Plantation Village - Waipahu, Hawaii - Outdoor Museum Preserves Ethnic Homes

Hawaii's Plantation Village is an outdoor museum located in historic Waipahu, where sugar was once king. Its purpose is to showcase the lifestyles and experience of Hawaii's sugar plantation workers, displaying furnished homes and community structures of the early 1900s.

Managed and operated by the nonprofit Friends of Waipahu Cultural Garden Park, the Village was conceived in 1976, developed over a decade and a half, and opened in September 1992. It now stands on 50 acres of fertile farmland, situated below the Oahu Sugar Mill. Through restored buildings and replicas of homes, it interprets what life was like for the multiethnic groups of laborers who immigrated to Hawaii between the late 1800s and the 1940s.

On display here are Asian art and architecture, antiques and relics, along with ethnic dwellings that are the main feature of the Village. Two of the original buildings are listed on the Hawaii Register of Historic Places - the Chinese Cookhouse of 1909 and the Japanese-style Wakamiya Inari Shrine built in 1914. The latter is also on the National Historic Register.

Other buildings represent the homes of immigrants from Portugal (1918), Puerto Rico (1900), Japan (1910 and 1930), the Philippines (1935), Korea (1919), and Okinawa (1919). There is a re-created Filipino Dormitory (1919), and local native culture is seen in a thatched-roof Hawaiian Hale that dates back to the 1950s.

Besides houses, visitors can gain insight into plantation social life at the Chinese Society Building (1909), the Social Union Hall (1920), and the Community Bathhouse and Barbershop. There is a replica of a Tofu Shop, and a Sumo Ring gives a hint of how workers might have entertained themselves a century ago.

Of course, sugar plantations needed management as well as labor, so the Village has preserved a Camp Office (1930) and an Infirmary (1915). Another all-important building is the Plantation Store (1900), where laborers would have bought foodstuffs and dry goods.

In total, Hawaii's Plantation Village features 32 authentic and exact replica structures. Thanks to donations from local families, most of them have been furnished with real artifacts, which have been placed in their original settings.

The primary beneficiaries of the Village have been local Hawaiian youth, who come here for the educational experiences the Village offers. They number more than 15,000 a year and are joined by about 9,000 other locals and tourists, who come to hear kama'aina (local) guides retell the "plantation story'' of hardships and sacrifice in vivid detail.

Guided tours are offered every hour between 10am and 2pm, Monday through Saturday. Groups of more than five or individuals wanting foreign-language tours should call for reservations in advance. Special school tours are available, which incorporate hands-on activities. General admission is $13 for adults, $10 for seniors, $7 for local residents and military personnel, and $5 for youth aged 4~11. Children aged 3 and under are admitted free.

There is a gift shop for those who would like to bring back souvenirs of their visit. It sells CDs, books, postcards, maps, posters, T-shirts and other items. Friends of the Waipahu Cultural Garden Park receive a 10 percent discount on all purchases.

The Village is located at 94-695 Waipahu Street in Waipahu. It can be reached from Honolulu/Waikiki by public transportation: Express Bus A or E from Ala Moana Center, or local bus #43, which departs every 30 minutes. By car, take the H1 to Exit #7, turn left onto Paiwa Street, and then right onto Waipahu Street. The entrance to the Village is on the left.