Famously known as the land of a thousand lakes, Minnesota’s McCarthy Beach State Park was established in 1945 when locals raised the money to purchase the land from property owner John A. McCarthy. Though the region was heavily logged in the decades prior, there are still a few groves of virgin wood trees that are hundreds of years old. Ancient hunting and tool artifacts found around the lake indicates people were living and hunting in the region for at least 10,000 years before European settlers ever laid eyes on it. Archaeologists believe they first arrived shortly after the last great glacier left the area, some 12,000 years ago.