For centuries, this land in Monroe County was occupied by Native American peoples who lived in close harmony with their natural surroundings, especially the Ottawa (Odawa), Potawatomi, Huron (Wyandot), and Chippewas (Ojibwa), each with their own cultural identity, language, and lifestyle. They practiced agriculture, growing primarily corn, beans, and squash, and were also skilled at fishing and hunting, while the forests and prairies provided fruits, nuts, and other foods and medicines. The land where this park sits was once part of a three mile by three mile tract centered where the river Macon falls into the River Raisin, given to the Potawatomi and other tribes under Hull's Treaty of 1807. Local Indians occupied the reservation for only a few decades before parts were donated to the Catholic Church of St. Anne in Detroit and the rest was sold. Most of the people living there moved with Chief Moran to St. Joseph County in western Michigan, and from there many were eventually forced to relocate to reservations in Kansas under the U.S. government's Indian Relocation Act. Although many died in this Trail of Death, descendants of the Potawatomi and other local tribes continue to live in Kansas and Michigan.