Kauai' History

Wednesday, February 2, 2011 was the day Liz, Helen, and I travelled with our friend Wanda to Grove Farm near Lihue on Nawiliwili Road (http://www.grovefarm.net/sitemap.htm) .  This farm was the working-side of the missionary life.  This plantation was founded by the sons of missionaries who arrived in Hawaii in the 1830s.  Here, young George Wilcox (at left and son of the missionaries who built the mission house we visted earlier) began clearing land of kukui trees at the same time the Civil War raged on the mainland.  The thriving sugar plantation which he founded would produce sugar through the 1970s, when the heirs to the land created a non-profit entity to manage the grounds for historical preservation.

Not surprsingly, many of the items on the grounds are also found in the Old House and barn, having come from the same era.   The visit was a good opportunity to learn history of Kauai as well as help in idenification of the abundant trees and flowers of the island.   Regrettably, I accidentally deleted these photographs from my camera.

After the tour and a lunch out, we also stopped at the Kilauea lighthouse, which Liz, Helen and Wanda toured. 

On Thursday, we toured the National Tropical Botancial Gardens--Allerton Gardens (the same Allerton as in England), the scene of many movies and one of the homes of Hawaiian Queen Emma.  Photos are at the end of this write-up, including some huge root laterals which are as tall as a person and were used in the film Jurassic Park.

Robert Allerton purchased this land in the Lāwa‘i Valley,and set about to create an exquisite garden of landscape beauty and design. Later, the property was placed in a trust to perpetuate this garden legacy.  Before this, it was used as a vacation/hideway spot by many celebraties, including Jacqueline Kennedy immediately after the assassination.

After touring the gardens, Helen and I headed back to our condo for some leisure time, and Liz remained with her friends to do a little shopping.