Hawaii's Plantation Village

Lonely Planet review

The lives of the people who came to Hawaii to work on the sugarcane plantations are showcased by Hawaii's Plantation Village. The setting is particularly evocative, as Waipahu was one of O'ahu's last plantation towns, and its rusty sugar mill, which operated until 1995, still looms on a knoll directly above this site.

The site encompasses homes and buildings typical of plantation villages of the early 20th century. Period furnishings illustrate the lifestyles of the different ethnic groups - Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Puerto Rican and Filipino. The Chinese cookhouse (c 1909) was originally on this site, and the Japanese shrine (1914) was moved here; the other structures are 'authentic' replicas. You need to join a tour to visit the site.

To get there by car, take the H1 Fwy to exit 7, turn left onto Paiwa St, then right onto Waipahu St, continue past the sugar mill. The village is on the left. Bus No 42 runs between Waikiki and Waipahu every 30 minutes and takes about 1½ hours. The village is 5 miles northwest of Pearl Harbor