Chickahominy Lake | C | 31.8 | Charles City County, VA | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr | Powhatan Lake | D | 36.1 | Powhatan County, VA | 35 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 4 min | Chickahominy Reservoir | D | 36 | Charles City County, VA | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 5 min | Near the Dam Lake | C | 34.9 | Amelia County, VA | 102 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 6 min | Cohoke Millpond | D | 49 | King William County, VA | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 12 min | Lee Hall Reservoir | A | 61.3 | Newport News city County, VA | 390 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 13 min | Bryants Pond | D | 49.1 | Sussex County, VA | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 15 min | Motts Run Reservoir | A | 60.4 | Spotsylvania County, VA | 160 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 18 min | Upper Lake | A | 62.8 | Stafford County, VA | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 19 min | Near Dam Lake | F | 52.6 | Cumberland County, VA | 52 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 21 min | Near Spillway Lake Mooney | A | 63 | Stafford County, VA | 518 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 23 min | Hunting Run Reservoir | A | 66.7 | Spotsylvania County, VA | 443 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 24 min | Nottoway Lake | D | 51.7 | Nottoway County, VA | 170 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 25 min | Hunting Run Reservior Lake | A | 66 | Spotsylvania County, VA | 443 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 27 min | Sandy River Lake | D | 60.5 | Prince Edward County, VA | 740 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 28 min | Curtis Lake | C | 67.9 | Stafford County, VA | 95 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 29 min | Lake Anna | D | 61.7 | Spotsylvania County, VA | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 29 min | Prince Edward Lake-Near Dam | C | 62 | Prince Edward County, VA | 27 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 29 min | Great Creek Reservoir | D | 71 | Brunswick County, VA | 238 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 30 min | Goodwin Lake-Near Dam-Prince Edward | C | 62.4 | Prince Edward County, VA | 11 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 32 min | Abel Lake | C | 68.1 | Stafford County, VA | 185 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 34 min | Fluvanna Ruritan Lake | D | 65.1 | Fluvanna County, VA | 60 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 34 min | Near Dam Lake | C | 75.5 | Albemarle County, VA | 410 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 35 min | Brunswick County Lake | D | 65.1 | Brunswick County, VA | 160 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 38 min | Upper Branch of Terry'S Run Lake | F | 67.9 | Spotsylvania County, VA | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 42 min | Smith Lake | A | 74.3 | Stafford County, VA | 225 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 45 min | Lake Orange | D | 72.5 | Orange County, VA | 120 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 48 min | Keysville Reservoir-Charlotte | D | 78.5 | Charlotte County, VA | 42 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 50 min | Roanoke Rapids Lake | C | 87.7 | Halifax County, NC | 4,600 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 50 min | Lake Gaston | C | 91.3 | Mecklenburg County, VA | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 52 min | Totier Creek Reservoir | D | 89.5 | Albemarle County, VA | 58 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 57 min | Burke Lake | C | 94.8 | Fairfax County, VA | 223 ac | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 1 min | Mountain Run Lake | D | 92.9 | Culpeper County, VA | 75 ac | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 2 min | Speights Run | C | 83.6 | Suffolk city County, VA | 197 ac | Not recorded |
| 2 hr 4 min | Lake Gaston | C | 95 | Northampton County, NC | 20,300 ac | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 5 min | Lake Culpeper | D | 91.9 | Culpeper County, VA | 250 ac | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 8 min | Lake Gaston | C | 101.8 | Warren County, NC | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 2 hr 16 min | Coles Run Reservoir | A | 107.5 | Augusta County, VA | 5 ac | Not recorded |
What the numbers are, and are not
Drive times and road miles are one-way road routing from downtown Richmond to the nearest public road at each lake, over the OpenStreetMap network via OSRM (router.project-osrm.org) over OpenStreetMap, driving profile, free-flow. Free-flow means no traffic model and no time of day, so a weekend morning will beat these numbers and a Friday afternoon will not.
The letter is the lake’s A–F water-quality grade: clarity, total phosphorus and chlorophyll-a measured over years, not a rating of the beach, the boat ramp or the view. An A describes the lake’s record; it does not clear the water for a particular afternoon. Lakes with no letter are not listed here, because the letter is the only axis this page ranks on.
Size and access come from the lake record where the agency published them. “Not recorded” means nobody documented it — it is a gap in the paperwork, not a statement about the lake.
More lakes near Richmond
Nearby cities
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Diascund Reservoir Off Dam in New Kent County, Virginia. It grades B and the drive is 48 min, or 34.3 road miles. The closest graded lake of any kind is Ut To Chk Lake at 25 min, and it grades D.
23 min each way. Ut To Chk Lake is 25 min out and grades D; Diascund Reservoir Off Dam is 48 min out and grades B.
20 of the 40 lakes here have a public access point on the record, and the closest is Diascund Reservoir Off Dam, 48 min away, grading B. The rest of the table shows "Not recorded" where no access point was documented, which is not the same as no access — check with the managing agency before you trailer a boat.
By road, from downtown Richmond to the nearest public road at each lake, over the OpenStreetMap road network. They are free-flow times: no traffic, no time of day, no stops. Treat them as the floor, and add for rush hour and for the last stretch to the water.
No. The letter summarises years of phosphorus, nitrogen, algae and turbidity measurements — it describes the lake, not this afternoon. A beach closure, a bloom, or a heavy rain can change conditions on an A lake overnight. Check the lake's own page for its measurement record, and check the managing agency for current advisories before you get in.
Stay by the water, not by the highway
Cabins, hotels and rentals around Diascund Reservoir Off Dam in New Kent County — the closest lake to Richmond that grades B. 48 min from downtown.
Top-rated places to stay near Diascund Reservoir Off Dam
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