State Parks Near Jackson, MS With Swimming
The closest swimming to Jackson is Roosevelt State Park at Morton, about 35 miles east: a pool with a 36-foot water slide, open Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend, and the only park here where the state says lifeguards are on duty. For open water instead, Lake Lincoln State Park at Wesson, about 50 miles south, has a roped-off sand beach on a 550-acre spring-fed lake, open all day until 6 p.m.
The five parks split on two things: pool or lake, and whether anyone is watching. Roosevelt and Percy Quin have pools, Lake Lincoln and Paul B. Johnson have lake beaches, and Clarkco has only a splash pad. Every one charges the same $2 a person at the gate, so the cost differences are all in what the water adds on top.
Our picks
- Closest swim with a lifeguard: Roosevelt State Park. About 35 miles east at Morton, a pool with a 36-foot slide and lifeguards on duty, plus a small spray area on the deck for toddlers.
- Open-water swimming on a day trip: Lake Lincoln State Park. A sand beach roped off from boats on a 550-acre spring-fed lake, about 50 miles south, open until 6 p.m.
- Big kids in the lake, little ones on a splash pad: Paul B. Johnson State Park. A marked swimming area on 225-acre Geiger Lake with a 5,000 square foot splash pad of 37 sprays and jets on the same shore.
At a glance
| Option | Park Entry Fee | Address | Where You Swim | Lifeguards | Swim Admission | When You Can Swim | Overnight Lodging |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $2source | 2149 MS-13, Morton, MS 39117source | Pool and water slidesource | Lifeguards on dutysource | Separate feesource | Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekendsource | Cabins, camping and motelsource | |
| $2source | 2573 Sunset Road NE, Wesson, MS 39191source | Lake swimming beachsource | Open all day until 6 p.m.source | Cabins and campingsource | |||
| $2source | 2036 Percy Quin Drive, McComb, MS 39648source | Swimming poolsource | No lifeguards, swim at your own risksource | Separate feesource | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Memorial Day weekend to Labor Daysource | Cabins, camping and motelsource | |
| $2source | 319 Geiger Lake Road, Hattiesburg, MS 39401source | Lake swimming beachsource | Sunrise to sunsetsource | Cabins and campingsource | |||
| $2source | 380 Clarkco Road, Quitman, MS 39355source | Splash padsource | Free with park entrysource | Weekends only from August 1, closing on Labor Daysource | Cabins and campingsource |
Who is watching the water at each park
Roosevelt is the only one of the five whose own page says a lifeguard is on duty. Percy Quin says the opposite in plain words: no lifeguards, swim at your own risk. Lake Lincoln, Paul B. Johnson and Clarkco publish nothing either way, so plan on being the lifeguard yourself, most of all on the two lake beaches.
For families with small children, that makes Roosevelt the easy first choice, and its pool deck adds a small zero-depth spray area. Paul B. Johnson has the bigger setup for little ones, but it sits about 90 miles from Jackson and the state says nothing about who, if anyone, watches its beach.
What the $2 gate covers, and what costs extra
Entry is $2 per person at all five parks, with children five and under free. The water is where the prices part. Roosevelt tickets its pool and slide separately. Paul B. Johnson charges for its splash pad on its own, $8.00 for anyone 16 and over on the state's fee table, while no price is listed for its lake beach. Clarkco's splash zone costs nothing beyond the gate, and Lake Lincoln's beach has no fee statement at all.
Percy Quin works differently. Its pool is for overnight guests only: each reservation gets two wristbands a day, and extras are six dollars a head. A day trip to McComb will not get you into that pool, so it is the park to book for a weekend: it sits on Lake Tangipahoa, with cabins, motel rooms and two golf villas.
Late-summer swimming once school starts
Three of these water areas cut back to weekends in August. Roosevelt's pool drops to weekends once school goes back, closing Labor Day weekend. Percy Quin's pool keeps 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Labor Day. Paul B. Johnson's splash pad runs seven days a week until August, then weekends, and Clarkco's splash zone is weekends only from August 1 until it closes on Labor Day.
The two lake beaches give daily hours rather than a season: Lake Lincoln until 6 p.m., Paul B. Johnson sunrise to sunset. For a weekday day trip in late summer, they are the only two whose pages neither narrow the water to weekends nor save it for overnight guests.
The options in detail
Roosevelt State Park
The closest swimming to Jackson, about 35 miles east at Morton, and the only one of these five where the state says a lifeguard is watching. Swimming happens in a 2,600 square foot pool overlooking Shadow Lake rather than in the lake itself, with a 36-foot water slide alongside it and a small zero-depth spray area on the pool deck for toddlers. The pool and slide are ticketed separately from park admission, and once school goes back in August they drop to weekends only. Overnight there is more range here than anywhere else on this list: cabins, a motel, a group camp and 110 RV sites.
Lake Lincoln State Park
About 50 miles south of Jackson at Wesson, and the nearest place on this list to swim in open water rather than a pool. The beach is a sand shore on a 550-acre spring-fed lake, with the swimming area roped off from anglers and boat traffic so you are not sharing the water with a ski boat. The state publishes nothing about lifeguards here, so plan on watching your own children. Camping is the main way to stay, with 71 RV sites and a handful of cabins and cottages.
Percy Quin State Park
A big resort-style park on Lake Tangipahoa at McComb, roughly 80 miles south of Jackson, with a golf course, a marina and a convention center alongside the campground. Read the pool rule before you drive down: it is open to overnight guests only, each reservation gets two wristbands a day, and extra wristbands are six dollars a head, so this is not a day-trip swim. The park also states plainly that nobody is watching the water. Lodging is the widest here, from cabins and motel rooms to two golf villas.
Paul B. Johnson State Park
The furthest south of the group, about 90 miles from Jackson outside Hattiesburg, and the one that gives you two kinds of water in the same trip. There is a sand beach and marked swimming area on 225-acre Geiger Lake behind the visitor center, plus a separate 5,000 square foot splash pad on the shore with 37 sprays and jets aimed squarely at small children. The splash pad is ticketed on its own and runs seven days a week until August, then weekends. Lake swimming itself is dawn-to-dusk, and the state does not say whether anyone is on watch.
Clarkco State Park
The outlier on this list, and worth knowing about before you drive the 100 miles east to Quitman: there is no swimming here in the usual sense. The 65-acre lake is open for boating, fishing, tubing and skiing, and the water you can get into is the Clarkco Ivy Splash Zone, a zero-depth spray area refurbished in 2024. It costs nothing beyond the park entrance fee, which makes it the cheapest water on this table, but it only runs weekends once August starts and it is built for young children rather than swimmers.
How we researched this
The list started from the state park system's own park finder, 21 parks, cut to those within about 100 miles of Jackson and then to the ones where you can actually get in the water. Ten parks were in range and five made it. Golden Memorial at Walnut Grove and Legion at Louisville both forbid swimming in their lakes, LeFleur's Bluff inside Jackson has no swimming of any kind, and Leroy Percy and Natchez list no swimming facility. The next swimming past these five is Buccaneer State Park at Waveland, about 165 miles away on the Gulf Coast. Clarkco stays in even though its only water is a splash pad, because a parent in Jackson would want to know it is there.
Every cell quotes the state park system's own pages, the only publisher of these fees and hours, so there is no second source behind them. Where Lifeguards or Swim Admission is empty, the park says nothing on the subject. One third-party parks site does claim a lifeguard at Paul B. Johnson during peak season, but the state itself does not, so that cell stays empty. Fees and dates are the 2026 season's; several pool and splash pad schedules change once school starts, so call the park before the drive, and call Percy Quin before booking if the pool is the reason for the trip.