Categories

October 27, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Brats

“To be born and grow up the child of a serving soldier gives one a unique background and upbringing, an observation that applies just as much during the twenty-first century as it did when Britain’s standing army officially came into being in 1689.” (TACA)

“Over the hills, and over the main,
To Flanders, Portugal, or Spain:
The queen commands, and we’ll obey –
Over the hills and far away.

We all shall lead more happy lives,
By getting rid of brats and wives,
That scold and brawl both night and day –
Over the hills and far away.”

These are some of the lines to a song in the comedy ‘The Recruiting Officer’ by the Irish writer George Farquhar. “This comedy was first produced on April 8, 1706, at Drury Lane, and was very successful. “

“It is one of the liveliest plays in our language: the plot carefully constructed and held together by amusing yet probable incidents, the scenes illustrative of certain phases of social life ignored by the historian, and the dialogue, is not supremely witty, always genial and vivacious.”

“It is the truest picture we have of the recruiting service at the close of the seventeenth century, and shows the arts that were once used to fire the ambition and appeal to the ignorance of our country bumpkins. The swagger and sentiments of the rival captains serve as excellent foils to each other.” (Farquhar)

The play “described soldier life and that of their dependents. Back then, married soldiers were divided into two categories: the lucky few who were allowed to have their families live in the barracks and be taken care of by regimental funds, and those whose families had to live outside the barracks. The song referenced the latter as being ‘brats and wives.’” (Lange, DoD News)

‘War slang: American fighting words and phrases since the Civil War’ defines ‘Army brat. A child of an Army officer’ and ‘G.I. brat. A child of a member of the armed forces’. (Dickson)

Some suggest that ‘brat’ is a conjunction of ‘barrack rat’. At the end of the eighteenth century, the term ‘barrack rat’ was used in the United Kingdom.

“‘Barrack rat’ also surfaced in ‘A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English.’ It cited the book ‘Old Soldier Sahib’ written in 1936 by Frank Richards, a British soldier who detailed his experiences while stationed in India and Burma during the early 20th century.” (Lange, DoD News)

“It is entirely possible that the term ‘barrack rat’ was constricted to become the term ‘brat’ that we know and use today.” (Clifton)

Still looking at the UK, some suggest that ‘brat’ is an acronym for British Regiment Attached Traveller’ (an administrative term used to classify the families of service personnel deployed abroad). (ArmyBratJourney)

The reference apparently crossed the pond and got into the American lexicon. The October 1941 listing in “American Speech’ notes the ‘Glossary of Army Slang’ – which defines, ‘Army Brat. Son or daughter of Army officer.’

Another definition suggests “Army Brat. (slang) a child of an army officer. This is a term applied in fondness to the officers’ progeny by officers, soldiers and the families themselves …”

“… including the young sons and daughters who are proud of the fact that they form part of an army post’s everyday life as ‘army brats.’”

Other wording for the acronym are also suggested … such as, ‘Bold Responsible Adaptable Tolerant’ and ‘Born Raised And Trained’.

A little while ago, some suggested in a Washington Post article to drop the BRAT reference and replace it with CHAMP (Child Heroes Attached to Military Personnel), asking, ‘Would you rather be called a brat or a champ?’ (Kelly, Washington Post)

A follow-up to that noted, “‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ category, the acronym CHAMPs (Child Heroes Attached to Military Personnel) doesn’t describe a child of the military.”

“I grew up the daughter of a US Navy officer. We were always called ‘Navy juniors,’ which was unmentioned in the article. I had numerous friends who were children of the other services, and they called themselves ‘brats.’”

“No one thought anything negative about it. The word champ or champions is widely used in the sports world and is not historic to the military. ‘Brats’ is a nickname of honor that doesn’t need fixing.” (McLean, Washington Post)

041127-N-3019M-004 Marine Corps Air Base Kaneohe, Hawaii (Nov. 27, 2004) – A family member of a Sailor assigned to the “Skinny Dragons” of Patrol Squadron Four (VP-4), waves goodbye to her father as he departs aboard an C-40A Clipper assigned to the “Lonestar Express” of Fleet Logistics Support Squadron Five Nine (VR-59) for a scheduled deployment to the 5th and 7th Fleet areas of operations in the Western Pacific. A total of 390 Sailors from VP-4 are scheduled to deploy over the next week in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF). U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 3rd Class Ryan C. McGinley (RELEASED)

October 26, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

250 Years Ago … First Continental Congress

In 1774, the British Parliament passed a series of laws collectively known as the Intolerable Acts, with the intent to suppress unrest in colonial Boston by closing the port and placing it under martial law. In response, colonial protestors led by a group called the Sons of Liberty issued a call for a boycott.

