The first white visitor to this area was Christian Frederick Post, sent by the Proprietary Council of Pennsylvania in 1757. He wished to persuade the native Seneca tribes who hunted here to join the British during the French and Indian War.

John Cook was the first permanent white settler. He arrived in 1826 to determine the feasibility of building an east to west canal along the Clarion River for the State of Pennsylvania. John purchased 765 acres and settled his wife and 10 children in 1828. At the mouth of Tom's Run - present day Cooksburg - he built his one story cabin and the first of many water driven sawmills. John worked his mills, logged with oxen, rafted logs to Pittsburgh and also engaged in flatboat building through the years.

John's son, Andrew, bought 36 acres from his father, then gained the rest of his acreage when his father died in 1858. Andrew's industry grew large and he built the original Cook Forest Inn, later demolished due to deterioration in 1968, for his men's living quarters and meals. Andrew erected 3 sawmills, one flouring mill, one planing mill, a boat scaffold, several dwellings and a store. About 1870 he built the Cook Homestead at the corner of land where Route 36 and River Road intersect. This home, along with several other large homes on River Road, are still maintained by the Cook family and descendants. After Andrew's death, the business was managed under A. Cook Sons Company.

The Cook Forest Association was formed in the 1920's with the intention of saving the few areas of surviving virgin timber. Early pioneers in this effort were M. I. McCreight, Theo Wilson and John Nicholson. The Association, endorsed by national natural resource groups and Governor Gifford Pinchot, raised $200,000. Publicity such as the following helped raise funds:

"This Wood will become a forest monument, like those of the West, known not only in Pennsylvania, but throughout the Country. The East possesses few scenes more impressive than this magnificent area of primeval white pine, surrounded by giant hemlocks and hardwoods. The venerable splendor of these trees is a heritage for the future of the State. Many of them have lifted their heads to the sunshine of more than two hundred summers and the largest of them were here before the colonization of America...."

Money from the Association helped the State purchase 6,055 acres from A. Cook Sons Company in 1927 for $640,000 and became the first Pennsylvania State Park acquired to preserve a natural landmark.