Kalaupapa and Kalawao Settlements: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Kalaupapa National Historical Park, National Park Service

Rygh, Christian; Tamimi, L.

The Kalaupapa and Kalawao Settlements are located on an isolated peninsula on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai’s weathered north coast within Kalaupapa National Historical Park. Kalaupapa National Historical Park technically encompasses the entire peninsula including its coastal waters within a quarter of a mile, three deep valleys (Waihanau, Waialeia, and Waikolu), and the adjoining cliffs ranging from 1,600 feet to 3,000 feet within the park's boundaries. Since the inventory unit is located within a National Historical Park, the unit technically includes the entire 8,726 acres of land and a 2,000-acre expanse of ocean. However, the key areas that were intensively developed in association with the Hansen's Disease (leprosy) settlements’ period of significance consist of Kalawao Settlement, Kalaupapa Settlement, a stretch between them along Father Damien Road, and the landing strip at the north end of the peninsula. It is these intensively developed areas that are addressed in this CLI. However, it is important to note that there are additional features that date to the period of significance beyond the heavily developed areas, such as the two pali trails and the water system. The settlement was established in 1866 at Kalawao and migrated across the peninsula to leeward Kalaupapa in the 1900s. Although the Kalaupapa landing strip has made travel to and from the peninsula easier, access during the early period was only possible by boat or by the steep pali, or cliff, trails that connected the peninsula with the rest of Molokai. This unique physiographic setting made the Kalaupapa Peninsula an ideal place to isolate thousands of people with Hansen's Disease, which began afflicting the Hawaiian Islands in the mid-19th century. The historic vernacular landscape is associated with the Belgian priest, Father Damien DeVeuster, who devoted himself to assisting the patients and improving the settlement's living conditions by garnering political and financial support. The efforts of Damien and other historical figures like Mother Marianne Cope and Brother Joseph Dutton helped Kalaupapa develop into one of the best leprosy facilities of its time. Kalaupapa eventually afforded most of the amenities of normal society. The settlement contains boat landings, a road network (for cars), neighborhoods, single-family patient housing, dormitories and hospitals, churches, convents, community recreational facilities, cemeteries, dairies, slaughterhouses, and a light industrial area. Healthier patients were active in carpentry, farming, fishing, and other work necessary for sustaining the settlement. Kalaupapa's revolutionary administrative philosophy encouraged patient participation in the operation of the settlement to foster feelings of self-worth and community cohesion, and contributes to the significance of Kalaupapa's cultural landscape. The period of significance for the Kalaupapa-Kalawao Settlements cultural landscape begins in 1866 when the first group of exiles landed at Kalawao and continues through 1969 when patients were allowed to leave their enforced isolation due to the development of sulphone drugs that halted the advancement and communicability of Hansen’s Disease. Portions of the cultural landscape have been well-maintained, particularly at Kalaupapa which has been in continuous use from the late 19th century until the present. However, at Kalawao, usage and maintenance came to an end in the early 1900s and the condition of the historic landscape has since diminished. Invasive species have quickly transformed much open-space areas into forests, and hidden large tracts of archaeological resources from view. These relic portions of the landscape are nonetheless vital to interpreting the early days of the settlement and the landscape's dynamism through the 140-year period of significance. Overall, the site, which includes both the Kalaupapa and Kalawao Settlements, is in poor condition.

Kalaupapa and Kalawao Settlements: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Kalaupapa National Historical Park, National Park Service

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