What is today the town of Nagua, began in the 19th century, as fishing village made up of two rows of houses that its inhabitants built next to the waters of the bay.

From their homes built, mostly of wood, the nagüeros had Matanzas as the commercial, administrative, and political center of the entire area between Sosúa, Puerto Plata, in the north, and Samaná, located at the tip of the Northeast Region.

As a consequence of the damage suffered by a earthquake; the inhabitants of Matanzas were forced to move permanently to the municipality of Julia Molina in its entirety.

In fact, during the reign of Rafael Trujillo (1930–1961), the neighboring town of Matanza, also below sea level, was destroyed by flooding caused by a magnitude 8.0 earthquake, in 1946.

In addition, since the municipality is bordered by an extensive beach area, this facilitates the construction of hotels and restaurants, in order to make internal tourism more effective, efficient and frequent.