Merchant communities were reluctant to participate in such a boycott unless there were mutually agreed upon terms and a means to enforce the boycott’s provisions.

Across North America, colonists rose in solidarity with the people of Massachusetts. Goods arrived in Massachusetts from as far south as Georgia, and by late spring 1774, nine of the colonies called for a continental congress. Virginia’s Committee of Correspondence is largely credited with originating the invitation. The colony of Connecticut was the first to respond.

Colonial legislatures empowered delegates to attend a Continental Congress which would set terms for a boycott. The colonies elected delegates to the First Continental Congress in various ways. Some delegates were elected through their respective colonial legislatures or committees of correspondence.

The Congress first convened in Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 5, 1774, with delegates from each of the 13 colonies except Georgia. (Georgia was facing a war with neighboring Native American tribes and the colony did not want to jeopardize British assistance.)

As delegates pondered the fate of Massachusetts, Joseph Warren and a committee of men from Suffolk County, Massachusetts, formulate a plan of resistance. Proposed on September 9, 1774 and, speaking with one voice, the delegates unanimously endorse the document on September 17, their first official act.

This plan encouraged Massachusetts to protest the Intolerable Acts by stockpiling military supplies, operating an independent government, boycotting British goods, and announcing no allegiance to Britain and a king who failed to consider the wishes of the colonists.

Reaction to these Resolves was mixed. While some supported such a bold proposal and felt it was an appropriate reaction to the British, others feared it would cause war.

Debate was later stalled for weeks while a statement of American rights was debated at length. Producing this statement required answering constitutional questions that had been asked for over a century.

The hardest constitutional question surrounded Britain’s right to regulate trade. Joseph Galloway, a conservative delegate from Pennsylvania, insisted on releasing a statement clarifying Britain’s right to regulate trade in the American colonies. However, other delegates were opposed to giving Britain explicit rights to colonial trade.

During this debate, Galloway introduced A Plan of Union between the American Colonies and Britain. The Plan of Union called for the creation of a Colonial Parliament that would work hand-in-hand with the British Parliament. The British monarch would appoint a President General and the colonial assemblies would appoint delegates for a three-year term. Galloway’s plan was defeated in a 6-5 vote.

On October 14, 1774, the First Continental Congress adopted their Declaration and Resolves. This stated the group’s objections to the Coercive Acts, listed the rights of the colonists, and itemized objections to British rule beyond the Intolerable Acts.

The list of rights insisted that Colonists were “entitled to life, liberty, and property” and “that foundation of English liberty, and of all free government, is a right in the people to participate in their legislative council;”

Furthermore, the delegates promptly began drafting and discussing the Continental Association. This would become their most important policy outcome. The Continental Association, adopted October 20, 1774, reaffirmed the Colonists’ British connections and allegiance to the King,

The Association called for an end to British imports starting in December 1774 and an end to exporting goods to Britain in September 1775. This policy would be enforced by local and colony-wide committees of inspection.

These committees would check ships that arrived in ports, force colonists to sign documents pledging loyalty to the Continental Association, and suppress mob violence. The committees of inspection even enforced frugality, going so far as to end lavish funeral services and parties. Many colonial leaders hoped these efforts would bond the colonies together economically.

Virginia secured the Continental Association’s delay in ending exports to Britain. Before the Continental Congress, Virginia had passed its own association that delayed ending exports to avoid hurting farmers with a sudden change in policy. The delegates from Virginia showed up to the Continental Congress united, and refused to waiver on the issue of delaying the ban on exports to Britain.

The idea of using non-importation as leverage was neither new nor unexpected. Prior to the Continental Congress, eight colonies had already endorsed the measure and merchants had been warned against placing any orders with Britain, as a ban on importation was likely to pass.

Some colonies had already created their own associations to ban importation and, in some cases, exportation. The Virginia Association had passed at the Virginia Convention with George Washington in attendance.

