Plantation Resort Developments Old Plantation Days, July 2014

It was well known back in old plantation days that the “Big Five Companies”, those five conglomerates whose subsidiaries ran all the sugar plantations in the State, had control over most of the land and water use in the islands.  These major companies started out as sugar brokers or Factors to help the various smaller sugarcane plantations sell their sugar on the open world or U.S. market.

 AMFAC (American Factors), Alexander and Baldwin, Castle and Cook, C. Brewer & Co., and Theo. H. Davies were the Big Five.  Sometimes Dillingham & Co. was called the “the little sixth”.  With all the land assets these companies had there was control of how development occurred and when land was sold, when subdivisions got built, and in the case of this article, where the next tourist hotel or resort will be developed.

 Let’s think about certain resort locations in existence today and see if we can trace back what plantation helped build them…

On the island of Kauai,  Poipu: that area was once part of McBryde Sugar Company an Alexander and Baldwin firm.  Princeville: that north shore Kauai destination was once part of Kilauea Sugar Plantation a C. Brewer & Co. firm. Wailua, Coco Palms Resort:  this was once a part of Lihue Plantation Company an AMFAC firm.

 On the Island of Maui, the sprawling west Maui mountain region of Kaanapali, Napili and Lahaena were all part of Pioneer Mill Co. an AMFAC company.  The huge long sprawling region of Maaleaa Bay through Wailea was part of Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company an Alexander and Baldwin firm.

 On the Island of Hawaii, Waiakea Resort was a resort destination that grew from the old CANEC processing plant on the Waiakea Ponds, it was a C. Brewer development, and lastly SeaMountain Resort at Punaluu was once part of Hawaiian Agricultural Company a C. Brewer subsidiaries.

 Notice how the island of Oahu was not even listed…that’s because I just do know of any plantation inspired hotel or development, sure lands were controlled by the plantations on that island, but it did not necessarily mean that they OWNED them in fee simple.  Quite a lot of the companies there leased the cane lands from Campbell Estate, Galbreith and Robinson Estate, and the State of Hawaii.  As such resort development occurred in the boom town area of Waikiki where no plantation existed and private land owners became the entrepreneurs of tourism.

 In this month’s article I have a couple pictures of Punaluu Black Sand Beach in the Ka’u district.  It’s a before and after comparison of life at Punaluu before the resort and what it looked after.  I will leave it the opinion of the readers as to which is better, too me it’s a hard choice, but the picture of the resort on the beach is dated, it’s from 1973.  Just two years later the 7.2 magnitude earthquake just off of Halape occurred on Thanksgiving weekend.  It generated a Tsunami that washed some 40’ inland and destroyed several houses and wreaked the resort building shown in the photo.  The resort never fully recovered from this event and it closed down.  Today it is very clear what I would like to see at Punaluu…I would prefer to see the idyllic beach with outrigger canoes to the existing shambled falling down wreck of a resort. 

 Aloha