County of Kauaʻi history

Both times he was unable to make the voyage to Kauai, first due to a rebellion in 1796 and then in 1803 an outbreak of disease prevented the King and his army from leaving Oahu.

The King of Kauai and Niihau at the time, King Kaumualii, decided to avoid the inevitable bloodshed and instead came to a peaceful resolution with Kamehameha in 1810.

Other attractions include Huleia and Kilauea Point national wildlife refuges, Russian Fort Elizabeth State Historical Park (built 1816), and Kilauea Lighthouse, which contains the world’s largest (although now inactive) lighthouse clamshell lens.

Missionaries sailed out of New England to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity, the first boatload of them arriving in 1820 in the Hawaiian Islands.

Later companies of missionaries established missions in 1834 in Kōloa on the South Shore and Waioli on the North Shore.

The first successful commercial milling of sugar in all of Hawaii began in 1835 in Kōloa Town on the South Shore.

The first sugar plantation to open on the east side was Makee Sugar Company in 1877 in Kapa’a.

A number of Caucasian businessmen, seeking to protect their economic interests and backed by United States troops, illegally overthrew Hawaii’s last reigning monarch, Queen Liliuokalani, in 1893.

Pineapple was first grown commercially in Hawaii in 1899 but it wasn’t until after the success of James Dole that pineapple became a profitable venture.

In 1900, Hawaii became a Territory of the United States, and Hawaii was allowed a delegate to the United States Congress.

With lots of fertile land available, the Hawaiian Canneries Co. was established in 1913 in Kapa’a.

Image from Pacific Magazine 1923; ad for the Honolulu Aquarium “An Hawaiian fisherman of the olden days.”

From 668 visitors to Kauaʻi in 1927, the numbers rose to the point where new hotels began to spring up as quickly as sugar cane.

The economy on Kauai prospered from the sugar and pineapple industries until the 1950’s.

Lagoon at Coco Palms, 1953.

In March 1959, Hawaii became the 50th State, with 10,000 people gathering at Burns Field on the west side of Kauaʻi to celebrate with a bonfire.

Tourism began to thrive in the 1960’s.

The pineapple canneries in Kapa’a closed in 1962 and is now the site of a popular resort.

Kauai is home to three properties of the National Tropical Botanical Garden, chartered by the United States Congress in 1964: Limahuli Garden and Preserve, on the north shore, and Allerton Garden and McBryde Garden, located along the southern shore.

A popular television show in the 1980’s was filmed on Kauai as well.

The sugar plantations operated as long as they could, the Lihue Sugar Plantation was one of the last operating and but in 2000 it also shut down.

In 2007, Ben Stiller brought an all-star cast to Kauai to shoot the movie Tropic Thunder.

Adventures on the South Shore of Kauai: Must-DosDecember 15, 2017 - 8:38 pm