Washington’s support of using non-importation as leverage against the British can be traced back as far as 1769 in letters between him and George Mason. When the colonies first started publicly supporting non-importation, Bryan Fairfax, a longtime friend of Washington’s, wrote to him urging him to not support the Continental Association and to instead petition Parliament.

Many delegates felt that using the Continental Association as leverage would be impractical without explicit demands and a plan of redress. However, Congress struggled to come up with a list of rights, grievances, and demands.

Furthermore, to only repeal laws that were unfavorable to the delegates without a list of rights would be a temporary fix to the larger issue of continued British abuse. To address these issues, Congress formed a Grand Committee.

Finally, at the end of the First Continental Congress, the delegates adopted a Petition addressed to “The King’s Most Excellent Majesty” on October 26, 1774. In noted, in part,

“Your majesty, we are confident, justly rejoices, that your title to the crown is thus founded on the title of your people to liberty; and therefore we doubt not but your royal wisdom must approve the sensibility that teaches your subjects anxiously to guard the blessing they received from divine providence, and thereby to prove the performance of that compact which elevated the illustrious house of Brunswick to the imperial dignity it now possesses. …”

“By giving this faithful information we do all in our power to promote the great objects of your royal cares, the tranquillity of your government and the welfare of your people. …”

“Yielding to no British subjects, in affectionate attachment to your majesty’s person, family, and government, we too dearly prize that privilege of expressing that attachment, by those proofs which are honourable to the prince who receives them, and to the people who give them, ever to resign it to any body of men upon earth. …”

“We ask but for peace, liberty and safety. We wish not a diminution of the prerogative, nor do we solicit the grant of any new right in our favour. Your royal authority over us and our connection with Great-Britain, we shall always carefully and zealously endeavour to support and maintain. …”

“We therefore most earnestly beseech your majesty, that your royal authority and interposition may be used for our relief, and that a gracious answer may be given to this petition.”

Many delegates were skeptical about changing the king’s attitude towards the colonies, but believed that every opportunity should be exhausted to de-escalate the conflict before taking more radical action.

They did not draft such a letter to the British Parliament as the colonists viewed the Parliament as the aggressor behind the recent Intolerable Acts. Not fully expecting the standoff in Massachusetts to explode into full-scale war, the Congress agreed to reconvene in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775.

By the time Congress met again, war was already underway, and thus the delegates to the Second Continental Congress formed the Continental Army and dispatched George Washington to Massachusetts as its commander.

Click the following link to a general summary about the First Continental Congress:

Click to access First-Continental-Congress-SAR-RT.pdf

Click to access First-Continental-Congress.pdf

October 25, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kamehameha Schools

Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani inherited all of the substantial landholdings of the Kamehameha dynasty from her brother, Lot Kapuāiwa; she became the largest landowner in the islands.

At her death, Keʻelikōlani’s will stated that she “give and bequeath forever to my beloved younger sister (cousin), Bernice Pauahi Bishop, all of my property, the real property and personal property from Hawaiʻi to Kauaʻi, all of said property to be hers.” (about 353,000 acres)

Bernice Pauahi was the birth daughter of Abner Pākī and his wife Laura Kōnia (Pauahi was the great-granddaughter and direct royal descendant of Kamehameha the Great.)

She was reared with her parent’s hānai child, Lydia Liliʻu Kamakaʻeha (birth daughter of High Chiefess Analeʻa Keohokālole and High Chief Caesar Kaluaiku Kapaʻakea, who later became Queen Liliʻuokalani.) The two girls developed a close, loving relationship. They attended the Chief’s Children’s School, a boarding school, together, and were known for their studious demeanor.

Pauahi’s will formed and funded the Kamehameha Schools; “Thirteenth. I give, devise and bequeath all of the rest, residue and remainder of my estate real and personal, wherever situated unto the trustees below named, their heirs and assigns forever, to hold upon the following trusts, namely: to erect and maintain in the Hawaiian Islands two schools, each for boarding and day scholars, one for boys and one for girls, to be known as, and called the Kamehameha Schools.” (KSBE)

Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s will (Clause 13) states her desire that her trustees “provide first and chiefly a good education in the common English branches, and also instruction in morals and in such useful knowledge as may tend to make good and industrious men and women”.

She directed “that the teachers of said schools shall forever be persons of the Protestant religion, but I do not intend that the choice should be restricted to persons of any particular sect of Protestants.”

