Founded at Chautauqua in 1874 under John Heyl Vincent's assignment to Dr. W.W. Wythe, Palestine Park began as a makeshift temporary wooden model and later evolved into its permanent location as a geographic depiction of Palestine in Biblical times, extending from Dan in the north to Beer-Sheba in the south. Viewed from south to north, it uses Chautauqua Lake to represent the Mediterranean Sea, a large mound of stones to represent Mount Hermon, and the course flowing from there to show the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, while small markers indicate towns and villages. The park is built to a scale of 1.75 feet to the mile.