Long before Castroville was settled in 1844, both the Lipan Apaches and the Payaya hunted in these hills and fished in the Medina River. Most lived as relatively peaceful hunters and gatherers. Some traded with settlers, but others attacked them at every opportunity, and serious Indian attacks occurred here as late as 1878. An 1844 hand-drawn map of Castroville notes a "Lipan Camp" near the Historic Cemetery in this park, possibly the same camp depicted in Theodore Gentilz's painting "Camp of the Lipans." Archeologists also found a Biface Preform Point here on April 24, 2002. Dating to the Archaic period in Texas history, from 6000 B.C. to 700 A.D., it was made from South Texas chert and was a common tool that could have been finished for use as a spear or a knife.