Tuts'e'tcaxt comprised two cedar plank houses measuring 30 by 100 feet, inhabited by about a dozen natives who lived there during the inclement winter months, according to an 1854 report by George Gibbs, an agent of the territorial governor.
The first British garrison in the area, the fur trading post of Fort Nisqually (now part of DuPont), was established by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1833, some 10 miles east of Henderson Inlet.
In 1940 the 15th Infantry Regiment, United States Army, which had been based at Fort Lewis, near Tacoma, since 1938, set up an Amphibious Training Camp on Henderson Inlet, north of Woodard Bay, with a pier, administrative buildings, barracks, and mess hall.
This includes the former property of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company and, to its north, part of the historic Esterly Farm and its associated woodland, which according to local folklore, possibly deriving from native legends, is populated by elves.
The conservation area, now covering 600 acres, has expanded in stages by purchasing surrounding properties as they became available, and has developed into an important sanctuary for birds, bats, seals and otters.