Ask someone where Pontiac Lake State Recreation Area sits and most people guess Pontiac, a city with its own downtown eleven miles southeast. Ask where Highland Recreation Area sits and the answer seems even more obvious: Highland Township, the place whose name is stamped right on the sign. The park locations aren't quite the same: Pontiac Lake is mostly within White Lake Township, while Highland Recreation Area spans both Highland Township and White Lake Township.
This isn't a trivia footnote. The park entrances, the trailheads, the swim beaches and the festival grounds that most of Oakland County drives to on a Saturday morning sit inside the township most people are already living in. Pontiac points to a city elsewhere; Highland points to a township the park partly shares. The gates themselves are in White Lake Township.
The Park Named for a City Ten Miles Away
Pontiac Lake State Recreation Area covers 3,700 acres of marsh, old farm field and forest, and according to Wikipedia's entry on White Lake Township, the park is mostly within the township's own borders, not the city it's named for. The park's beach runs just over a half mile, which the township's own parks page lists as the longest beach in southeast Michigan. Its mountain bike trail, eleven miles of it, has been ranked among the country's Top 100 Trails and is considered one of the more technical rides in the region. Blazing Trails runs guided horseback rides and pony rides out of the park's stable.
None of that lines up with the word "Pontiac" on the sign. The city of Pontiac is a separate municipality with its own downtown, well east of the park's beach and bike trail. The land, the water and the trailhead parking lot belong to White Lake Township. Pontiac Lake is also home to the annual Quake on the Lake hydroplane races, another event most people would place in Pontiac before they'd place it correctly.
The Park Named for the Township It Partly Spans
Highland Recreation Area tells a similar story with a twist. The park does span parts of both Highland Township and White Lake Township, according to the Friends of Highland Recreation Area, the nonprofit that maintains the site's historic buildings. But the main gate, the one most visitors actually drive through, carries a postal address of 5200 Highland Road, White Lake, Michigan 48383. That's a White Lake zip code on a road named Highland, inside a park named Highland, and the sign at the entrance still says White Lake.
Behind that gate sits the reason the park draws visitors at all: the former Haven Hill estate, built as a country retreat for Edsel and Eleanor Ford. Its grounds were laid out between 1922 and 1935 by Jens Jensen, one of the most influential figures in American landscape architecture, and the site now carries designation as both a Michigan State Historical Landmark and a State Natural Preserve. The Gatehouse, Barn and Carriage House from the original estate are still standing and open for self-guided tours during park events.
From the campground, visitors can pick up the Cedar Creek Trail, and here's where the numbers get worth checking before you lace up. Michigan's official tourism site lists the trail at 2.75 miles, winding past Cedar Creek and Haven Hill Lake. AllTrails logs the same trail as a 5.3 mile out and back with 278 feet of elevation gain, roughly 1.5 to 2 hours round trip. Both numbers are accurate. The difference is direction: one measures the walk out to the far end, the other measures the full trip there and back. If you're planning a lunch break loop, budget closer to the shorter figure. If you're making a weekend of it, plan for the longer one.
Cedar Creek Trail is one piece of a much bigger system. The park holds 44 miles of trail total, open to hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians, with the Highland Trail Riders Association helping maintain the horse trails specifically. Ten or more inland lakes sit inside the gate. Teeple Lake has the designated swim beach and an accessible beach house. Four of the lakes have access sites for fishing and recreational boating. If you want to stay overnight without leaving the park, the Bass Lake Lodge at 700 Pettibone Lake Road sleeps six across two bedrooms and a loft, with a full kitchen and an electric fireplace.
| Pontiac Lake SRA | Highland Recreation Area | |
|---|---|---|
| Named for | The city of Pontiac | Highland Township, next door |
| Actually located | Mostly within White Lake Township | Main gate and estate in White Lake, park spans both townships |
| Signature feature | Half mile beach, 11 mile technical bike trail | Haven Hill estate, 44 miles of trail |
| Acreage | 3,700 | 5,900 |
The Calendar Doesn't Wait for the Name to Catch Up
The 2026 Haven Hill Festival took place September 26, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Goose Meadow inside Highland Recreation Area, as Oakland County 115 reported. The day opened with an 1860s-style vintage base ball exhibition game at 10 a.m., with live brass band music running alongside it and a chance for kids to run the bases. Vintage Ford cars sat on display, a nod to the estate's original owner. Visitors could tour the Gatehouse, Barn and Carriage House and see a model of the original Haven Hill Lodge. Admission was free, though a Michigan Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry, and any food or drink purchased on site funds the Friends of Highland Recreation Area's ongoing restoration work.
A few weeks later, on October 17, White Lake Township runs its own Trunk or Treat at Fisk Farm on Highland Road, across the street from the township's Walmart and Home Depot. It's a free event organized directly by the township, not the state park system, running on its own calendar entirely separate from anything happening behind the Highland Recreation Area gate.
That's worth sitting with for a second. The township's community programming and the state park's programming operate on parallel tracks, both landing on White Lake Township soil, both carrying names or addresses that point in different directions. One says Highland. One says nothing about White Lake at all. Both happen here.
If either event leaves you looking for a place to eat afterward, Stella's Table on Towncenter Boulevard serves Italian a few minutes from the M-59 corridor, and Ripples of the Lakes on Highland Road sits close enough to the park gate to make a natural stop on the way home from a festival or a trail walk.
If you're weighing what it's actually like to live minutes from two of the region's best-known outdoor spaces, down to which gate gets you onto the trail fastest from your own driveway, Dan At Your Doorstep has walked both of them enough times to give you a straight answer. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
