Trinidad Museum Society

Pierson History Series Featuring Jerry Rohde & Erin Scofield on "Driving Around the Block"
2026-08-30 14:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Pierson History Series at Trinidad Museum, featuring Jerry Rohde, author & historian, and his granddaughter, Erin Scofield, drone videographer, on “Driving Around the Block” in southern Humboldt in 1915. Sunday August 30th at 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM.

"Gardening is for the Birds...and the Bugs!" with Donna Wildearth
2026-04-12 14:00 - 17:00
Donna Wildearth, retired owner of Garden Visions Landscape Design in Eureka, will present “Gardening is for the Birds…and the Bugs!” at Trinidad Museum on Sunday, April 12, at 2 p.m. A long-time member of the California Native Plant Society, Donna taught Plant Identification and Landscape at College of the Redwoods and through OLLI for many years. She grew up in the San Joaquin Valley but made many journeys to Humboldt with her family starting in the 1950s, visiting Trinidad, Sue-meg State Park, and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, which had a profound influence in nurturing her love of native plants. After her talk, she’ll lead a tour of Trinidad Museum’s Native Plant Garden, with its recently installed interpretive signs and lots of poppies in bloom.

Trinidad Head Open House
2026-04-04 10:00 - 12:00

Open 1871 Trinidad Head Lighthouse
2026-02-07 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-08-02 10:00 - 12:00 | Trinidad Museum, 400 Janis Court, Trinidad, CA, 95570, United States
Visitors can tour the Trinidad Head Lighthouse on the first Saturday of each month, between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. Perched on Trinidad Head in northern Humboldt County, this historic lighthouse has been guiding mariners since it was first illuminated in 1871. Now part of the California Coastal National Monument, it continues to serve as a vital navigational aid. The site is managed through a partnership involving local and regional organizations, with an emphasis on coastal preservation and respect for Indigenous heritage.
For tour details, contact the Trinidad Museum Society at (707) 677-3883. For other questions, please reach out to the Bureau of Land Management’s Arcata Field Office at (707) 825-2300.
—Bureau of Land Management

OLLI Class
2025-07-30 10:00 - 12:30
OLLI Class Wednesday, July 30 in Trinidad on the Spanish Landing
Find out more about the Spanish landing and exploration between June 9 and 19, 1775, 250 years ago, the first contact between Europeans and the Yurok people of Tsurai Village, on Wednesday, July 30. Your columnist, director of Trinidad Museum with an MA in history, will lead a Cal Poly OLLI class from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Register for Class #31236 athumboldt.edu/olli/trinidad. $45 per person (tuition fee is shared between OLLI and Trinidad Museum).
Bruno de Hezeta, captain of the Santiagoand Juan Francisco de la Bodega, captain of the Sonora, wrote journals describing the welcoming Yurok people, the harbor, the flora and fauna, the topography, the “crystal clear springs,” and the possibilities for settlement in “this happy paradise” (Bodega). With no charts or maps of any accuracy to guide them to the rocky harbor, the Spanish sea captains and their pilots Francisco Antonio Mourelle and Juan Perez, produced the first maps of Trinidad. After they left Trinidad to sail north (their instructions from Viceroy Antonio Maria de Bucareli y Ursua of New Spain were to reach at least 60 degrees latitude), the Spanish Navy charted more of the unexplored northern coast.
The Spanish voyage of exploration and discovery started from San Blas (Mexico) in March 1775. Three tumultuous months passed before the first landing in Trinidad. Months of danger, discovery and the inevitable scourge of scurvy followed as the frigate and the schooner sailed “to the limits” of the unknown in the Pacific Northwest.
Email olli@humboldt.edu or call OLLI at (707) 826-5880 for more information.

Saturday Speaking Event
2025-06-07 14:30 - 15:30 | Clark Historical Museum, 240 E Street, Eureka, CA, Eureka, CA, 95501, United States
The Clarke Historical Museum, Humboldt County Historical Society, and Humboldt County Library invite you to join us for the June 2025 Saturday Speaker Series.
On June 9, 1775, 250 years ago, the Spanish frigate Santiago and schooner Sonora sailed into what is now Trinidad Bay. This historic landing marked the first recorded contact between Europeans and the Yurok people of the Tsurai Village, a pivotal moment for the history of Humboldt County and the greater North Coast.
Join Patricia Fleschner, Director of the Trinidad Museum, for a deep dive into this pivotal expedition. Fleschner holds an MA in history and specializes in Spanish exploration of the Pacific Northwest between 1769 and 1795. She has presented to various institutions, including Cal Poly Humboldt’s OLLI program, the Humboldt County Historical Society, and more on topics such as Spanish landings, maritime discoveries, and coastal mapping.
This presentation will draw from the journals of Bruno de Hezeta and Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra to illuminate the goals, experiences, and long-term consequences of the 1775 voyage of discovery.

🎟️ Free and open to the public
📺 Can’t attend in person? The presentation will be live-streamed on the Clarke’s YouTube channel.
Link to Livestream and Past Saturday Speaker Presentations:
https://www.youtube.com/@clarkemuseum240/streams
Learn more about the Trinidad Museum Society here: https://www.facebook.com/TrinidadMuseum/“
Thank you all for your help on this!

Link to the Page on the Clarke’s website: https://www.clarkemuseum.org/saturday-speakers.html
