Grove Farm Museum’s 25th anniversary celebration is from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, at the museum site off Nawiliwili Road in Lihu’e. Members of the community are invited to an open house, which will also include a book-signing by
Grove Farm Museum’s 25th anniversary celebration is from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, at the museum site off Nawiliwili Road in Lihu’e.
Members of the community are invited to an open house, which will also include a book-signing by Dr. Barnes Riznik of his just-published biography of Mabel I. Wilcox, titled “Mabel Wilcox, R.N.: Her Legacy of Caring,” which will also be available for sale at that time.
Guests will have an opportunity to wander through the home of George N. Wilcox, enjoy refreshments, and visit with Riznik, who is returning from Massachusetts for the event.
Grove Farm has been open to members of the public for 25 years, as a historic site representing a developing sugar plantation.
It is the final major accomplishment and gift of a long list of contributions to the community by Mabel I. Wilcox, whose long life was devoted to the care and preservation of island people and the island history.
Born and raised at Grove Farm, Mabel I. Wilcox, known affectionately as “Miss Mabel,” was the daughter of Sam and Emma Wilcox, and niece of George N. Wilcox.
Her uncle George N. Wilcox had acquired Grove Farm in 1864, and succeeded in turning the dry, dusty farmland into a successful sugar plantation.
In his will, lifetime use of his Grove Farm homestead was left by him to his two unmarried nieces, Mabel I. Wilcox and Elsie Wilcox, who continued to live there throughout their lives.