On November 4, 1887, three years after her death, the Kamehameha School for Boys, originally established as an all-boys school on the grounds of the current Bishop Museum, opened with 37 students and four teachers. A year later the Preparatory Department, for boys 6 to 12 years of age, opened in adjacent facilities.

In 1894 the Kamehameha School for Girls opened on its own campus nearby. Between 1930 and 1955, all three schools moved to its present location – Kapālama Heights – less than a mile mauka of the old Bishop Museum campus. In 1965 the boy’s and girl’s campuses became co-ed and the curriculum was increasingly geared to college preparation.

Prior to 1897, Kamehameha students attended Sunday services at Kaumakapili Church, then located about a mile from campus at the corner of Nuʻuanu and King Streets. It took about 20 minutes to cover the distance on foot – with the boys wearing their heavy West Point-style uniforms designed for “long lasting quality, not comfort.”

On December 19, 1897, a new campus chapel dedication took place on the sixty-sixth anniversary of Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s birth. KS scholars, teachers, administrators and community representatives filled the whole building.

Reverend William Brewster Oleson (1851–1915), former principal of the Hilo boarding school (founded by David Belden Lyman in 1836,) helped organize the schools on a similar model.

At the first Founder’s Day ceremony in December, 1889, Charles Reed Bishop, Pauahi’s husband and a member of Kamehameha’s first Board of Trustees, elaborated on her intentions.

“Bernice Pauahi Bishop, by founding the Kamehameha Schools, intended to establish institutions which should be of lasting benefit to her country…The founder of these schools was a true Hawaiian. She knew the advantages of education and well directed industry. Industrious and skillful herself, she respected those qualities in others.” (KSBE)

“The hope that there would come a turning point, when, through enlightenment, the adoption of regular habits and Christian ways of living, the natives would not only hold their numbers, but would increase again …”

“And so, in order that her own people might have the opportunity for fitting themselves for such competition, and be able to hold their own in a manly and friendly way, without asking any favors which they were not likely to receive, these schools were provided for, in which Hawaiians have the preference, and which she hoped they would value and take the advantages of as fully as possible.” (KSBE)

In 1996 two new campuses were established on the neighbor islands of Maui and Hawai‘i, and they now serve students in grades K-12. Kamehameha subsidizes a significant portion of the cost to educate every student.

In addition to three campuses, Kamehameha operates a number of preschool sites enrolling children statewide; and serves thousands more students through community outreach and scholarship programs, and collaborations with educational and community organizations. (Lots of info and images from KSBE.)

October 24, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

United Nations

States first established international organizations to cooperate on specific matters. The International Telecommunication Union was founded in 1865 and the Universal Postal Union was established in 1874.

In 1899, the International Peace Conference was held in The Hague to elaborate instruments for settling crises peacefully, preventing wars and codifying rules of warfare. It adopted the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes and established the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which began work in 1902.

The League of Nations, conceived during the first World War and established in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles, was established “to promote international cooperation and to achieve peace and security.” (The League of Nations ceased its activities after failing to prevent the Second World War.)

On January 1, 1942, representatives of 26-Allied nations fighting against the Axis Powers met in Washington, DC to pledge their support for the Atlantic Charter by signing the “Declaration by United Nations”. This document contained the first official use of the term “United Nations”, which was suggested by US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. (UN)

The United Nations officially came into existence on October 24, 1945, when the Charter was ratified by the five permanent members of the Security Council (China, France, the Soviet Union, United Kingdom and United States) and the majority of other signatories.

The United Nations was founded by 51 countries as an international organization committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights. (UN)

The UN needed a home.

At the height of world capital search in late-1945, the United Nations and newspaper accounts typically reported that between thirty and fifty suggestions for the headquarters site had been received.

The range and scope of proposals indicated the previously unexplored public fascination with the prospect of creating a “capital of the world” and offered a source base for investigating the evolving relationship between local, regional and national identity, and global consciousness. (Capital of the World)

Hawaiʻi got caught up in this, as well.

At the July 4, 1945 meeting of the National Governor’s Association, Hawaiʻi Governor Ingram M Stainback was successful in amending the group’s motion “we respectfully invite and urge all of you to use your good offices to locate the headquarters and capitol site of the United Nations organization at some place within the continental United States of America.”

