Those driving past the neat green lawns and charming colonial houses of Atlantic Avenue usually don’t notice the small blue and white sign that declares “OPENS MEMORIAL WEEK END: MEMBERSHIPS AVAILABLE.” But regulars know that if you turn right and drive down the winding asphalt path that the sign heads, you can start to hear the faint echo of parents chatting, coaches yelling and children giggling and splashing in the secluded oasis that is the Twinbrook Pool. Most regulars of the now 75-year-old community—first opened on June 27, 1955—were pool kids in their childhood, and have now moved back so their own children can swim those same magical, blissful summers.
The current president of the Board of Directors, Grace Lawson, is a lifelong Twinbrook resident. Despite never being an exceptional swimmer (though she says she does occasionally do laps with a kickboard), she says what’s more important to her is the community the pool provides. Throughout her lifetime at the Twinbrook Pool, Lawson has attended all the pool’s events—some of her favorite memories include the weekly Thursday food truck and raft nights, evenings filled with live music, and the annual pig roast.
When her kids were younger, they came back day after day—even eating dinner at the pool to stay just a few hours later—to the picturesque quiet of the pool, where parents socialize and relax as the sound of their children’s laughter drifts through the trees.“I love being at the pool between eight and 10 o’clock at night when everybody is starting to go home, and it’s quiet, and the sun is going down,” she said. “We have a large piece of property. Even if we have a lot of people there, it never feels crowded, so it’s very peaceful later in the evening.”
Lawson says that she believes any regular of the pool—including the RM students that make up the majority of teen swimmers (the rest attend Rockville High School)—would agree with her assessment. “It’s a lifeline for a lot of people. We’ve had babies being born, deaths happening amongst our community and everybody is always there to support each other,” she said. “It’s a good way to keep relationships going… Everybody looks out for each other’s kids. Everybody will help drive kids back and forth if they need a ride.”
For Cynthia Kehr, a former member of the Twinbrook community, the pool was the backdrop of childhood summers. Born just a year after the pool opened in 1955, Kehr recalled long walks with her sister to the pool from their home on Gruenther Avenue. “We would walk over to the pool and we would spend all afternoon there and then around five or six my mother usually would come and swim and then take us home,” she said. “Those were my formative years so it’s special to me.”
Although Kehr moved from the Twinbrook area in her teens, her time at the pool is fondly remembered. “My family life was a little bit stressful so pool time was just pure fun and I loved being in there, especially at night when they turned the lights on and the lightning bugs came out and it’s just so magical to me,” she said. “I was doing somersaults and handstands and swimming across the width of the pool underwater and it was just great.”
In the first few decades after the pool’s opening, sock hops were held on the pool house roof, local women would model in fashion shows by the pool, teens would gather on the hill between the parking lot and pool, and kids would flip off the high dive. And as always, there was the Ducks swim team. The sheer size of the pool they swam in was a marvel—especially in the 50s. Measuring 165 feet long, 52 feet wide, and with a 300,000 gallon capacity, the Twinbrook pool is still considered one of the largest privately-owned pools in the region even 75 years later. “When the swim team did swim, they used to swim across the whole length of the pool. They would talk all the ropes down and then they would just swim the whole length,” Kehr said. “I think that would’ve been 50 meters from start to end, going from the shallow to the deep end to the shallow again.”
But as the years passed and the century turned, the pool has evolved. The baby pool and the high dive have been removed. The pool house roof where teens once danced is now off-limits. There’s also been a deeper cultural shift—one from exclusion to acceptance. At the time of its establishment, the pool was a whites-only pool. “It was 1955 and so the diversity of the pool has obviously changed tremendously, but we feel that it’s important to acknowledge the history,” Jennifer Lyons said. “We’re very happy to be a welcoming place to everyone now.”
Lyons didn’t discover the pool until she was a young adult despite growing up in Twinbrook and attending Rockville High School. She moved back to Twinbrook in 2002 as a young mother and stumbled upon the pool the following summer and signed her kids up for the Ducks “When you’re in the swim team, you go to the pool every single day. And that is what sealed the deal for us. We were there every single day. We started to make friends. It just kind of gets into your skin. There’s something lovely about our pool,” she said. “It’s been a fixture of my life for the past 20 plus years. I can’t imagine my life without it. It’s where I’ve made so many of my closest friends. It’s just a very, very special place.”
Annual and year-round events fill out a calendar that spans more than just summer. The pool has their annual Ducktoberfest in the fall, a family-oriented event filled with food and potluck games like a cornhole toss competition. And after the pool closes in the evenings, adults can start filing in to enjoy some time alone on the pool grounds, talking around a fire pit. Sometimes they hold wine nights. The community also celebrates National Night Out, an evening of block parties and getting to know some unfamiliar faces. “It started in the mid-nineties. It’s essentially associated with crime fighting and getting to know your neighbors to have a safer environment in your neighborhood,” Lyons said.
Over the years Lyons deepened her involvement with the pool. She joined the pool’s board of directors, helping with everything from staffing to event planning to facility maintenance. “We do everything,” she said. “We are a self-managed pool… dealing with inspectors, legal and insurance issues, membership, community events, you name it.” She’s helped to plan a multitude of events, including the pool’s beloved end-of-summer pig roast. “They’d get a whole pig and they’d stick it in the ground and these guys would stay all night long roasting this pig,” she said. “We have a member who is a professional chef and often he’ll make the meat and potluck sides, and that’s a lot of fun.”
Lyons’ youngest son, senior Matthew Lyons-Bennington, began swimming at the pool 15 years ago when he was only three. He first joined the pre-team—a place for young swimmers to gain a fundamental understanding of the four strokes—where he met some of his closest friends at RM. Soon, he progressed to the actual swim team where he’s trained every summer since. “Over time, I’ve gotten a more professional attitude towards [swimming]. Past two or three years, I really kind of stepped up and put in more work,” he said. “I am doing it for a different reason now: The thrill of succeeding and helping my team succeed. It’s a great experience.” Lyons-Bennington plans to continue swimming in college in the fall.
He first began lifeguarding when he turned 15. “I love working at the pool that I work at because I’ve been going there my whole life,” he said. It’s good for leadership training to help you further in your life.” He also began coaching for the Ducks last summer. “A memorable moment was my first day when I got my my coaches shirt. I was so happy when I got it. I had my name on it and everything and I had this bucket hat with a bunch of ducks on it,” he said. “I was shadowing for the first 10 minutes, but eventually I got it, and it just clicked for me.”
Lyons-Bennington has one specific memory of the pool from back when he was eight that he says has always stuck with him. “It was back when my older siblings used to come to the pool. All their friends would play basketball in the water. Me—little eight year old, like, one foot me—is trying to play basketball with them, and they let me,” he said. “That kind of a positive influence made me love this community and want to put that back out.”
Today, the Twinbrook swim team proudly competes in Division O—the least competitive of all swim divisions. “We’re all about having fun, supporting each other’s personal bests, and being together as a community,” Lyons said. “Our team is always recognized for our sportsmanship and support of other teams. The whole feeling of the pool as a whole very much reflects that.”
Lawson regrets that many people in the community—such as Lyons for much of her life—don’t know there is a pool. “We’re hidden and so it’s secluded and we have lots of trees and lots of grass…which is what’s so cool about it because it’s very private,” she said. “The bad thing is there’s a lot of people who don’t know we exist… I, as the president, have always strived to make ourselves known.” And while Lawson will be stepping down from the board next year, she says she still plans on dedicating her summers to the pool. “I will still continue to do things, and enjoy the people there, and do work up there,” she said. “It is what consumes me all the time. The pool is my life.”
