On this nine mile long ridge, two historic lookout points command views of 30 to 35 miles. Between this site, at an elevation of 713 ft., and Point Lookout, 1/4 mi. northwest, lies a narrow valley crossed first by an Indian trail and later by a pioneer road. In 1846 the pass became known as McKee's Gap after Thomas McKee led a group of Presbyterians here from Tennessee and began the town of Larissa, 3.5 mi. northwest. Named by McKee's son, the Rev. T. N. McKee, the village flourished as the location of Larissa College from the 1850s until the 1870s. Point Lookout was a popular recreational area for Larissa residents until the railroad bypassed the town and it declined. Around the turn of the century, John Wesley Love, 1858-1925, bought this land and developed a 600-acre peach orchard, and the scenic point became known as Love's Lookout and was used for outings by area residents. After Love's death, his family gave 22.22 acres, including the lookout site, to the state for a park. The city of Jacksonville bought 25 adjoining acres and developed both tracts as a WPA project. In 1940, J. L. Brown, 1866-1944, and Jewel Newton Brown, 1873-1966, former Larissa residents, gave the city 122 acres next to the park in tribute to the pioneers of Larissa.