The Tehuacana Hills in Limestone County, Texas, rise prominently above the surrounding landscape and have long been a focal point of human activity. In 1797, Philip Nolan encountered the Tawakoni people living on and around these hills, where they farmed as a settled community. By 1830, the Tawakoni had been exterminated by the Cherokee, who burned the tall grass around their settlement, and that violence lingered in local folklore through a legend of a Tawakoni ghost. In early Texas, the hills also became tied to education and settlement through Tehuacana Academy and John Boyd’s land donation for the establishment of Trinity University.