This part of north Texas was frequented by several Indian tribes, including Comanches, Kiowas, and Tonkawas. When white settlers began to move into the area in substantial numbers in the 1840s, the region became one of the main flash-points on the frontier. By 1860, the area was moderately settled, but the outbreak of the Civil War caused the temporary and sometimes permanent abandonment of many settlements. After the war, the region again became a focus of settlement under the protection of army units at Fort Richardson and Fort Sill. The closest town to the park, Pilot Point, was first settled in 1846, but had long been a camping site for Indians, rangers, and early pioneers. Several recorded State Archeological Landmarks exist within the present park boundaries. These landmarks consist mostly of nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century farm sites.

The park is located in the Eastern Cross Timbers, a narrow strip of wooded terrain bordering the Blackland Prairies of north central Texas. Geologically, the region is part of the Woodbine Formation, an Upper Cretaceous deposit consisting mostly of sandstone, with localized layers of shales and clay.

A partial plant list includes sumac holly, milkweed, prickly pear, honeysuckle, sunflower, rough leaf dogwood, eastern red cedar, persimmon, bull nettle, blackjack oak, post oak, bluestem grass, grass burr, Bermuda grass, switch grass, Indian grass, Johnson grass, Texas wintergrass, black hickory, black walnut, red bud, honey locust, honey mesquite, greenbrier, Spanish needles, chinaberry, snailseed, bois d'arc, red mulberry, pokeweed, buckwheat, knotweed, hawthorn, wild plum, blackberry, toothache tree, eastern cottonwood, black willow, western soapberry, gum elastic, ground cherry, horse nettle, winged elm, American elm, ivy treevine, and mustang grape.

A variety of mammals at the park include opossum, cave bat, beaver, nutria, plains pocket gopher, eastern flying squirrel, eastern gray squirrel, fox squirrel, California jackrabbit, eastern cottontail, white-tailed deer, nine-banded armadillo, raccoon, mink, spotted skunk, red fox, coyote, and bobcat. Some of the reptiles seen include lizards and various snakes, such as the copperhead, cottonmouth, bull snake, and diamondback rattlesnake, while amphibians seen occasionally include turtles and frogs. Wintering bald eagles may occasionally be encountered around the lake.