Biohazard Cleanup Near Nescatunga Historic District Nescatunga, OK

Nescatunga is a tiny unincorporated census-designated place in eastern Alfalfa County, Oklahoma, sitting directly beside Great Salt Plains State Park.

Nescatunga takes its name from the Osage word for 'big salt water,' the Osage people's name for the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River.

In 1811 the Osage guide Sans Orielle led Indian Agent Major George C. Sibley's party from Fort Osage, Missouri, to the salt plains — Sibley called them the Grand Saline, and his party is believed to have been the first white men to see them.

Nescatunga sits near the outlet of Great Salt Plains Lake on the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River, a reservoir created by a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dam completed in July 1941 at a cost of $4.6 million.

Oklahoma State Highway 38 runs through the center of Nescatunga, leading south 10 miles to Jet, the nearest incorporated town.

The entire Nescatunga census-designated place covers only about 0.23 square miles — one of the smallest census places in Alfalfa County.

Nescatunga is one of the few small Oklahoma communities that grew in the last census — its population rose from 70 in 2010 to 90 in 2020.

Nescatunga's 90 residents lived in just 43 households in 2020, and nearly half of its 84 housing units stood vacant, reflecting the seasonal lake homes around Great Salt Plains Lake.