Before European settlers arrived, Tejas Indians favored this site as a campsite, and it was later used by explorers, Spanish missionaries, traders, and armies. Travelers were drawn by abundant game, including deer and wild turkey, and by fresh water from springs 300 feet from El Camino Real, The King's Highway. In the nineteenth century, pioneers ringed their wagons in the grove and rested here while traveling to settlements, and later hunting parties camped at Pine Springs for weeks at a time.