Reed Travel Features
HILO, Hawaii -- Dedication ceremonies were held in January for
the Hilo-Hamakua Heritage Coast on Route 19. The 45-mile route from
Hilo to Honokaa on the Big Island now has signage and five visitor
information centers. A free drivers' guide is available.
The theme of the route is the coast's sugar plantation history.
The dedication, in Honokaa town, was the culmination of four years
of effort by local communities, aimed at attracting visitors.
Planning began after Hamakua Sugar, the coast's last sugar
mill/plantation and its economic mainstay, closed in 1993. Route
19, which hugs the Hamakua coast, is part of a 260-mile circuit of
the island.
Visitors driving between Hilo, the island's county town, and the
Kona and Kohala resort areas on the west coast have two choices: to
drive south, via Volcanoes National Park, or to drive north, a
shorter route, along the Hamakua coast, turning inland at Honokaa,
then through the ranching country of Waimea.
Hamakua, one of Hawaii's most scenic coastal drives, features
deep gulches, verdant vegetation, ocean views and plantation
towns.
Although many touring visitors drive Route 19, which is without
hotels and resorts, there was little incentive for visitors to stop
and explore.
Hawaii's sugar towns have been declining since the 1930s, when
mechanization began. Honokaa (pop. 2,200) was once much larger,
connected to Hilo by passenger railway until the mid-1940s. Hamakua
Sugar's closure left 600 people without jobs and 35,000 acres
unused (the island's last plantation, at Kau, in the southeast,
closed in 1994).
Attracting tourists was an obvious way to help boost an ailing
local economy while preserving the plantation communities.
The heritage project is spearheaded by the Hilo-based Hawaii
Island Economic Development Board, a nonprofit group. "Communities
came together to make this, the state's first heritage corridor,
happen," said Paula Hefrich, the group's executive director.
She said $35,000 for the project came from state and county
grants, with the rest coming from donations and volunteer labor.
"What we really have here is a $250,000 project," she said.
Each community will develop maps and signage for places of
interest, such as hiking trails. Also, more visitor centers are
planned for highway 19. Hefrich added that the state Transportation
Department plans to use the program as a model in developing future
Hawaii heritage corridors and will seek federal grants available
for heritage trails.
All visitor centers are manned by volunteers, have rest rooms,
nearby refreshments and historical displays. Some are in existing
facilities, which include an art gallery and a restaurant. Some are
new, including a converted home and a converted gas station.
In all, there are 28 heritage markers and road signs (in brown
and white with a sugarcane-tassel logo), identifying highway
direction, visitor centers, towns and parks.
An eight-panel brochure includes maps, sections on each area and
information on attractions en route, such as Hilo's Lyman House
Museum, Akaka Falls, Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens and Kalopa
State Park. Visitors can pick up copies at Hilo and Kona airports,
car rental locations, hotels and visitor centers.
For further information on the corridor:
Hawaii Island Economic Development Board
Phone: (808) 966-5416
Fax: (808) 966-6792