As rampant development moves Kaua‘i quickly toward the future, Hanama‘ulu has joined a few other island communities in trying to recapture and honor its past. Through 5,000 copies of “2007 Hanama‘ulu Town Calendar” circulating statewide, the Hanama‘ulu community of 3,000
As rampant development moves Kaua‘i quickly toward the future, Hanama‘ulu has joined a few other island communities in trying to recapture and honor its past.
Through 5,000 copies of “2007 Hanama‘ulu Town Calendar” circulating statewide, the Hanama‘ulu community of 3,000 people commemorates its strong ties to nearly 120 years of plantation history — starting in the late 1880s with Hanama‘ulu Plantation and ending with the closing of the Lihue Plantation Company in 2000 due to economics
“The calendar shows the rich history of Hanama‘ulu,” said Eddie Sarita, a longtime resident, a mayoral candidate and onetime Kaua‘i County Council member. “The calendar is a way to appreciate the olds days and the old ways, when people were more gracious, doors to homes were not locked and people cared about you and your family.”
Towns like Koloa and Waimea have chosen to honor their histories with the Koloa Plantation Days and Captain Cook celebrations, respectively, each year.
But Hanama‘ulu is the only town to have produced a calendar to help remember its past.
A lot of its history is tied to Lihue Plantation, where generations of Hanama‘ulu residents worked.
Thousands of Japanese, Filipino and Portuguese immigrants came to Kaua‘i to work in the sugar industry, and many moved to Hanama‘ulu after securing jobs with either the Hanamaulu Plantation or the Lihue Plantation Company, which was among the largest plantations in the state at one time and operated for 150 years before closing.
With the passing of that industrial giant, the calendar will have deeper meaning for current and former town residents, Sarita believes.
The calendar was developed with funds from a town celebration held last year — the second held in as many years.
Some of the most memorable photographs — some of which were reproduced with the help of the Kauai Museum — show:
• The old concrete Hanamaulu Bridge, which was built over the Hanamaulu Stream by Lihue Plantation in 1925, and was part of the plantation’s locomotive system to haul cane from the sugar cane fields in Hanama‘ulu and Kealia to its mill in Lihu‘e off Halekoa Road.
A trestle bridge preceded the concrete bridge, but Lihue Plantation opted for the concrete bridge to handle heavy trainloads of cane.
Lihue Plantation ended the use of trains in the mid-1950s, shifting to cane haul trucks because operation costs were far less than that of the trains.
• The John Koerte Sr. home, which was built by Lihue Plantation in the early 1900s, and has the distinction of being the oldest home in the town.
• The old “Comilang Camp House,” a plantation home located in Punchbowl Camp, which was the first home for many Portuguese immigrants.
• Hanama’ulu Bay, where generations of families fished and swam, where cargo ships docked at Ahukini Pier and took cargo and bags of sugar to markets in Honolulu and beyond.
From piers in the bay, Hanama‘ulu residents boarded the S.S. Hualalai, owned by Matson Company, for travel to Honolulu, Sarita said.
Lihue Plantation built the Ahukini pier, but began using it much less by the early 1950s, as Nawiliwili Harbor emerged as a growing commercial port, Sarita said.
• Joe Travasso Sr., a law enforcement officer in the Hanamaulu camp, on his favorite horse. Respected, he took people to a camp dispensary located at what is now the entry to the Wal-Mart store in Lihu‘e, Sarita said.
He also arranged for burial plots at the Hanama‘ulu Cemetery, which Sarita and volunteers maintain today.
• King Kaumuali‘i School, the fourth school built in Hanama‘ulu. The first school was located near Hanama‘ulu Beach Park and began operation in the late 1800s. A second school was built farther up the road, and the third school was built on the site of King Kaumuali‘i School today.
Old schools were demolished and new schools were erected in their place as the population of Hanama‘ulu grew, Sarita said.
• The Hanamaulu mill in the 1930s.
Paul Isenberg opened the plantation in the late 1800s and probably closed it in the 1930s, after his company merged with Lihue Plantation.
• Pete Rayno Sr. Park, which was named after a Hanama‘ulu resident who set up recreational programs and coached youths between the mid-1950s and the early 1970s.
Rayno was remembered because he used his own money and time to coach kids after the plantations began cutting back funding on sports programs to save money, Sarita said.
Rayno served as a role model for generations of Hanama‘ulu youths, and tried to pass on values he believed in — honesty, the value of hard work and love for community, Sarita said.
Rayno’s son, Pete Rayno Jr., lives in Lihu‘e, but remains active in Hanama‘ulu community projects, serving as a member of the Hanamaulu Neighborhood Association and helping to maintain the Hanamaulu Cemetery.