Stainback noted, “I think Hawaiʻi would be a good place to locate the headquarters and suggest the word ‘continental’ be removed.” (His amendment passed unanimously.) (NGA)

Folks in Hawaiʻi then got to work and Governor Stainback initiated a campaign to attract the UN to Honolulu. In contrast to other contenders, who stressed their proximity to world capitals, the Hawaiians stressed the advantages of being “far enough removed from any of the potentially explosive situations of the world.” (Capital of the World)

“A resolution adopted by the Hawaiian Senate emphasized that Hawaiʻi is especially appropriate for UNO headquarters because it is the home of Pearl Harbor, whose treacherous bombing brought the United States into the war and gave the world a symbol of unity of action.” (Herald Harper, November 23, 1945)

“The decision to propose Hawaiʻi as the permanent site of the United Nations Capitol was made relatively late, after other cities (nearly 250-across the US) had prepared elaborate campaigns to ‘sell’ themselves. However, a highly effective presentation was prepared and shipped to London by Hawaiʻi’s committee”. (Dye)

“A huge book presenting Hawaiʻi’s invitation, the most comprehensive yet presented, signed by IM Stainback, Governor of the Territory, and Hawaiʻi’s leading businessmen and industrialists, has been received in London for consideration by the UNO’s preparatory commission.” (Herald Harper, November 23, 1945)

“The huge volume was sent with an attractive cover with a tapa cloth and flower lei design and a decorative map emphasizing Hawaiʻi’s central location in the Pacific. It was mounted on a wooden standard for ease in reading. The word ‘Hawaiʻi’ was spelled out on the cover in letters hard-carved of wood.” (Dye).

The site of the Hawaiʻi proposal? … Waimanalo.

However, the dream of the UN moving its sweet home to Nalo Town was short-lived.

A site committee of the United Nations Preparatory Commission voted after two hours of bitter debate to locate the permanent headquarters of UNO in the Eastern US. (United Press, December 22, 1945)

In the end, they picked New York. A last-minute offer of $8.5-million by John D Rockefeller, Jr, for the purchase of the present site was accepted by a large majority of the General Assembly on December 14, 1946. New York City completed the site parcel by additional gifts of property. (UN)

The cornerstone was laid on October 24, 1949; the United Nations headquarters in New York is made up of four main buildings: the Secretariat, the General Assembly, Conference Area (including Council Chambers) and the Library.

The tallest of the group, consists of 39 stories above ground and three stories underground. The exterior facings of the 550-foot tall Secretariat Building are made exclusively of aluminum, glass and marble. (UN)

This was not the first lost-opportunity for international awareness. In early-visioning for the home of the UN, President Franklin D Roosevelt “thought that the Secretariat of the organization might be established at Geneva, but that neither the Council nor the Assembly meetings should be held there.”

“He believed that the Assembly should meet in a different city each year, and that the Council should have perhaps two regular meeting places, one being in the Azores in the middle of the Atlantic and the other on an island in the Hawaiian group in the middle of the Pacific.”

“He felt that locating the Council in the Azores or the Hawaiian Islands would bring the benefit of detachment from the world. Being at heart a naval man, he liked the perspective obtained from surveying the world from an island out at sea.”

“(Roosevelt) had been eager, in the later thirties, to promote a meeting of the heads of nations on a battleship or on such an island as Niʻihau.”

October 23, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pineapple In Hawai‘i

Christopher Columbus brought pineapple, native of South America, back to Europe as one of the exotic prizes of the New World. (‘Pineapple’ was given its English name because of its resemblance to a pine cone.)

Pineapple (“halakahiki,” or foreign hala,) long seen as Hawaiʻi’s signature fruit, was introduced to the Kingdom of Hawai‘i in 1813 by Don Francisco de Paula Marin, a Spanish adviser to King Kamehameha I.

Credit for the commercial production of pineapples goes to the John Kidwell, an English Captain who started with planting 4-5 acres in Mānoa.

Although sugar dominated the Hawaiian economy, there was also great demand at the time for fresh Hawaiian pineapples in San Francisco.

After Kidwell’s initial planting, others soon realized the potential of growing pineapples in Hawaii and consequently, started their own pineapple plantations.

Here is some brief background information on four of Hawai‘i’s larger pineapple producers, Dole, Libby, Del Monte and Maui Land & Pineapple.

Ultimately, as part of an economic survival plan, pineapple producers ended up in cooperative marketing programs and marketed the idea of Hawaiian products, as in “Don’t ask for pineapples alone. Insist on Hawaiian Pineapple!”

