Various wetlands can be seen throughout the park, and the Potawatomi Nature Preserve makes up a large portion of its east side.

Through fundraising efforts, the citizens of the county purchased the first 580 acres (2.3 km2), much of it farmland, on the shores of Lake James.

The county citizens donated this land to the Department of Conservation, State of Indiana, which added two additional parcels the following year, bringing the park up to 707 acres (2.9 km2).

[5] During the ensuing eight years, the CCC constructed many of the best-known buildings at Pokagon including the Gate House, the Spring Shelter, the Saddle Barn, the first three incarnations of the toboggan run, and, not least, the CCC Shelter, a National Register of Historic Places site.

The original rooms were equipped with bathrooms and the long porch on the south was enclosed to create a sunny area overlooking the lake.

[6] During the 1980s a swimming pool with an outdoor deck was added on the south side of the new wing.

[6] Increased demand allowed for the park to expand in the 1990s and in 1995 the conference center opened with additional guest rooms.

The area features yellow birch, red maple, blue beech, and skunk cabbage.

Common birds such as ducks, geese, gulls, and purple martins can be found when the lake is not frozen.

Migrating birds such as loons, grebes, and double-crested cormorants can also be observed by visitors, typically during autumn.

Other birds that can be observed by visitors including brown creepers, veeries, several types of warblers, bluebirds, Carolina wrens, Baltimore orioles, and pileated woodpeckers.