Tar Pits Park, part of Carpinteria State Beach in Carpinteria, is a natural asphalt tar pit lake on the Central Coast. There are only 5 known in the world with three in Southern California. The Native Chumash have used the tar to waterproof their canoes for thousands of years giving Carpinteria its name 'carpentry shop'. Hundreds of fossilized mammals have also been found here frozen in time.
