Were there people living on the Kalaupapa Peninsula before the isolation settlement at Kalawao was established in 1866??
This peninsula, surrounded on three sides by ocean and on the fourth by steep sea cliffs, was inhabited for at least 900 years by Hawaiian people. The peninsula and its valleys supported a sizeable population and was known for its sweet potatoes, fishing grounds, salt deposits, and varieties of kapa (tapa, bark cloth). Archeological evidence of this habitation includes house sites, agriculture walls and terraces, religious heiau (temples), and burials. Kalaupapa National Historical Park contains one of the richest and least disturbed archaeological preserves in Hawai`i.
