Pine-Hickory Lakes Roadside Parking Area is a wayside rest located along U.S. Highway 169 in Farm Island Township, Aitkin County, Minnesota. It straddles both sides of the highway just north of where it passes between Little Pine Lake on the west and Hickory Lake on the east. It is one of the largest wayside rests developed by the

Minnesota Highway Department The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT, ) oversees transportation by all modes including land, water, air, rail, walking and bicycling in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The cabinet-level agency is responsible for maintaining the state ...

during the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

, at .

Arthur R. Nichols Arthur R. Nichols was a landscape architect who practiced in New York City and Minnesota in a long career from 1902 through 1960. He was a very productive landscape architect who was instrumental in bringing the field of landscape architecture to M ...

, collaborating with engineer Harold E. Olson, designed the rest area in the

National Park Service rustic National Park Service rustic – sometimes colloquially called Parkitecture – is a style of architecture that developed in the early and middle 20th century in the United States National Park Service (NPS) through its efforts to create buildings ...

style. The wayside rest was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in May 2016.

History and design

The wayside rest was the result of a collaboration between the

, the National Youth Administration, and the Works Progress Administration. The highway department was making an effort to improve highway safety and aesthetics, as well as encouraging the state's growing automobile tourism industry. The rest area provides public swimming, fishing, and hiking, and also provides boat access to Hickory Lake. The site was constructed in 1938 and included a stone overlook at Hickory Lake and, on each side of the highway, a stone council ring with a fire ring at the center. Nine picnic fireplaces were distributed throughout, and of walking trails were established. The western parking area was paved in the late 1950s. The National Highway Beautification Act of 1970 brought about additional upgrades including a vault restroom on the west side in 1974, but this is no longer present. An information board was also added around this time.

Present

The western area of the wayside rest has hiking trails near the shore of Little Pine Lake and climbing a wooded hill. It had a picnic area with a stone fire ring with a cooking grate. The picnicking area is now overgrown and no longer accessible for picnicking, but two remaining fireplaces are intact. The east area had a footpath following the shore of Hickory Lake and looping around a steep hilltop, as well as picnicking facilities. The footpaths are currently accessible, and a stone refuse container and the remains of two fireplaces are still present, but this picnicking area is also overgrown and no longer usable for picnicking. The south area is across the Ripple River from the north and west areas, and it had footpaths connected via a small wooden footbridge to the north and west areas. The footbridge has since been removed, and the south area's trail system has been pared down because much of the land south of the river is wet during much of the year. Its picnicking area is also overgrown, but a stone "council ring" remains.

References

{{commonscat, Pine-Hickory Lakes Roadside Parking Area Transport infrastructure completed in 1938 National Register of Historic Places in Aitkin County, Minnesota Works Progress Administration in Minnesota Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Roadside parks National Park Service rustic in Minnesota National Youth Administration 1938 establishments in Minnesota U.S. Route 169