Last summer, I was honored when “Inside Kingsmill,” my neighborhood magazine, featured my blog, and then Suzanne Douglas, the editor, asked me to write about our neighborhood pools, which are managed by Kingsmill Community Services Association (KCSA). An edited version of the following article appeared in the June 2026 edition of that publication. All photographs are mine. (If you are interested, see https://www.flipsnack.com/kcsahoa/inside-kingsmill-june-2026 for the magazine article, titled “A Pool for Every Mood”.)

Summer has arrived, so let’s dive into our KCSA pool possibilities!

With three large outdoor community pools, Kingsmill residents are awash in aquatic opportunities. But which one to choose? Warehams Pond? Southall? Mounts Bay, which has two beautiful basins? 

Neighbors have asked me that question for years, because Kingsmill has fostered my life-long love of beautiful pools. My family moved here in 1987, and my brother and I swam for the Kingsmill Sharks Swim Team, as did my kids. As a college student in the early 1990s, I lifeguarded and taught swim lessons at Mounts Bay and Southall. In 2009, I watched the renovations with great anticipation. Now I’m a distance swimmer and daily Kingsmill pool patron who writes about historic pools on my blog: (https://swimhistorygirl.blog/).

In March, I chatted with Jim Kirkland, KCSA Operations Manager. He began working at Kingsmill in 1989, and I’d first met him during my lifeguard years. However, this time I spoke not as a guard or swim-mom, but as a writer seeking information. We discussed the idea that while all residents are welcome at all three aquatic facilities, each has its own personality, its own atmosphere. I asked him about picking a pool. “It’s about finding balance,” he remarked. “Warehams Pond has lessons. Southall is where moms take their little kids. The big pool at Mounts Bay is where older kids play with friends, and the lap pool there is for lap swimming.” 

What an ideal environment for swimmers! Three recreation centers with pools to match needs and moods! 

Warehams Pond: Serenity and Swim Lessons

Built in 1999 during our neighborhood’s eastward expansion, Warehams Pond is the newest of the KCSA pools. It’s a bit of a hidden haven, a tranquil escape. Tucked into trees a mile down Warehams Pond Road, this lesser-known pool has fewer visitors than the others. The quiet atmosphere is perfect for those who wish to swim in peace.

On many summer weekdays, Warehams Pond hosts KCSA swim lessons. For the past decade, Cindy Timberlake, American Red Cross- and YMCA-certified swim instructor, has taught these lessons. With her 50-year career of teaching kids to swim, Cindy brings a deep passion, currents of patience, and an ocean of experience to our little Kingsmill minnows. “I love watching them go from being scared to taking those first strokes,” she said. She especially enjoys working with children with disabilities, such as autism, and she maintains an ADA-compliant swim instructor certification. We are lucky to have her!

Southall: Party Central for Preschoolers

Southall, the first pool in Kingsmill, opened in 1975 when Kingsmill was “little more than undeveloped wilderness and dirt roads” (Parker, 1998). I’d add deer and Clydesdales to that list. At the time, Anheuser-Busch owned the community and the adjacent Kingsmill Resort, and their Clydesdales spent winters grazing on the south side of Mounts Bay Road! 

Today, while kids take lessons at Warehams Pond, many become swimmers at Southall, practicing their skills not through instruction, but through play. Beach entries to the baby pool and main pool create an ideal learning environment, with the gradual slope letting little ones practice skills and gain confidence in progressively increasing depth. 

In fact, Southall Pool played a crucial role in my daughter’s swim journey. By age three-and-a-half, she’d had months of lessons where she’d loved water play but had refused to let go of me. When we arrived at Southall, however, she saw that gentle inviting beach entry and suddenly decided to swim without assistance. Under my close supervision, in maybe a foot of water, she placed her hands on the pool floor, blew bubbles, kicked, and crawled to the other side. In triumph, she did it again, then moved into deeper water where she truly swam all the way across, lifting her head occasionally to inhale. She giggled with glee, then repeated the lap seventy times that day. 

She joined the Sharks the next year, and my kids began swimming at Mounts Bay.

Mounts Bay: Swimming and Sun for Everyone 

In 1979, the Kingsmill Sharks Swim Team, nicknamed “Jaws on the James,” first stepped up to the starting blocks, and the Mounts Bay competition pool opened in 1981 to meet the growing aquatic needs of our developing neighborhood. My former teammates and I remember that hunter-green clubhouse and the heavy wood starting blocks we’d have to drag across the deck and set up for each lane!

Forty-five years later, Mounts Bay has something for everyone: a baby pool, lap pool, and competition pool. This glorious aquatic trifecta is my summer hangout. Every day, I swim 3000 meters in the two-lane lap pool. I’m grateful to have a pool designated only for lap swimming, a peaceful escape from the splashy action in the adjacent six-lane competition pool. While a workout in that pool – the largest in Kingsmill – is possible, it may involve dodging happy kids playing games. Lap swimming in that environment can be like navigating an asteroid field in Star Wars. Your odds of a collision are high. 

