Kalaupapa
The Park
History
Links
Learn More at the AMMA Bookstore
Kalaupapa and the Legacy of Father Damien (A Pictorial History)
Kalaupapa
Pre-Isolation Hawaiians
Long before the Hansen's disease settlement at Kalawao was established in 1866 there were people living on the Kalaupapa peninsula. Evidence of the Hawaiian occupation can be seen across the landscape, in the valleys that divide the pali (cliffs), in the caves along the coastline and in the dry woodland forests. There are numerous agricultural terraces and walls, large public heiau (temples) and small family shrines, house sites, fishing shelters, holua (stone slides), and a rare canoe ramp. Relatively undisturbed, these sites collectively represent one of the richest archeological preserves in Hawai`i. Within the park are hundreds of archeological sites, some dating to 1,000 years before present.
People who lived in the pali valleys grew taro in lo`i (irrigated fields), grew sweet potatoes and other crops, hunted feral pigs, gathered plants for food and medicine, caught fish and shellfish and harvested sea salt. People on the peninsula lived in caves or built basalt houses and shelters with thatch roofs. They constructed field systems of rock walls to protect fragile crops from trade winds. As the population increased, permanent villages were established at Kalaupapa, Kalawao and in Wai`ale`ia Valley.
Between ca. 1800 and 1866, Hawaiian people living on the peninsula grew large quantities of sweet potatoes. Much was produced as a cash crop for export, especially during the gold rush in California (1849-1851) when Kalaupapa became a major export center for sweet potatoes. Ships from San Francisco would pick up harvested potatoes stacked in mounds at the seaport. Archeological evidence of this trade can be seen on the peninsula in the miles of low parallel stone windrows, built to shelter the sweet potato plants from the strong trade winds.
Life for Hawaiians living on the peninsula changed completely with the arrival of the leprosy patients at Kalawao. Most of the Hawaiian inhabitants were moved off the peninsula, but a few continued to live on the west side at Kalaupapa, freely mixing with the patients. The last of the healthy Hawaiians were moved from the peninsula by 1895 in an effort to enforce the isolation policy, and in conjunction with the gradual movement of patients and facilities from Kalawao to Kalaupapa at the turn of the century.
