Pine Lake sits at the center of the smallest city in DeKalb County, a quarter square mile of Georgia with about 750 residents that incorporated in 1937 after the Pine Woods Corporation sold weekend lots here to Atlantans as summer getaways. The water is not natural. Snapfinger Creek ran through this valley, and the Army Corps of Engineers dammed a widened stretch of it for erosion and flood control, leaving a lake with a town built in a ring around it. The beach is a small sand strip on the southwest shore, a few steps off Lakeshore Drive, and it is the only place in the city where you are permitted to walk into the water. Everywhere else the rule is stay on the path.

Swimming happens inside a roped rectangle close to shore. Past the ropes lies a second boundary the city calls the inner berm, and adults who want a longer swim can sign a waiver at City Hall to use the water between the ropes and that berm. A parent or guardian signs for anyone under 18. Nothing larger than a single person float is allowed inside the inner berm, and nobody swims beyond it. There is no lifeguard. The city tests the water through the season and posts bacteria counts on the community bulletin boards, anything over 225 counting as unsafe, so checking the board is part of the visit.

The lake is shallow, creek fed and warm by late June, and its eastern end was dredged in a 2011 streambank restoration that also lowered a road to take flood overflow. Turtles are everywhere, and the posted rules specifically tell you not to touch them. Geese and ducks work the shoreline. Granite pushes up through the ground along parts of the loop, with Stone Mountain two and a half miles east. The asphalt path on the north side runs between Spruce Drive and Spring Street, and the rest of the circuit threads the Western Wetlands and the Eastern Green Space. A playground occupies the southwest corner near the sand, and there is a single tennis court at Park and Spring.

Access is free and open to the public. The city's posted Park and Beach Rules open by inviting anyone to enjoy the lake, the wetlands, the beach, the playground and the trails, and Pine Lake charges no admission, no season pass and no non-resident fee. The beach opens for swimming from June 1 to September 30, dawn to dusk Monday through Friday, and dawn to noon plus 3 p.m. to dusk on Saturday and Sunday. Restrooms in the Beach House are closed to beach users, so the only facility in season is a porta-potty next to the building. Dogs are barred from the lake and the sand. No glass, no alcohol, no smoking, no cooking and no amplified music. Canoes and kayaks are welcome outside the inner berm and must be launched at the designated spot. Fishing is allowed with a Georgia license, and the lake holds catfish and brim.