Caddo Lake State Park is a 484-acre park in East Texas near Karnack, opened in 1934 to preserve part of the Caddo Lake wetlands. The area has a deep human past, from ancient inhabitants around 10,000 BC to established Caddo communities by about 800 AD, later disrupted by European contact, missions, trade, and epidemics. The lake’s own origins remain debated, linked in tradition to an earthquake and in another explanation to the Great Raft log jam. Public parkland was dedicated in 1931, and Civilian Conservation Corps crews built the park’s roads, cabins, and other structures in the 1930s. Its cypress swamp, bayou waters, and rich wildlife make it a notable wetland landscape.