One of several known Karankawa campsites or burial grounds lies in this area. The now extinct Karankawa were nomadic Indians who lived along the Texas coast and depended on the Gulf for survival. In 1528 they aided Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca, but they resisted intruders from the time of La Salle's French expedition in 1685. The tribe later declined because of disease and warfare with pirates and Anglo-American settlers. Known for tall tribesmen and alleged ceremonial cannibalism, they had virtually disappeared from Texas by the 1840s. This campsite was discovered in 1962.