The land near Round Lake was settled in 1817 by David Collin III. It lies within one mile (1.6 km) of the Erie Canal, which was completed in 1825. It is remarkable that a forest so close to a major transportation route remained nearly untouched throughout the 19th Century. However, for the entire interval between 1817 and the purchase of the land for Green Lakes State Park, most of it was owned by Collin or by his descendants. One of these descendants, Betsy Knapp, wrote a memoir "Rocks, Fields and Beauty Forever: One Family's Memories of Fayetteville's Green Lakes" in 1989. Her memoir makes clear that the land was never clearcut either for lumber or for potash. In essence, the forest was preserved by the Collin family until its purchase for the park in 1928.