There is no doubt that the Hawaiian Islands have undergone monumental changes throughout the last two centuries. Not only was the Kingdom of Hawaii overthrown, became a territory of the United States and then an American state, but the islands went from being an agricultural state that was largely rural to boasting a population of 1.43 million with a booming tourism industry. In honor of Hawaii’s agricultural past, we’re looking back at the good ‘ole days, where sugar cane was king and pineapple fields dotted the Hawaiian landscape. From sugar plantations to taro fields, there is certainly something special about these 11 photographs of old Hawaii farms.
- Hawaiians working in the fields, circa 1890.
Frederick George Eyton-Walker/Wikimedia Commons
- A rare color photograph of an iconic pineapple field, backed by Hawaii’s towering mountains.
Father of JGKlein/Wikimedia Commons
- A simply beautiful aerial shot of Kauai’s Koloa Plantation.
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collection
- Chinese contract laborers on a Hawaii sugar plantation.
Hawaii State Archives/Wikimedia Commons
- Besides pineapple and sugar cane, taro cultivation was one of Hawaii’s biggest agricultural-based industries.
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collection
- A photograph taken alongside Lahaina Road at least a decade before the turn of the 20th century.
Bernice P. Bishop Museum/Wikimedia Commons
- A group of individuals from the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce pose for a photograph in a pineapple field, circa 1907.
Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons
- A photograph taken at Hawaii’s Haraguchi Rice Mill, located in Kauai’s Hanalei Valley and built in the 1930s.
David Franzen, United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs/Wikimedia Commons
- Though not necessarily the type of farm we’re talking about, ancient Hawaiian fishponds like this one played a major role in Hawaii’s agricultural past.
Bernice P. Bishop Museum/Wikimedia Commons
- Aren’t Hawaii’s farms of the past simply mesmerizing?
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collection
- Two workers plant rice at Tung Wo Wai Plantation near what is now the site of the Hawaii Plantation Village.
Star Bulletin Archives/Website
Want to see more? Check out some of the oldest photos ever taken in Hawaii, as well as 16 mesmerizing photos sure to make you fall in love with rural Hawaii.
Frederick George Eyton-Walker/Wikimedia Commons
Father of JGKlein/Wikimedia Commons
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collection
Hawaii State Archives/Wikimedia Commons
Bernice P. Bishop Museum/Wikimedia Commons
Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons
David Franzen, United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs/Wikimedia Commons
Star Bulletin Archives/Website
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