Kenney Lake Overlook

The Kenney Lake Overlook stretches for about along MN 18 where it passes the northeast shore of Kenney Lake. The overlook is from Garrison and the northwest shore of Mille Lacs Lake. The site consists of a pullthrough parking area with stone curbs, and a stone overlook wall with stairs down to the lakeshore. As originally designed there was a picnic area to the southeast with picnic tables, a pair of benches at the northwest end of the overlook, and a wooden entrance sign, but these features are no longer extant. A wooden dock was planned at the base of the stairs but may never have been built. Naturalistic plantings once completed the scene. As of the mid-2010s, however, the site has lost some trees and the lakeshore is overgrown. The parking area is about long, with access to and from the highway at either end of a traffic island. Curbs of rough-cut granite blocks line the parking area and continue for a short distance in either direction along the road shoulder. Over half of the original curbing (on the east side of the traffic island and for a greater distance before and after the pullout) was removed when the highway was widened in 1982. The overlook wall stretches for about . It is constructed of light-grey granite blocks laid in a random pattern over a stone rubble core. The granite is the same as that used in the stone curbing, but is more finely dressed. The central part of the wall curves in a shallow arc around the parking area for . It is about high on the inside and up to high facing the lake. Thicker piers at intervals lend an air of medieval battlements. At the northwest end the wall continues into a diameter semicircle. The original plans refer to this as the "niche" and it was carefully built around an existing oak tree. From the outside the niche suggested a castle tower, and a drainage opening was even designed to resemble an arrowslit. The niche's floor is recessed slightly from the level of the parking lot and it provided a more intimate seating area with two benches. Both the benches and the tree are no longer extant. At the southeast end, the overlook broadens into a terrace. Symmetrical sections of wall flank a recessed area paved with flagstones which gives onto a staircase leading down to the lakeshore. ==History==

The Kenney Lake Overlook was built as a component of the Mille Lacs Lake Highway Improvement Plan, an ambitious New Deal project to transform the area around the northwest shore of the lake into a scenic parkway. The project was an unusual collaboration among the MHD, the National Park Service, and the CCC. The overlook is among the first generation of roadside parks established by the MHD in the 1930s and 40s to improve highway aesthetics, increase safety, and aid the nascent automobile tourism industry by providing scenic areas for motorists to relax, eat, and use restrooms in the years before gas stations and convenience stores became commonplace. The masonry was completed in October 1939 and the landscaping was finished the following month, completing the project. The company continued to work in the vicinity until April 1940, when it relocated to the St. Croix Recreational Demonstration Area. Minnesota hosted over 100 CCC companies, but only about six of them comprised veterans. The Mille Lacs project was also rare in that, statewide, only four camps total were sponsored by the MHD for road development. The Kenny Lake Overlook and the nearby Bridge 3355 are the only structures built for the Minnesota Highway Department by a Veterans Division company. ==See also==