The Dogue Trail gets its name from the Dogue Indians who inhabited this area. Native Americans first populated the region about 12,500 to 13,000 years before first contact. Some of the earliest recorded history of the area was by Captain John Smith in 1608, he wrote of his meeting with the Dogue Indians and charted the chief’s village of Tauxenent on his map of Virginia. At the time, the area now known as Mason Neck, was referred to as Doggs Island and Doeg Neck. The Dogue Indians were agricultural people as well as hunter-gatherers. They lived in villages, towns and farms along the banks of the rivers around the peninsula. This short, easy trail loops through a quiet and peaceful wooded area of the park set back from the shoreline.