An offshoot tribe of Algonquin Native Americans called Tunxis Native Americans hunted and fished on the land that would later become Granville State Forests for several hundred years. The arrival of European settlers in Massachusetts, however, drove this tribe off. The settlers converted the land to farms, pasture, and grazing lands in the mid-1700s. The endeavor was abandoned in the mid-1800s, and the state of Massachusetts purchased the land in the early 1920s and officially named it Granville State Forest. As a part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal, Civilian Conservation Corps blazed trails and paved roads, built an earthen dam (which was later replaced with a concrete dam), and built bathhouses and lean-tos. Most of these structures are no longer standing. However, many of the roads and trails are still in use today. Some of the trees in the woods also were planted by the CCC to swell their ranks.