Originally the 1952 lake was the Town of Kernersville water source for their residents until the Town hooked on to City/County utility water lines. The Town of Kernersville came to Forsyth County for assistance in the late 1980's in opening Kernersville Lake as a public park. It had been closed to the public for some time. With the funds available from a Land, Water and Conservation Fund grant from the Forsyth County Commissioners, the Forsyth County Parks and Recreation Department took on the task of development and operation of the park. Though the park property is still owned by the Town of Kernersville, it is operated and supervised completely by Forsyth County.

Opened in mid 1990, Kernersville Lake Park has a total of 160 acres, 60 acres of which are taken up by the lake itself. The Town of Kernersville owns the park property and has leased the land to Forsyth County to operate it as a countywide park.