Venturing through the museum gives guests a look at how sugar cane came to Hawaii, how it was grown and how the workers, whom traveled from all over the world, lived in the campgrounds. The museum was a gift to the island of Maui and its community to mark the 1982 incorporation Centennial of Hawaiian Commerce & Sugar Co. The museum officially opened its doors on July 15th, 1987 and in 1990, the IRS granted the property a nonprofit, allowing for donations to keep the museum giving back to its community.
Sugar cane is said to have originated over 10,000 years ago in New Guinea, making its way to the islands of Hawaii over 1,000 years ago. When it first arrived to Hawaii, sugar cane was planted around taro patches and the stalk was chewed on, but wasn’t used to make sugar in the beginning. In 1835 the first “successful” sugar cane plantation of Hawaii was located on Kauai, and by 1884 there was over 80 plantations across the islands.
The island of Maui began commercially producing sugar cane at the Haliimaile Plantation, and in 1870 Alexander and Baldwin began planting sugar cane near Makawao. Sugar cane took over about 36,000 acres of the island of Maui across the Central Valley, as one small acre of seed would grow into seven full acres of sugar cane. As sugar cane was the reigning crop of the islands, the demand for work was extensive. Workers traveled to the islands from all over the world, giving it the name “the melting pot of the pacific”.
Bells rang at 4:30am daily on the plantation to begin the work day, and up to 100 acres of sugar cane could be planted in a day. At the start of a new harvest, a blessing was always performed for the land that was about to be producing. Workers could carry up to 200 pounds of cane at a time, transporting it above their shoulders.
Women workers would spend up to 30 minutes of their mornings preparing and dressing for the work day, as uniforms had to protect against sharp leaves, wild life, dust and the hot sun. Life on the plantation was a community lifestyle, as plantation owners purchased homes, stores, hospitals, churches and recreational buildings to create a truly self-contained environment for the workers.
Founders Samuel Thomas Alexander and Henry Perrine Baldwin took over the sugar cane industry across the islands, becoming one of the “Big Five”, a group of corporations that dominated the economy of the Territory of Hawaii, which also included Castle & Cooke, C. Brewer & Co., American Factors and Theo H/ Davies & Co.
Friends since childhood, Alexander and Baldwin took the sugar cane industry by storm, purchasing plantation after plantation. The partners were given a lease for water rights on the island, and in 1878 had completed an aqueduct (at a cost of three times the original estimate) which would supply water to other plantations and farms on the island, giving them funding to afford their expansions.
At the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum, guests are given a first-hand look at the geographic and weather impact on sugar cane, the legacy of Alexander and Baldwiin as well as the processes of the plantations. From equipment to photos, visitors are immersed into the past and the way of the land growing and harvesting sugar cane.
Documents and photos show the enormous number of workers that migrated to the islands to produce the work behind the crops, and artifacts including a scale model of a camp house show the diversity and sustainability of the plantation community campgrounds. With interactive exhibits, view the tools and machinery used by workers.
Outside the museum features larger relics, such as tractors, steam engines, trench diggers and haulers used in the fields. The museum offers educational programs for teachers, sending out kits of learning supplies and activities for students to learn in their own classrooms, as well as a gift shop online and on property, which sells everything from toys and clothing to kitchen goods and décor.
The islands of Hawaii may not be what they are today without the history of sugar cane leading the economic way to success for not only the people of the islands, but the immigrants of the industry as well. Without sugar cane, there may be no Hawaiian vacations! Which makes the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum a must see for every tropical paradise getaway on Maui! Go Rent A Car Maui has trucks, vans, suv’s and sedans ready to take you back in time through rich history and true culture!
