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A little about Lanai

Lanai is an island of intriguing contrasts. Hike the lunar landscape of Keahiakawelo (Garden of the Gods) or picnic overlooking Puu Pehe (Sweetheart Rock), named for a maiden Puu and her handsome warrior. Two Four Season Resorts pamper you—one along the seaside, the other in the misty mountains—while Hotel Lanai in Lanai City welcomes you with old plantation charm. Whether you’re hiking among native ohia lehua trees on the Munro Trail or making your way to the 18th hole, Lanai is easily Hawaii’s “Most Enticing Island.”

The history of Lanai

The name Lāna`i is of uncertain origin, but the island has historically been called Lānaʻi o Kauluāʻau, which can be rendered in English as "day of the conquest of Kauluāʻau." This epithet refers to the legend of a Mauian prince who was banished to Lānaʻi for some of his wild pranks at his father's court in Lāhainā. Lānai was first seen by Europeans on February 25, 1779, when Captain Charles Clerke sighted the island from aboard James Cook's HMS Resolution. Clerke had taken command of the ship after Cook was killed at Kealakekua Bay on February 14 and was leaving the islands for the North Pacific. By the 1870s, Walter M. Gibson had acquired most of the land on the island for ranching. Prior to this he had used it as a Mormon colony. In 1899, his daughter and son-in-law formed Maunalei Sugar Company, headquartered in Keomuku, on the windward (northeast) coast downstream from Maunalei Valley.

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