Pinckney Recreation Area

Pinckney State Recreation Area
Pinckney State Recreation Area in winter
Location within the state of Michigan
Location	Lower Peninsula, Livingston County, Washtenaw County, Michigan USA
Nearest city	Pinckney, Michigan
Coordinates	42°25′34″N 83°58′15″W / 42.42611°N 83.97083°W / 42.42611; -83.97083Coordinates: 42°25′34″N 83°58′15″W / 42.42611°N 83.97083°W / 42.42611; -83.97083
Area	17.2 mi2 (27.7 km2)
Established	1944
Governing body	Michigan Department of Natural Resources
http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/details.aspx?id=484&type=SPRK

Pinckney State Recreation Area is a Michigan state recreation area in Dexter, Sylvan and Lyndon Townships, Washtenaw County and Putnam and Unadilla Townships, Livingston County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The park is 11,000 acres (4,500 ha) and sits at an elevation of 922 feet (281 m). The park is connected to the nearby Waterloo State Recreation Area by the 35-mile (56 km) Waterloo–Pinckney Trail. Pinckney State Recreation Area is open for year-round recreation including hiking, fishing, swimming, hunting and a variety of winter sports.

Pinckney State Recreation Area comprises several connected, but scattered parcels of land that surround private lands and land owned by the University of Michigan. The village of Pinckney is the largest settlement in the area, lying just to the east of the northeast corner of the park. Hell lies within the park and is the center of recreation at Pinckney State Recreation Area.

Hell grew up around a sawmill, gristmill, distillery and tavern. All three were operated by George Reeves. Reeves moved to the area in the 1830s from the Catskill Mountains in New York. He purchased a sawmill on what is now known as Hell Creek in 1841. Reeves' family sold the land to a group of investors from Detroit in 1924. The investors increased the size of the millpond by raising the level of the dam creating what is now Hiland Lake. The area soon became a summer resort area attracting visitors for swimming and fishing. Henry Ford considered building some manufacturing facilities in the area but decided against it. Just west of the present Pinckney park, the federal government had developed the Waterloo recreational demonstration project in the 1930s and the state acquired the lease of that area in 1943. The next year, the Michigan Legislature appropriated monies for the purchasing of land in southeastern Michigan and for the construction of state parks. The park grew through the 1940s and 1950s with money from a number of sources.