They’re also high if you venture too far into the deep end while kids are using the slides. Lifeguards work to prevent accidents, but I’ve occasionally seen kids jump or swim into the danger zone. Once, I saw an adult try to catch a kid flying off the slide. Ouch. Don’t do that. If your kid cannot swim unassisted in deep water, I recommend the slide at Southall, which lands in shallower water.

Renovations:

Those Mounts Bay slides, by the way, are not original to the pool. When I was a teen, we had two one-meter boards, perfect for diving contests! However, in the mid-1990s, they were removed for safety reasons and replaced with the slides.  

The largest changes happened in 2009, with a massive and much-needed renovation project, bringing new life to the aging Southall and Mounts Bay facilities. Architects Siska Aurand and Club Source Design, and contractors Henderson, Inc., and Gracia & Vigil pooled their talents to overhaul both recreation centers. The clubhouses were redesigned and updated. Baby pools were rebuilt, adding water features and beach entries. The original rectangular Southall pool was demolished and replaced with four lanes and a shallow end with that lovely beach entry. The Mounts Bay competition pool footprint remained, with significant improvements including a new pump, new pipes, gazebo areas, permanent starting blocks, and my favorite addition, the lap pool! 

Last summer, KCSA pools welcomed an average of 102.2 members per day, with Mounts Bay’s average daily attendance being the highest at 56 members, statistics that don’t count lessons or practices or the hundreds of kids and parents at each swim meet. Such numbers, along with our memories of 51 years of Kingsmill swimming, illustrate the integral role these pools have in our community. Much more than tanks of water, these neighborhood oases are gathering places where residents of all ages find friendship, fitness, and fun.

FIN FACTS: 
Mounts Bay Competition Pool: 
25 meters 
6 lanes, 0 lap lanes
Depth: 3 to 11 feet
Mounts Bay Lap Pool: 
25 meters
2 lap lanes
Depth: 3.5 to 5 feet
Southall: 
25 yards
4 lanes blocked by lane rope across deep end
0 lap lanes
Depth: 0 to 9 feet
Warehams Pond: 
25 yards
1 lap lane
No black tile line to follow
Depth: 3 to 8.5 feet
All pools have:
Chlorine water treatment
Bathrooms and showers
A bit of shade and a bunch of sun
Adjacent playgrounds
Pool party possibilities 
Mounts Bay and Southall have slides and baby pools with a beach entry.  
None have concessions. Mounts Bay has vending machines but I suggest bringing your own food and beverages.
Guest passes are available for $2 per person through KCSA. 
Mounts Bay and Southall will open Saturday, May 23. Warehams Pond will open after schools close for the summer. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Pool Schedules:
https://www.kingsmillcommunity.org/editor_upload/File/2026%20Pool%20Hours.pdf

Swim lessons:
Contact: Jim Kirkland jkirkland@communitygroup.com
Include child’s name, age, session and course level, parent’s name, phone, and address. https://www.kingsmillcommunity.org/editor_upload/File/2026%20Group%20Swimming%20Lessons%20Guidelines.pdf

Pool Party Rental:
Contact: Danielle Snyder 
757-603-6018
dsnyder@communitygroup.com

Kingsmill Sharks Swim Team:
https://kingsmillsharks.swimtopia.com

Swim History Girl (That’s me!):
If you’re interested in beautiful historic pools, check my blog https://swimhistorygirl.blog/ and my Instagram https://www.instagram.com/swimhistorygirl?igsh=bWVpNWRibGFxbDVt 
Email: swimhistorygirl@gmail.com 

References:
Busch Gardens to use european village theme. (1973, June 1). The Virginia Gazette, p. 1.
Chamberlain, M. (2025). Swim-mersing herself in history. Inside Kingsmill, 16. https://doi.org/chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.kingsmillcommunity.org/editor_upload/File/Inside%20Kingsmill/May%202025_Inside_Kingsmill_WEB.pdf
Country Clubs Archives. Siska Aurand. (n.d.). https://www.siskaaurand.com/siska-project-category/country-clubs/
Offley, E. (1974, January 25). Busch Gardens beginning to sprout in wilderness. The Virginia Gazette, p. 11.
O’Hallarn, R. (2026a). A pool for every mood. Inside Kingsmill, 6–8.
O’Hallarn, R. (2026b, March 2). Interview with Jim Kirkland. personal.
O’Hallarn, R. (2026c, May 27). Interview with Cindy Timberlake. personal.
Parker, W. C. (1998). Kingsmill’s first 25 years. KCSA Bulletin, 1–4.
U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.). James City County: Kingsmill plantation (U.S. National Park Service). National Parks Service.
https://www.nps.gov/articles/kingsmill.htm