On 11 June 1775, Holy Trinity Sunday, the Spanish ship, Santiago, anchored offshore. Fray Miguel de la Campa, chaplain of the ship, recorded in his diary: "The event of the day was the motive for giving the port the name Trinidad (Most Holy Trinity)."

The crew erected a cross on Trinidad Head and took possession of the land in the name of King Charles III of Spain (Carolus tertius Rex Hispaniarum).

Mass was celebrated. A sermon was preached. Many volleys of cannon and guns were fired as an act of thanks to the Creator.

Holy Trinity Church, built a century later in 1873, was named to commemorate this landing of the Spanish explorers led Bruno de Heceta and Juan Bodega. The first pastor was Father Michael Walrath, a young immigrant from Bochum in Rhenish Prussia.

Source: Adapted from the NRHP nomination submitted in 1980.