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Kalaupapa National Historical Park
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| Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement and National Historical Park |
| U.S. National Register of Historic Places |
| (U.S. National Historic Landmark District) |
| (U.S. National Historical Park) |
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| Location: |
Kalaupapa, Hawaii, Molokai, Hawaii, USA |
| Nearest city: |
Kaunakakai, Hawaii |
| Coordinates: |
21°10′40″N 156°57′36″W / 21.17778, -156.96 |
| Area: |
10,779 acres (43.62 km²) |
| Built/Founded: |
1866 |
| Architect: |
Board of Health,Hawaii |
| Added to NRHP: |
January 07, 1976 |
| Designated as NHL: |
January 07, 1976[1] |
| Established as NHP: |
December 22, 1980 |
| Visitation: |
48,772 (2005) |
| NRHP Reference#: |
76002145[2] |
| Governing body: |
National Park Service |
Kalaupapa National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park located in Kalaupapa, Hawaiʻi on the Hawaiian island of Molokaʻi. It was established by the United States National Park Service in 1980 to expand upon the earlier National Historic Landmark site of the Kalaupapa Leper Settlement[3]. Its goal is to preserve the cultural and physical settings of the two leper colonies on the island of Molokaʻi.
Establishment of Leper Colonies
The removal of the Native Hawaiian inhabitants in 1865 cut the cultural ties and associations that preceding generations had established with the `aina (land) over 900 years.
Thereafter, the establishment of isolation settlements, first at Kalawao and then at Kalaupapa, led to broader dislocations across Hawaiian society as the kingdom, and subsequently, the territory of Hawai`i tried to control leprosy (also known as Hansen's disease), a much feared illness, by forcibly relocating patients to the isolated peninsula. The impact of both the broken connections with the `aina and of family members "lost" to Kalaupapa are still felt in Hawai`i today.
Hansen's disease, caused by bacteria-based infection, has been cured since the 1940s with the introduction of modern antibiotics. There are no active cases of Hansen's disease in the Kalaupapa settlement or on the Island of Moloka'i, and those who reside in the colony presently are the few remaining elderly former disease patients and their descendant families who wish to continue to live in the neighborhood of housing maintained on the peninsula.
Park Description
Kalaupapa National Historical Park, established in 1980, preserves the physical settings for these stories. Within its boundaries are the historic Hansen's disease settlements of Kalaupapa and Kalawao. The community of Kalaupapa, on the leeward side of Kalaupapa Peninsula, is still home for a few elderly surviving former Hansen's disease-scarred patients, whose memories and experiences of their ordeals with surviving the disease are cherished. In Kalawao on the windward side of the peninsula are the churches of Siloama, established in 1866, and Saint Philomena, associated with the work of Father Damien.
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