It was originally known as Brownsville, named for James D.H. Brown, who was the owner of a dairy ranch established in 1859.

[7] Prior to private settlement of the area, the north spit at the entrance to Humboldt Bay was used by a series of federal government projects including the 1851 to 1892 Humboldt Harbor Light; in 1862, a prisoner of war camp for Native Americans captured in the Bald Hills War; the Humboldt Bay Life-Saving Station in 1878; and the stonemason finishing yard and trans-shipment point for foundation stones for the St. George Reef Light from 1883 to 1891 at Paysonville.

[8] The nongovernmental settlement was named Brownsville after James Henry Brown, a dairy farmer who settled his ranch on the present site of Samoa in 1865.

[9] James Brown was the first permanent white settler on the north peninsula of Humboldt Bay.

[9] He was born in Quincy, Illinois, in 1830 and came to Humboldt County in 1853,[9] until a group of Eureka businessmen formed the Samoa Land and Improvement Company in 1889.

Georgia-Pacific Corporation purchased the Samoa sawmill complex in 1956 and began operation of a plywood mill in 1958.

[19] Some of the older worker housing was razed during construction of modern mill facilities, but the Samoa Cookhouse was preserved.

The tips of the north and south jetties have unusual concrete breakers known as dolos, which resemble toy jacks.

The breakers were built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers to withstand the area's heavy seas, and were featured by Huell Howser on PBS's California's Gold (Episode #803).

Residential expansion is proposed that would double the size of Manila, which currently has neither fire or police services of its own.

The great green combers of winter gales hump and crest about a half-mile offshore where the 30-foot (9.1 m) swell curve parallels the shoreline.

Even when the fog bank was no more than a threat on the horizon, landmarks on the higher ground east of Humboldt Bay were obscured by a low overcast of smoke from lumber mills and homes using wood fuel.

[28] This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F and cold, rainy winters that include a layer of morning fog.