Trinidad Head Light, built in 1871 on a high headland north of Eureka, became an important coastal lighthouse whose modest 20-foot tower gained great reach from its elevation above the Pacific. The station grew with a keeper’s residence, barn, and later a bell house with a 4,000-pound bell. Its most famous event came on December 31, 1914, when a massive wave swept over the bluff, struck near the balcony, stopped the lens, and briefly extinguished the light before Captain Fred L. Harrington restored it within four hours. Despite later alterations, the original tower remains the station’s historic core.