Sleepy Hollow State Park includes three picnic areas with shelters, one-eighth mile of swim beach, a 181 site modern campground, 11 miles of hiking trails, and six miles of bridle trails through forested and open land. Its landscape shows forest succession as woods grow back over former open farmland, and it is open to hunting under state game laws and to snowmobiling in winter on the west half when there are four or more inches of snow on the ground. The park's name was chosen during a dispute among St. Johns, Elsie, and Laingsburg, all of which wanted it to bear their name, and instead came from landowner I.B. Crane, whose name recalled Ichabod Crane of the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The land once included the Grove School and the Dennison School, two one-room schoolhouses; the Grove School stood at Price Road and Shepardsville Road and was later sold and moved, while the Dennison School opened in 1881 on land given by the Dennison family, taught kindergarten through eighth grade, stood on Centerline Road at what is now campsites 83 and 85 in the North Campground, and left part of its foundation still visible there. The Dennison School building was moved to Alward Road beside Victor Township Hall for restoration by the Victor Township Historical Association, and the Dennison home was bought by the Martin family in 1941 and remained in that family's ownership until the park was formed. Other original area families included Tait, Wilson, Beckwith, Balcom, Price, Jorea, Crane, Reed, Mizga, Scott, Jones, Allen, Williams, Montague, Giffeis, Huyek, Chamberlain, Tisch, Underhill, Alwards, Hunt, Nicholas, Greene, Hill, and Young. Sleepy Hollow State Park was developed in the early 1960's as part of the State Lakes Project, along with Ionia State Recreation Area, to provide central Michigan with outdoor and water-based recreation in the lake-less region between Grand Rapids and the thumb area. Dedicated in 1965 and officially opened in 1976, it covers nearly 2800 acres. Lake Ovid was created by damming the Little Maple River after farms and homesteads were purchased and the last families moved away by 1967. Dam construction began in 1974 with federal Land and Water dollars, clearing and grading prepared a clean lake bottom, suitable shoreline slope, and bordering wetlands, and although the lake was expected to take 2-5 years to fill, record rainfall in 1975 filled it that year.