The broad Susitna river Valley, including what is now the recreation area, was scoured by massive glaciers, which once covered it. When the ice retreated some 9,000 years ago, it left a rolling landscape of elongated glacial deposits, called drumlins, dotted with hundreds of lakes and ponds.

State archaeologists believe that people lived in the region soon after the glaciers receded. It is believed that this region was heavily used by the Tanaina Indians, and possibly Pacific Eskimos and earlier man before that. Two prehistoric village sites have been identified just outside the recreation area. The inhabitants of these villages lived from subsistence fishing, hunting and trapping.

The Alaska Railroad was built along the east side of the lower Susitna Valley in 1917. Fires caused by sparks from passing trains occasionally burned in this area. The nearby towns of Wasilla, Houston and Willow grew as more homesteaders settled on the lands opened up by rail access.

Through the years, most of the Nancy Lake area has remained wild and natural. The area is too wet for ideal cultivation and is not mineral-rich, so it has escaped large-scale settlement by humans. Today, those assets make it a prime place for recreation and enjoyment of nature.