Once upon a time, North Kohala, an isolated district at the northernmost point of the Big Island greatly influenced the events that shaped the Hawaiian Islands at large. Stunning in natural beauty, this rural peninsula became an epitome of the dramatic and irreversible changes that came with the rise and fall of a kingdom, the wealth of sugar and the struggles caused by the plantation’s decline. With over 100 historical photographs which interweave with long-forgotten facts from archived letters and journals and lingering legends, Kohala Aina tells the story of this remote but vastly important area.

Author: Sophia Schweitzer with Michael Gomes