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Ulupalakua
Elevation: 2500 feet
Current Real Estate Stats
 "Ulupalakua" means "breadfruit ripening on the back." That, it is said, is the description of the length of the journey from Lahaina to Ulupalakua -- the amount of time it took for the green breadfruit you were carrying to get ripe as you walked along. Ulupalakua is still far from the bustle and hustle of Lahaina's crowded shores.
The story they tell about Ulupalakua is pretty much the story of Ulupalakua Ranch and of the colorful Captain James Makee. Makee, it is said, decided to become a farmer after he was attacked and injured on the high seas by a mad Chinese underling armed with a meat cleaver. Whether that story is true or not, the man was a successful Honolulu businessman and sea captain who bought the land from Linton Turbert, a bankrupt potato farmer who was coining it during the Gold Rush until a ship with his whole potato crop sprang a leak and sank on its way to California.
Makee planted sugar cane, brought in cattle, and built a haven that became famous for its hospitality and for its spectacular gardens that featured the roses that gave the ranch its name, Rose Ranch. It was the lokelani, a rose which grew abundantly on this land, that became the official flower of the island of Maui.
Makee's plantation became one of the largest sugar estates on the island, but a sugar blight wiped out the crop and by 1883, it was devoted exclusively to raising cattle. The ranch eventually became known as Ulupalakua Ranch and it became Maui's largest ranch with the acquisition of others in the area.
There is a story that on one occasion, Makee hosted King Kalakaua, greeting him with 150 horsemen and a five-mile long, torch-lit procession from the docks to the ranch house. Makee even built a cottage on his ranch for the king's frequent visits.
The ranch's fame continued to spread as its ranch hands became famous the world over for their skill as cowboys. The most famous among them was world-champion roper Ikua Purdy. Because of this renown and acclaim, the ranch was considered worthy of hosting the first Hawaiian rodeo championship in 1939.
By the 1930s, Ulupalakua had a population of 422. The ranch was encouraging diverse agriculture around then, leasing out large parcels of land rent-free to anyone willing to work them. There was a school, post office, stores, two churches and even a courthouse there.
In 1974, Emil Tedeschi, a vintner from California's Napa Valley teamed with Ulupalakua Ranch owner C. Pardee Erdman and developed the only vineyards and winery on Maui.
Today the Ranch is a diversified operation that includes cattle and sheep ranching, vineyards and real estate development. The ranch boundary marks the beginning of forest lands. |
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Information is believed to be accurate but should not be relied upon without verification.
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