Percy Priest Lake: Two Beaches near Nashville

Percy Priest Lake has two established swimming beaches worth considering for a day out from Nashville: Anderson Road for swimming within a buoyed enclosure and family time ashore, or Cook for a larger sandy beach and a picnic-and-walk day. Both are public day-use recreation areas rather than commercial beach clubs. Choose by what you want to do between swims as well as the drive, and plan for adult supervision in the water.

Anderson Road or Cook?

Car journeys from Public Square Park in central Nashville

Criterion	Anderson Road	Cook
Shore and water entry	Sandy shore, buoyed swimming enclosure	Large sandy shore, lake-water entry
Day-use admission	$5 per vehicle upon entry	$5 per vehicle upon entry
Activities ashore	Picnics, grills, playground, paved fitness trail	Grassy recreation space, playground, picnic shelters, nature trail
Driving distance	about 18 miles	about 16 milesBest
Driving time	about 30 minutes	about 22 minutesBest

Choose Anderson Road if the buoyed swimming enclosure is your main reason for coming. Its picnic areas and playground let you alternate water time with activities on land without making a walk the focus of the visit. Cook is the better fit if you want a broad sandy shore alongside grassy space and a wooded trail.

Neither is a free vehicle-entry beach, but the admission is charged by vehicle rather than by swimmer. For a family arriving together, that makes the beach choice more about the shore and facilities than the entry bill.

Sand on the shore does not guarantee a sandy lake bottom, a gradual drop-off or standing depth for children. At either beach, assess footing and depth at the water’s edge before letting children enter. A marked swimming area tells you where to swim, not how far a child can safely wade.

Anderson Road swim beach

Anderson Road’s sandy shore and buoyed swimming enclosure make the water the centre of the visit. Keep swimming inside the enclosure, with deeper water beyond it. For children, begin close to the edge and let their confidence and footing determine the activity rather than treating the whole enclosed area as shallow.

The picnic areas, grills and playground give Anderson Road a useful rhythm for a family day: a swim, a meal ashore and time to play. Bring a picnic if you want to settle in rather than organise the visit around finding lunch elsewhere.

The paved fitness trail through cedar glades offers a distinct change from the beach. Use the trail for an ashore break between swims if your group wants movement without spending the whole day in the lake. It adds a reason to come even when members of the group want different amounts of swimming.

Arrive at Anderson Road Day Use, 4060 Anderson Road, Nashville. The day-use fee is collected per vehicle upon entry. During the recreation season, daily public hours are 6am–8pm, so keep both swimming and the picnic within that visit window.

Cook swim beach

Cook’s large sandy swimming beach suits a visit that spreads beyond the water. The adjoining grassy recreation space gives you another place to spend time ashore, so choose Cook for a beach day with a picnic and a walk, rather than swimming alone.

Enter the lake from the beach and keep children’s water play close enough for active supervision. Decide where to settle before unpacking, taking account of who will be swimming and who will remain ashore. The larger beach is a reason to choose Cook, but it is not a reason to let the group scatter beyond the supervising adult’s reach.

Cook’s playground and picnic shelters provide alternatives to another swim. The wooded Three Hickories Nature Trail adds a land-based outing to the day, particularly if some of your group would rather walk than stay at the shore. Bring footwear for the trail as well as what you need for the sand, and allow time to enjoy the walk rather than treating it as an errand between dips.

Head to Cook Day Use Area, 12230 Old Hickory Boulevard, Hermitage. From the day-use parking area, take the pedestrian route to the beach. Pack for the walk from the car, keeping picnic supplies and swimming gear manageable rather than assuming you can unload directly beside your spot on the sand.

Getting there and swimming rules

Central starting point

Public Square Park, Nashville

Shared road approach

I-40

For Anderson Road, use the shared road approach and continue to the Anderson Road Day Use entrance. Choose the day-use area as your destination, rather than another lakeside facility with a similar name. Parking is part of the arrival, and settling on the beach comes afterwards.

For Cook, continue towards the day-use entrance on Old Hickory Boulevard in Hermitage. Keep the things you will need at the shore together when you park, so you can carry them without returning to the car.

Neither swim beach has lifeguards, and you swim at your own risk. An adult should actively supervise children throughout water play, not watch intermittently from a picnic spot. Stay within marked swimming boundaries, and agree who is supervising before anyone enters the lake.

Leave the water during thunderstorms. Stop swimming rather than trying to finish another dip, and make the change of plan clear to everyone in your group. A beach day needs room for weather to interrupt it.

Vehicle day-use admission pays for entry to the recreation area. It is not a commercial package of an umbrella and two sunbeds. Bring the beach kit you need for your own visit, including towels, sun protection, drinking water and picnic supplies.

Sources & fact-checking

Checks against the sources below cover: fares and charges, services, and opening hours.

• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nashville District — fares and charges
• Cook Day Use
• Nashville District announces bilingual safety displays at J. Percy Priest Lake
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — fares and charges
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nashville District — opening hours
• J. Percy Priest Lake
• Nashville Shores — service