Dole Pineapple Plantation (Hawaiian Pineapple Company)

James Dole, an American industrialist, also famously called the Pineapple King, purchased 60 acres of land in the central plains of Oahu Island and started the Hawaiian Pineapple Company in 1901.

In the year 1907, Dole started successful ad campaigns that introduced whole of America to canned pineapples from Hawaii.

In 1911, at the direction of Dole, Henry Ginaca invented a machine that could automatically peel and core pineapples (instead of the usual hand cutting,) making canned pineapple much easier to produce.

The demand for canned pineapples grew exponentially in the US and in 1922, a revolutionary period in the history of Hawaiian pineapple; Dole bought most of the island of Lāna‘i and established a vast 200,000-acre pineapple plantation to meet the growing demands.

Lanai throughout the entire 20th century produced more than 75% of world’s total pineapple. More land on the island of Maui was purchased by Dole.

In 1991, the Dole Cannery closed. Today, Dole Food Company, headquartered on the continent, is a well-established name in the field of growing and packaging food products such as pineapples, bananas, strawberries, grapes and many others.

The Dole Plantation tourist attraction, established in 1950 as a small fruit stand but greatly expanded in 1989 serves as a living museum and historical archive of Dole and pineapple in Hawai‘i.

Libby, McNeil & Libby (Libby’s)

Libby’s, one of the world’s leading producers of canned foods, was created in 1868 when Archibald McNeill and brothers Arthur and Charles Libby began selling beef packed in brine.

In the early 1900s it established a pineapple canning subsidiary in Hawaiʻi and began to advertise its canned produce using the ‘Libby’s’ brand name.

By 1911, Libby, McNeill & Libby gained control of land in Kāne‘ohe and built the first large-scale cannery at Kahalu‘u. This sizable cannery, together with the surrounding old style plantation-type housing units, became known as “Libbyville.”

The Kāne‘ohe facility ultimately failed; some suggest it was because Libby built it on and destroyed the Kukuiokane Heiau in Luluku.

In 1912 Libby, McNeill and Libby bought half of the stock of Hawaiian Cannery Co. By the 1930s, more that 12 million cases of pineapple were being produced in Hawaii every year; Libby accounted for 23 percent.

Del Monte Plantation

Del Monte another major food producing and packaging company of America started its pineapple plantation with the purchase of the Hawaiian Preservation Company in 1917. The company progressed and increased its plantation areas during 1940s.

In 1997, the company introduced its MD-2 variety, popularly known as Gold Extra Sweet pineapple, to the market. The variety, though produced in Costa Rica, was the result of extensive research done by the now dissolved Pineapple Research Institute, in Hawaii. In 2008, Del Monte stopped its pineapple plantation operations in Hawaii.

Maui Land & Pineapple Company

The family of Dwight Baldwin, a missionary physician, created the evolving land and agricultural company. It first started as Haiku Fruit & Packing Company in 1903 and Keahua Ranch Company in 1909, then Baldwin Packers in 1912.

In 1932, it was renamed Maui Pineapple Company, which later merged with Baldwin Packers in 1962. In 1969, Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. (ML&P) was created and went public.

In 2005, the company introduced its now famous “Maui Gold” variety, which is naturally sweet and has low acid content. Maui Gold pineapple is presently grown across 1,350 acres on the slopes of Haleakala.

Maui Land & Pineapple Company is now a landholding company with approximately 22,000-acres on the island of Maui on which it operates the Kapalua Resort community.

In 2009, the remnants of the 100-year old pineapple operation were transferred to Maui Gold Pineapple Company (created by former Maui Pineapple Company employees who were committed to saving the 100-year tradition of pineapple on Maui.)

While the scale of pineapple farming has dwindled, the celebration of pineapple lives on through Lāna‘i’s Pineapple Festival. Starting in 1992, the event, formerly known as the “Pineapple Jam,” honors the island’s pineapple history. (June 30, 2012 will be the 20th annual Pineapple Festival)

The image is the iconic Dole Cannery pineapple 100,000-gallon water tank. Built in 1928, it was a Honolulu landmark and reminder of pineapple’s role in Hawaiian agriculture until it was demolished in 1993. (images via: A Pineapple Heart and Burl Burlingame, Honolulu Star-Bulletin)