Do you have Gary’s book?

Dust in the Wind -

A Guide to American Ghost Towns

***

Return to Ghost Town USA’s State Listings

***

Visit Ghost Town USA’s

Ghost Town of the Month

***

Visit Ghost Town USA’s Home Page

***

Visit Ghost Town USA’s Photo Gallery

***

Ghost Town USA’s

Site Map

***

Send E-mail to

Ghost Town USA.

***

HELP! 

(NEW FEATURE) Please check here to find a list of ghost towns that various contacts are looking for.  IF you have any information on these places please e-mail me and I can respond back to those looking for info on these ghosts.

In 1778, the population of the Archipelago of Hawaii is claimed to have been as high as 1,000,000 people. The people, the Kanaka Maoli had a "highly organized, self-sufficient, subsistent social system based on communal land tenure with a sophisticated language, culture, and religion." When European explorers and missionaries arrived, the Kanaka Maoli culture crashed and burned. This was aided by the introduction of disease and other "niceties" like guns and other weapons. The population quickly faded by over 90%, to less than 40,000 people.

In 1813, the first pineapple plants were introduced from Spain, and in 1835, sugar cane was successfully introduced on the mineral-rich volcanic soil of Kauai. With lots of rain, stable temperatures, and the possibility of major profits to be made, the budding sugar and pineapple industry caught the attention of enterprising American entrepreneurs. Since private ownership of land was unknown to the native Hawaiians, and once the Americans began to arrive, Western concepts of private land ownership was implemented, leaving the locals landless in their homeland.

Sugar quickly became the main economic base for the Islands, rapidly supplanting the whaling stations. Since profits and prosperity depended on favorable treaties with the United States, its main market, powerful economic ties were sought. The aggressive Anglo-American plantation owners rapidly took control of the sugar industry and brought in thousands of contract laborers from China, Japan, the Philippines and other countries. Even the local Hawaiians were used. Plantation ownership and control of the business community were now solidly in the hands of the Americans.

Despite this takeover of their homeland, the remaining Kanaka Maoli managed to survive and flourish. Between 1826 and 1893, the United States "recognized the independence of the Kingdom of Hawaii, extended full and complete diplomatic recognition to the Hawaiian Government, and entered into treaties and conventions with the Hawaiian monarchs to govern commerce and navigation." That all changed in 1893 when the Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown in a relatively bloodless coup led by the American plantation owners. The next year, Sanford Dole proclaimed himself the president of the Republic of Hawaii.

However after several years of unrest, the end was near. In 1898, President McKinley signed a resolution to formally annex Hawaii, and on Aug. 2, 1898, Sanford Dole, the newly appointed governor of the brand new Territory of Hawaii, presided over the raising of the Stars & Stripes. Hawaii now officially belonged to the United States of America. Sixty-one years later, on August 21, 1959 Hawaii became the 50th state of the union.

Since, the immigrant laborers lived near the fields and mills, plantation villages prospered. Then once the industry began to fade, they were abandoned. Today, outside Honolulu, the Waialua Sugar Mill's smokestack still stands as a sad reminder of Hawaii's troubled sugar industry. During the past decade, the sugar industry in Hawaii has nearly collapsed because of high operating costs, isolation and increased competition from other countries. This has created quite a few ghost towns in the land of Ka Pae `Aina O Hawai`i Nei.

When you visit Hawaii, remember to get out into the backcountry beyond Honolulu and see where these plantation towns once teemed with life. This is the heritage of Ghost Town USA that we seek out!

FORT ELIZABETH

Kauai Co.

A class C/F - Russian Fort located near Waimea.  In 1815 a Russian named Georg Scheffer, came to Hawaii to seek a trading relationship with King Kamehameha. The Russians built this fort and two others near Hanalei. Since the Russians didn't have the backing of the Russian Czar and left Kauai. Fort Elizabeth was then used as a Hawaiian fort.  It is the last Russian fort that still stands in Hawaii.

KALAUPAPA

Molokai Co.

This class D (NHP)-leper colony is located on the north shore of the island at the base of the Makanalua Peninsula.  It was founded in 1866 as a place for those who had Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease). In 1873 a Belgian priest, Father Joseph Damien de Veuster, giving members of the colony their first compassionate care. He served the folks here until he died of the disease in 1889.  Since Hansen's Disease is controllable with drugs, the colony has faded, however, some longtime residents have remained.

This and Kalawao were our featured Ghost Town of the Month for January 2005.

KALAWAO

Molokai Co.

This class B-leper colony is located on the east side of the Makanalua Peninsula on Molokai Island's north shore, this was another 1866 era leper colony, but it was established in a less protected location, and by the early 1900s, most of the members had moved to Kalaupapa.

This and Kalaupapa were our featured Ghost Town of the Month for January 2005.

KEOMUKU

Lanai Co.

A class C-sugar town located on SH 440, the east coastal road, 14 miles southeast of Lanai City. This tiny ghost town was a flourishing sugar town that died about 1901. In the 1970s there were still wooden buildings standing, one of which was a small church.

Historians estimate that there may be as many

as 50,000 ghost towns scattered across the United States of America. During the next five years, Gary B. Speck Publications will be publishing unique state, regional, and county guides called

The Ghost Town Guru's Guide

to the Ghost Towns of *** ™

These original guides are designed for anybody interested in

ghost towns. Whether you are a casual tourist looking for a new and different place to visit, or a hard-core ghost town researcher, these guides will be just right for you. With over 30 years of research behind them, they will be a welcome addition to any

ghost towner's library.

Thank you, and we'll see you out on the Ghost Town Trail!

For more information on the ghost towns of HAWAII,

contact us at

Ghost Town USA.

E-mailers, PLEASE NOTE:

Due to the tremendous amount of viruses, worms and “spam,” out there, I no longer open any e-mails with unsolicited attachments, OR messages on the subject lines with “Hey”, “Hi”, “Need help”, “Help Please”, “???”, or blank subject lines, etc.  If you do send E-mail asking for information, or sharing information, PLEASE indicate the appropriate location AND state name, or other topic on the “subject” line.  THANK YOU!  :o)

IMPORTANT

These listings and historical vignettes of ghost towns, near-ghost towns and other historical sites in HAWAII above are for informational purposes only, and should NOT be construed to grant permission to trespass, metal detect, relic or treasure hunt at any of the listed sites.

If the reader of this guide is a metal detector user and plans to use this guide to locate sites for metal detecting or relic hunting, it is the READER'S responsibility to obtain written permission from the legal property owners. Please be advised, that any state or nationally owned sites will probably be off-limits to metal detector use. Also be aware of any federal, state or local laws restricting the same.

When you are exploring the ghost towns of HAWAII, please abide by the

Ghost Towner's Code of Ethics.