Van Pugh North Park is a day-use park on the southeastern shore of Lake Sidney Lanier, about five kilometers west of downtown Flowery Branch in Hall County, Georgia. The land and the lake belong to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which built Lanier behind Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River. Hall County handles day-to-day upkeep here under a joint agreement with the Corps (trash, mowing, restrooms), while the Corps still owns the grounds and fixes the docks, grills and other structures. The park's swim beach is a short strip of shoreline at the very end of the park road, on a point between coves near Big Gaines Ferry Island.

The address is 6838 Gaines Ferry Road, Flowery Branch, GA 30542. From I-985, take exit 8 and head west on Friendship Road (GA 347), turn right on McEver Road, then left on Gaines Ferry Road. Keep right where the road forks and it dead-ends into the park. The beach can't be seen from the entrance. Drive past the boat ramp turnoff to the end of the road, where parking lots sit right behind the sand and the restrooms are across the lot. Don't confuse this park with Van Pugh South next door, which is a Corps campground open only to registered campers and their guests.

The swim area is a designated beach on open reservoir water, so there is no current to speak of, but boat wakes roll in from the main lake and the ramp is close by, so stay inside the swim area. The bottom is sand near shore over Lanier's red clay, and it drops off as you wade out. Corps swim beaches on Lanier are not lifeguarded, so children need an adult watching at all times. Lake Lanier has a long record of drownings, many of them swimmers who went out without a life jacket. By midsummer the surface water is usually warm, in the 80s Fahrenheit, while the lake level rises and falls with Corps releases from Buford Dam. In dry years the waterline can sit well out from the usual edge of the sand.

This is not a free beach. Hall County's page for the jointly managed parks lists the day-use fee at Van Pugh North as $8 per vehicle, $3 for walk-in or bike-in visitors and $20 per bus. The entry kiosk takes credit cards only, no cash. The $40 USACE Lake Lanier annual pass and the federal America the Beautiful pass are both accepted, but Hall County's own River Forks annual pass is not. Hours are posted at the park entrance. Pets are not allowed in this park, and alcohol is banned.

Closures have been a real issue. The Corps has shut Van Pugh North for long stretches because of staffing shortfalls and during federal government shutdowns. The Hall County agreement was made to keep sites like this one open, but it is worth checking the Corps' Lake Lanier park status map before a long drive.

Beyond the beach there are picnic tables and grills spread through the park, a playground by the sand, a large picnic shelter near the beach that is first-come, first-served (it can't be reserved), and a boat ramp. Kayakers can put in at the ramp and explore the coves along this stretch of shoreline, though weekend boat traffic on Lanier is heavy.