After the American Civil War ended in 1865, the site employed paid laborers and former convicts, and by c. 1890 it become a cattle ranch.

[2][3] In December 1863, during the American Civil War of 1861–1865, Confederate States Army General John B. Magruder was inspecting coastal defenses in the area and "stopp[ed] awhile at Hawkins' plantation and other hospitable places.

[7] In the wake of the invention of barbed wire (in the late 1800s), the plantation gradually became more focused on becoming a cattle ranch.

[2] In 1919, Hamill and Associates conducted a test to determine whether oil existed on the ranch, but drilling did not continue.

[9] Gas wells were shut in by the Texas Railroad Commission as a result of Hurricane Rita in 2005, and they were reopened in 2007.