1957 Map of Honokaa

About this map

Deep ravines and steep gulches carve through the coastal landscape of Hawaii's Hamakua District, where early sugar era settlements like Haina and Paauhau cling to the bluffs above the Pacific Ocean. The infrastructure of a productive agricultural economy is evident in the network of flumes, ditches, and landing strips that supported the sugarcane fields and homesteads. Local life centers on the town of Honokaa, home to the Honokaa Hospital and a Rodeo Arena, while the southern reaches of the map climb toward the dense wilderness of the Hamakua Forest Reserve. This terrain required unique transport solutions, seen in labels like Paauhau Landing and Honokaa Landing, which provided essential maritime access before modern road networks were fully realized. Numerous homestead tracts, including Paauilo Homesteads and Kaapahu Homesteads, reveal the pattern of land division and settlement during this mid-century period.