Many know Hanalei from the film “South Pacific” or the song, “Puff, the Magic Dragon.” But few know the history of this plantation town protected by a bay, nourished by four rivers and bordered by the treacherous Na Pali. In
Many know Hanalei from the film “South Pacific” or the song, “Puff, the Magic Dragon.” But few know the history of this plantation town protected by a bay, nourished by four rivers and bordered by the treacherous Na Pali.
In mythological times, it was in the Hanalei region that the volcano goddess Pele fell in love with Kaua‘i chief Lohi‘au. In the early 1800s it was the site of a silkworm plantation that exported high-quality silk to Mazatlan and Mexico City. In 1920, Hanalei was the top rice-producing region in the islands.
Daniel Harrington’s well-researched book is the first time that this area on Kaua‘i’s North Shore has been treated as a separate region worthy of its own volume. It chronicles Hanalei’s story, from the arrival of the Polynesians nearly two thousand years ago to the unexpected recent visit of a pod of melon-headed whales in 2004.
Augmented with historical and modern photographs, reference maps — including a historical map of important landmarks — and a comprehensive guide to the area’s native birds, it brings the story of the town and its surrounding environs to life, providing a microcosm of Kaua‘i’s history.
Daniel Harrington lives in Hanalei and has been an educator on Kaua‘i’s North Shore for the last fifteen years. An avid surfer and hiker, he enjoys learning about Hawaiian history, culture, and native species.
His children’s book “What Am I: Hawai‘i Animal Guessing Game” received an honorable mention Ka Palapala Po‘okela Award from the Hawai‘i Book Publishers Association in the children’s literature category. His “Hawaiian Timeline: A Chronology of Hawaiian History” was released in December. He is also working on “Kaua‘i Journey,” an illustrative history of Kaua‘i and has created the on-line Hawaiian Encyclopedia, hawaiianencyclopedia.com
