Prior to the construction of Nawiliwili Harbor in 1930, the original shoreline at Nawiliwili ran directly from Kalapaki Beach to the base of the cliff upon which the bulk sugar warehouse now stands. Papalinahoa, an old kuleana, bordered that
Prior to the construction of Nawiliwili Harbor in 1930, the original shoreline at Nawiliwili ran directly from Kalapaki Beach to the base of the cliff upon which the bulk sugar warehouse now stands.
Papalinahoa, an old kuleana, bordered that stretch of shoreline and extended inland to the bluff on Kuhiau Ridge, the location of Kaua‘i High School.
In 1886, Grove Farm Co. owner George Wilcox (1839-1933) bought Papalinahoa — at that time barren of vegetation — from Kamahalo and built a beach house on it in 1887.
He later constructed Papalinahoa Road — a horse and buggy road — that ran down from Kuhiau Ridge to his beach house.
Part of Papalinahoa Road still exists. It forms the upper boundary of Banyan Harbor Resort and runs downhill past a Chinese banyan tree that Wilcox planted in 1895 on the inside of a sharp curve in the road, which can still be seen to this day. The road then continues onward into the neighboring Kailikea property.
The tree now stands about 110 feet high, is 250 feet wide, covers about two acres of Banyan Harbor Resort property and has over 1,000 air roots.
On April 6, 1967, when Mabel and Gaylord Wilcox — George Wilcox’s niece and nephew — took a walk on Papalinahoa Road, Mabel, in referring to the sharp curve, asked her brother, “Do you remember this sharp turn?” She went on to recollect horse and buggy trips they once took along the road to their uncle’s beach house.
Native Hawaiian hula master, chanter and composer Sarah Kailikea (1911-2004), whose home — now the residence of her son, Malcom — borders Banyan Harbor Resort, was a guardian of Wilcox’s banyan tree for many years.
In 1976, she was successful in having the tree declared exceptional by Kaua‘i County authorities, thereby giving it legal protection.
