The Cabrillo Civic Clubs erected a monument in the form of a pile of stones and prehistoric stone artifacts topped by an inscribed granite cross on a knoll near the old shearing sheds in 1937. The monument reads:

JOAO / RODRIGUES / CABRILHO
PORTUGUESE NAVIGATOR
DISCOVERER OF CALIFORNIA 1542
ISLE OF BURIAL 1543
CABRILLO CIVIC CLUBS

The Cabrillo monument has historical interest but the inconclusiveness of data about Cabrillo and his final resting place leaves this monument out of date and possibly misleading. In addition, Cabrillo is now considered to be Spanish rather than Portuguese. Nonetheless, the monument was placed by a civic organization with pride, based on the evidence available at the time.

Cabrillo and San Miguel Island
In 1542 Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo was the first European explorer to reach the isolated, windswept shores of San Miguel Island. However, he was certainly not the first to "discover" it. When Cabrillo came ashore there were approximately 100 Chumash living in 2 villages along the island's coast, including a village at Cuyler Harbor. The Chumash and their ancestors had been living on San Miguel almost continuously for nearly 12,000 years.

Cabrillo's chronicler Juan Paez de Castro wrote about San Miguel Island: "Wednesday, the 25th [October 1542], they left these islands, that is, the one farthest to windward, which has a very good port inside which no bad effects will be felt in any kind of sea weather. They named it Posesión. That day they only sailed a little because there was no wind . . ." Then, on "Thursday, the 23d [November 1542] they arrived on their return at the Islas de San Lucas, at the one named Posesión." Paez de Castro wrote that "they named this island the ˜Isla de Juan Rodriguez'" and mentioned the Chumash names for the island which they had apparently learned from the friendly occupants. Antonio de Herrera wrote in 1615, "In the eight days they were at this port they were well treated by the Indians, who go naked and have their faces painted in a checkerboard fashion."

Returning to San Miguel Island after exploring northward on the coast, Cabrillo's party hauled out their frigata San Miguel at Cuyler Harbor to recaulk and repair planking. Either here or on another island the fleet wintered; debate continues whether the long-accepted location of San Miguel Island is accurate. Nevertheless, the Chumash were not as welcoming this time. Francisco de Vargas recalled in 1560: "With the natives of this island he had some great fights as they came out in a warlike manner. During all the time the fleet was at the Island Capitana the Indians never stopped fighting." It was at this winter location, possibly San Miguel but also likely Santa Cruz or Santa Catalina, that Cabrillo sustained his mortal injury and died. The fleet returned to San Miguel Island again on March 5 but "did not dare enter the port," according to Paez de Castro, "on account of the storm which was blowing, which made the sea break in fifteen fathoms at the entrance. It was a north-northwest wind and the entrance is narrow."