Puakea Bay Ranch is located about 50 miles north of Kona. The area is rich in old Hawaiian sugar plantation history. From what I've read the sugar business in Hawaii began in 1863 here on the big island up in the North Kohala area. There were six sugar mills and the warehouse for them was located here at Puakea Bay Ranch. Three and four masted schooners, which were from Honolulu and San Francisco for the most part but also from as far a way as Boston, unloaded supplies and machinery at this site and, in turn, picked up sugar for their return trips. In 1877 steam engines were installed at the warehouse, the remains of them are seen here in this photo.
Reason being that all the sugar and goods had to be raised or lowered over about a 100 ft. cliff to be loaded and unloaded onto ships. This went on for a number of years before somebody wised up and moved the warehouse about 5 miles south to Mahukona, where is a nice little harbor and they built a pier. The bench in the photo above is a nice spot to sit and watch the whales during the winter. It also has a great view of the island of Maui. There is also a nice sculptor of a mother whale and her calf at the entrance to this little park pictured here.
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