[2] There is an outlet on the southeast shore of the lake that leads through a small stream (also called Grindstone Creek) to Lac Courte Oreilles.

There is a small unincorporated residential community on the south side of the lake commonly referred to as Northwoods (or North Woods) Beach.

Henry Schoolcraft in the report of his expedition through this area in 1831 called it "Lac du Gres" which means "Sandstone Lake" in French.

[4] Captain James Allen who accompanied Schoolcraft on an expedition in the following year (1832) to the source of the Mississippi River produced a detailed map of the northern Minnesota/Wisconsin area after that trip.

A later explorer, Jonathan Carver, passed through the area in 1767 and (on his way from the Indian village on Lac Courte Oreilles to the Namekagon River) specifically travelled through what the editor identifies as Grindstone Lake on June 29, 1767.