At the earliest part of the island's settlement, this region was known as the parish of São Sebastião, based on its patron saint. The region was given the new name owing to its proximity to the
Pico dos Genetantes, which was transliterated into
Ginetes. Father
Gaspar Frutuoso, writing in his tome
Saudades da Terra, reiterated that the settlement obtained its name because it was
sheltered from ocean winds by the Pico dos Ginetes, called this [Ginetes] because it took the form of a saddle, as well as (as others had indicated) where Ginetes (a species of horse) was raised, in the mountains. The parish church, dedicated to St. Sebastian, was constructed between 1603 and 1605, to substitute an older temple that existed since early settlement. The religious community also constructed the Church of Jesus, Mary and Jesus in the locality of Várzeam erected in 1702 (and, later, the hermitage of Nossa Senhora da Fátima, built along the regional roadway, and concluded in September 1936). It is suggested that the historic
Casa do Monte (
House of the Hill), located within Ginetes, was the first location where the autonomic flag was first raised over the territory of the Azores, in 1897. ==Geography==