Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
walking path departing from the parking lot of the Travaasa Hana hotel. Or, if you ask at
the front desk, they'll sometimes grant you the key to drive up to the top if your mobility
isn't what it used to be. If you make the trek to the summit, watch out for the and the gooey
presents they leave on the road. When in season, there are a number of guava trees toward
the summit which can provide a healthy midday snack. Atop the summit you're treated to
the best view in Hana, with a panoramic vista out over historic Hana Bay and 'Alau Island
in the distance.
PAUL FAGAN AND HANA RANCH
After having grown to half a dozen plantations by the 1880s, sugar production faded
out by the 1940s, and Hana began to die, its population dipping below 500. In 1944,
San Francisco industrialist Paul Fagan bought 14,000 acres of what was to become
the
Hana Ranch.
Realizing that sugar was
pau
(finished), he replanted his lands in
pangola
range grass and imported 300 Hereford cattle from another holding on Mo-
loka'i. Today, Hana Ranch has about 4,500 acres and raises more than 1,200 head
of cattle. Their faces stare back at you as you drive past.
Fagan loved Hana and felt an obligation to and affection for its people. He also
decided to retire here, and with enough money to materialize just about anything, he
decided that Hana could best survive through limited tourism. He built the Ka'uiki
Inn in 1946, later to become the Hotel Hana-Maui, which catered to millionaires,
mostly his friends. Fagan owned a baseball team, the San Francisco Seals, and
brought them to Hana in 1946 for spring training. The community baseball field
behind the hotel was made for them. This was a brilliant publicity move because
sportswriters followed along; becoming enchanted with Hana, they gave it a great
deal of copy and were probably the first to publicize the phrase “Heavenly Hana.”
It wasn't long before tourists began arriving.
Unfortunately, the greatest heartbreak in modern Hana history occurred at just
about the same time, on April 1, 1946. An earthquake in Alaska's Aleutian Islands
sent a huge tsunami that raked the Hana coast, killed a dozen, and destroyed hun-
dreds of homes. Hana recovered but never forgot. Life went on, and the menfolk
began working as
paniolo
on Fagan's ranch. Entire families went to work at the
hotel and Hana lived again. This legacy of quietude and old-fashioned
aloha
has
attracted people to Hana ever since. Everyone knows that Hana's future lies in its
uniqueness and remoteness, and no one wants it to change.
