At that time [1847], it seemed that the valley was filled with breadfruit, mountain apples, kukui, and coconut trees. There were taro patches, with banks covered with ti and wauke plants. Grass houses occupied the dry lands, a hundred of them here, and sweet potatoes and sugar cane were much grown. [Then] the whole ahupuaa of Waimanalo was leased to white men except the native kuleanas and because the cattle wandered over them, they were compelled to build fences for protection. The taro patches that were neatly built in the time when chiefs ruled over the people and the land were broken up. The sugar cane, ti and wauke plants were destroyed. The big trees that grew in those days died because the roots could not get moisture. The valley became a place for animals.

“Ka Hoonanea o Ka Manawa”

Kuokoa, Hawaiian language newspaper

October 26, 1906.

Waimanalo Beach Park, a thirty-eight acre park, was set aside for public use by presidential Executive Order in April 1921. The park was the site of the former Waimanalo Landing, which was located at the intersection of Huli Street and Kalaniana’ole Highway. Interisland steamers and other ships that circled the island used the landing while visiting O’ahu’s sugar plantations and rural communities. The Waimanalo Sugar Plantation, established in 1878 by John Cummins, a wealthy part-Hawaiian nobleman, closed in 1947. Waimanalo means “potable water.”

The beach fronting the park is wide and sandy, providing good conditions for sunbathing and swimming. Athletic fields in the park are well used by community sports leagues.