About TLBC
A small club with a long memory.
The Twin Lakes Beach Club embraces a volunteer spirit which encourages fun and friendship for the whole family.
We’re a member-run summer club on the eastern shore of East Twin Lake, in the rolling hills of Salisbury, Connecticut. We have been here since 1948 — though our roots go back further still — and the place has been quietly shaped by the same handful of families and the new ones who join them every year.
How the club is run
There’s no general manager and no front desk. Instead, volunteer chairpersons lead nine activity areas, supported by fellow members:
- Children’s Activities
- Communications
- Grounds
- House
- Membership
- Snack Bar
- Social
- Tennis
- Waterfront
Two workdays anchor the calendar — one in the spring to open the property, and one in the fall to put it to bed. They’re some of the best days of the year.
What summer looks like
Tennis tournaments, junior clinics, and pickleball round-robins. Member-catered cocktail parties and karaoke nights. The annual Tennis Ball. A snack bar with farm-fresh salads and burgers off the grill. Boats bobbing at the moorings. The fire pit going as the sun drops behind the hills.
Members are not expected to be involved in every activity. One “takes” as much from the club as desired, and gives back whatever they feel is appropriate.
Our history
The club traces back to a corn roast at Roraback’s tennis courts around 1925. A converted residence served as the first clubhouse — under the condition, the records note, that “there would be no liquor on the premises.” Saturday night suppers featured live bands; Sunday afternoons meant softball.
The wartime pause
During World War II, the clubhouse became a Red Cross meeting space for women. As young men shipped off, membership thinned until the original club disbanded and the building became Roberts Grocery Store.
Postwar revival
After the war, neighbors revived the idea, purchasing land and a boarding house adjacent to O’Hara Marina. By the early 1960s, with home pools and televisions pulling people away from communal life, the club came close to liquidation.
1963: a turning point
Facing the choice between closing and reinventing, the board voted to invest. They financed two tennis courts through a mortgage increase to $15,000. The courts came online in 1964, dues were raised, and a new membership drive brought the place back to life.
August 29, 1990
A fire destroyed the clubhouse. The board met within days and resolved that the club was not the building. Members rebuilt within a year and opened the new clubhouse — designed by member Donald Blair — for the 1991 season. It is the building you walk into today.
Come visit
If any of this sounds like a place you’d like your own family to spend a summer, we’d be glad to hear from you. Drop us a line on the contact page or read more about membership.