Wisconsin created a system of state parks on June 9, 1909, when Governor Davidson signed Assemblyman Tom Reynolds' bill after Reynolds urged the preservation of places of scenic beauty and historical interest and landscape architect John Nolen praised Peninsula's wild, unspoiled scenery of woodland, cliffs, bays, beaches, gravel stretches, and limestone bluffs rising a hundred feet or more. Of the four parks originally proposed for the system, Peninsula was the first to be established. Its storied landscape included cedar, maple, and beech trees across 3,776 acres and an adjacent cliff-strewn shore, although in 1909 much of the forest had been cut over for farms and orchards and rustic fishing shanties lined the coast below with easy access to passing wooden schooners. Wisconsin purchased most parcels for $5-266 an acre, some people retained life leases that officially ended in 1964, and camping evolved from family farms to family campgrounds, costing $5 to pitch a tent for the season in 1914 and 25 cents per night or $1 per week by 1940.