In 1864, the property known today as Barnum Creek Nature Reserve was parcelled off to prospective settlers by the Canada Land and Emigration Company—a privately owned English business that oversaw the transformation of Haliburton County into farm lots. While the re-creation of southern Ontario happened relatively quickly on the sedimentary lands near the Great Lakes, once it reached the rocky hills on the edges of the Canadian Shield, it noticeably slowed. This lot was one of the mixed farms, whose occupants tried to make the best of the shallow, rolling, rocky soils. Initially, the forest floor, coated with leaf litter for millennia might seem to have some fertile soil. But once the property was denuded, it produced diminishing returns.

In 1974, John Dobrezensky and family purchased the Barnum Creek property. His daughter Margaret took an interest in maintaining it as wildlife habitat. Today the Haliburton Highlands Land Trust operates the site as a nature reserve, featuring seven kilometres of trails for hiking, cycling, snowshoeing, cross country skiing and bird watching. Much of the site is covered with hardwood forest, rich in maples, maturing on old fields. Barnum Creek flows through the property, from Barnum Pond towards Barnum Lake.