Matagorda Island Spanish for “thick bush,” is a 38-mile long barrier island on the Texas Gulf coast, located approximately seven miles south of Port O’Connor, in the southernmost part of Calhoun County. The traditional homeland of the Karankawa people, the island is oriented generally northeast-southwest, with the Gulf of Mexico on the east and south, and Espiritu Santo Bay on the west and north. It is separated from San José Island to the south by Cedar Bayou, and is separated from the Matagorda Peninsula to the north by Pass Cavallo. It is accessible by boat only. It has a land area of 60.7 square miles .

Matagorda Island State Park occupies 7,325 acres on the northeastern end of the island. The remainder of the island is devoted to wildlife refuges managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and is known as Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuge and State Natural Area.

The land that is now Matagorda Island State park was acquired in 1940 by condemnation from the Hawes, Hill, and Little families (but not the Wynne-Murchison interests) for use as a temporary training facility for the World War II era.
Hawes History in Matagorda Island

Matagorda Island State Park was featured as a “survival location” by the main characters in the book Day by Day Armageddon by J.L. Bourne. The island is also featured as a principal location in the book Powersat by Ben Bova. Life on the island in the late 1800s is described in the book A Texas cowboy, or, Fifteen years on the hurricane deck of a Spanish pony by Charles Angelo Siringo (February 7, 1855 – October 18, 1928),a noted American lawman, detective, bounty hunter, and agent for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.