Where is Kalaupapa National Historical Park?

The park is on the north shore of the island of Moloka'i, Hawai'i, in Kalawao County. It is a unit of the National Park System.

When was the park established?

President Jimmy Carter signed Public Law 96-565 establishing the park on Dec. 22, 1980.

How is the park managed?

Nearly all of the land within the more than 10,700-acre authorized boundary remains in nonfederal ownership, managed by the National Park Service through several cooperative agreements. Land owners include the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and the state departments of Health, Transportation, and Land & Natural Resources. The U.S. Coast Guard owns and operates the Moloka'i Lighthouse.

Where was the first isolation settlement in Hawai'i located?

The first settlement was established on the east side of the Kalaupapa Peninsula, on the north shore of Moloka'i. Kalawao was located at the foot of the sea cliffs.

When did the first patients arrive?

The first group of three women and nine men arrived at Kalawao on Jan. 6, 1866.

Were there people living on the Kalaupapa Peninsula before the isolation settlement at Kalawao was established in 1866?

This peninsula, surrounded on three sides by ocean and on the fourth by steep sea cliffs, was inhabited for at least 900 years by Hawaiian people. The peninsula and its valleys supported a sizeable population and was known for its sweet potatoes, fishing grounds, salt deposits and varieties of kapa. Archaeological evidence of this habitation includes house sites, agriculture walls and terraces, religious heiau and burials. Kalaupapa National Historical Park contains one of the richest and least disturbed archaeological preserves in Hawai'i.

When did Father Damien arrive in Hawai'i?

Joseph de Veuster arrived in Honolulu on March 19, 1864. He was ordained on May 21 in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu.

When did Father Damien arrive at Kalawao?

Father Damien arrived on May 10, 1873, on board the steamer Kilauea with 50 Hansen's disease patients and a cargo of cattle.

Were other churches represented at Kalawao and Kalaupapa?

The first Calvinist meetinghouse was built in the Hawaiian fishing village of Kalaupapa in 1839. This was replaced by a second church in 1847, and by a third structure, built in 1853 which is still standing. Within the first year of patients arriving at Kalawao in 1866, church members came together and formed a Protestant church they named Siloama, Church of the Healing Spring. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also had a congregation at Kalawao. Joseph H. Napela, a Mormon elder, came to Kalaupapa sometime after 1871 as kokua (helper) for his wife, a patient. In October 1873 he was appointed president of the Kalaupapa Branch of the Maui, Moloka'i and Lana'i Conference. He eventually contracted Hansen's disease and died at Kalaupapa.

Which Catholic religious orders worked at Kalawao and Kalaupapa?

A small group of Franciscan sisters, led by Mother Marianne Cope, arrived on Nov. 14, 1888. They managed the Charles R. Bishop Home for Unprotected Leper Girls and Women, which opened at Kalaupapa in 1888. This religious order is still represented in Kalaupapa today.

Several sisters also ran the Home for Boys at Kalawao, which opened in spring 1890. In 1892 philanthropist Henry P. Baldwin provided funding for the Baldwin Home for Leprous Boys and Men at Kalawao, which opened in May 1894. Four brothers from the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts arrived to operate the Baldwin Home on Dec. 1, 1895. This religious order is still represented at Kalaupapa today.

When did Father Damien die?

Damien was diagnosed with Hansen's disease in 1884; he died on April 15, 1889, from effects of the disease.

Where is he buried?

At Father Damien's death he was buried next to his church, St. Philomena, at Kalawao. In 1936 his body was exhumed and taken to Belgium where he was reburied in Louvain. In 1995 the relic of Damien's right hand was returned to Kalawao and reburied in the original grave.

When were the isolation policies in Hawai'i abolished?

Hawai'i's isolation laws, dating back to 1865, were abolished in 1969. Thousands of people in Hawai'i were separated from their homes and families and sent to Kalawao and Kalaupapa during these years.