Manoa Valley

Mānoa is the site of the first sugarcane and coffee plantations in the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiian coffee was first introduced along Manoa Valley in 1813 by Don Francisco de Paula y Marytin as an ornamental plant. In 1825 Chief Boki, the Royal Governor of Oahu, followed up and brought coffee trees back from Brazil on the ship HMS Blonde. Chief Boki also chose Manoa Valley as the historic birth site of the very first coffee plantation in Hawaii. With the aid of agriculture expert, John Wilkinson, the coffee trees were able to survive which allowed its descendants to be brought over to Kona and other islands many years later. Hawaiʻi is the only state in the United States that produces coffee commercially. For more history see coffee production in Hawaii.

Mānoa means thick, solid, vast, depth or thickness in the Hawaiian language. There is another valley named Mānoa on the north shore of Kauaʻi.

There are many legends associated with Manoa, one very well known legend is the story of Kahalaopuna. Kahalaopuna was born to Kahaukani and Kauakuahine. Kahaukani is the wind of Manoa and Kauakuahine is the rain of Manoa. Kakaukani and Kauakuahine were brother and sister, both born to Akaaka (the projecting spur of the Manoa mountain range) and Nalehuaakaaka (the lehua on the brow of the Manoa ridge).

David Howard Hitchcock

Enoch Wood Pery Jr.