The 700-acre (280 ha) state park protects beehive-shaped charcoal ovens constructed in the latter half of the 19th century.

[4] The charcoal ovens are associated with the silver mining ghost town of Ward, Nevada,[5] established in 1876.

The town at its peak had a population of 1500, two newspapers, a school, a fire department, two smelters, and a stamp mill.

[7] They were built of quartz latite welded tuff by itinerant Swiss Italian masons known as carbonari, who specialized in the ovens.

[6] The area was under private ownership and management until 1956 when the Nevada State Park Commission was offered a permit to protect the ovens.