About 150 years ago, the Oahu island of Hawaii was the home to a number of plantations, on which lived the planters and the laborers immigrated from across the Pacific ocean. They first grew sandalwood, and then sugar canes, and then pineapples, the last of became the signature fruit of the island state.
Surprisingly, among the laborers, Chinese were the first to come, followed and outnumbered by Japanese and Filipinos.
Early picture of laborers working on a Hawaiian plantation
The Chinese signed contracts with the planters stipulating their terms of passage to Hawaii, housing, food, and clothes. In these early contracts they were to be paid three dollars a month for five years of work.
Though subject to servitude, they lived a far better life than their countrymen back in China. Some of them sent money back home to support their family. Others had their entire family gradually all immigrate to here.
A Certificate of Residence of a Chinese Laborer
Notice the circled area, says Chinese.
A document for the laborer’s child living with him on the plantation
The Plantation Village we visited is a gathering of reproduced laborer residence and some public facilities such as clinic, union hall, noodle restaurant and grocery store. It was built with the donation by people whose grandfather or great grandfather truly worked on a plantation. They donated their family treasures so that the authorities could piece them together and restore the lost plantation culture.
The Plantation Village in Waipahu
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As we wandered about in the museum of the Plantation Village,
the weird-looking thing caught our attention. Guess what this is?
It’s a sugar cane smasher. Juice from it was made into sugar.
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There’s a story about the stone or monolith shown in the picture below. When the local people tried to make way for a new highway, they shoveled up the big stones and planned to move them to another place. They marked all the stones and later found one of them missing. No one knew where it went. Years later, when people started to dig again, the misterious stone came out, right at the place where it had been spotted.
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We took a group picture in this antique train
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A typical Hawaiian Shack
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Even today, there’s one pineapple plantation still in operation. You may be familiar with its name from the juice brand Dole. Between the highway and the mountains lie swaths of pineapple field.
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Before the western civilization invaded Hawaii, the aboriginal polynesians had basically fed on taro and fish. So taro patches used to be an essential part of Hawaii’s landscape.
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Besides pineapple, another signature produce of Hawaii is macadamia nut. Though it was first discovered in Australia, it is Hawaii that made it world famous. The picture shows macadamia nuts in all maturing stages.
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A boat shelter which traditionally served as children’s classroom
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You can always spot plants affluent with life and vigor, like this multi-root tree.
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That’s me against a hand-made quilt. Not sure if it’s home-grown art though
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