Sutton Lake Beach is the swimming beach in the Bee Run Day Use Area on Sutton Lake, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir on the Elk River in Braxton County, central West Virginia. The Corps built Sutton Dam between 1956 and 1961 for flood control, and the lake behind it runs about 14 miles up the Elk and Holly River valleys between steep wooded hills. Bee Run sits on the lake's western end, a short drive above the dam and about a mile and a half east of the town of Sutton. The beach is a small sandy strip on a cove right next to the Sutton Lake Marina.

From Interstate 79, take Exit 67 toward Flatwoods and turn right onto WV-4. After about a mile, turn left on WV-15, go roughly another mile, and turn right into the Bee Run Day Use Area. The Corps warns that GPS directions to its Sutton Lake sites are not always accurate, so follow the signs once you leave the interstate. Paved parking lots sit just above the beach, with flush toilets, a playground, picnic tables and two picnic shelters with water and electric close by.

The swim area is a buoyed section of the cove off the sand, kept separate from boat traffic heading in and out of the marina next door. Sutton is a deep flood-control lake (about 125 feet at the dam) with clear blue-green water, and the beach gives an easy sandy entry into it. We found no Corps listing of lifeguards here, so treat it as an unguarded beach, stay inside the buoys and watch children closely. Because the Corps runs the lake for flood control, the water level changes with the seasons and after heavy rain, and the Bee Run cove sits much lower and muddier at winter level. Plan on this as a summer swim.

Swimming at Bee Run is not free. Since May 1, 2022, the Corps has charged a day-use fee of $5 per vehicle for the swim beach and boat ramps at Bee Run and the South Abutment area, paid at automated machines by card only (no cash; a prepaid card from a convenience store works). Display the receipt face up on your dash. One payment covers every Sutton Lake day-use area for that day, and a $40 annual day-use pass is sold at the same machines. America the Beautiful annual, senior and access passes are accepted in place of the fee. Shelter and playground users are not charged an extra fee. The fee amounts come from the Corps' 2021 and 2022 announcements, and we could not find posted beach hours, so call the Sutton Lake office at 304-765-2816 before a first visit.

Bee Run gets busy on summer weekends, and the marina means powerboats, jet skis and wake right beside the swim area, so stay inside the buoys. Sutton Lake Marina, a private concession, has a snack bar and rents boats and slips, and the boat ramp next door is an easy put-in for canoes and kayaks headed up the lake's long narrow coves. Bee Run Campground, a small Corps campground with twelve primitive sites, is up the hill from the beach, and larger campgrounds at Gerald R. Freeman and Bakers Run sit farther up the lake. The roughly 18,000-acre Elk River Wildlife Management Area surrounds much of the shoreline and has fire roads and trails for hiking.