Hanalei Pier
Encyclopedia
Hanalei Pier is a pier
Pier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...

 built into Hanalei Bay
Hanalei Bay
Hanalei Bay is the largest bay on the north shore of Kauai island in Hawaii. The town of Hanalei is at the mid-point of the bay.Hanalei Bay consists of nearly two miles of beach, surrounded by mountains. In the summer, the bay offers excellent mooring for sailboats, stand up paddle boarding and...

 on the northern shore of island of Kauai
Kauai
Kauai or Kauai, known as Tauai in the ancient Kaua'i dialect, is geologically the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of , it is the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, and the 21st largest island in the United States. Known also as the "Garden Isle",...

 in the state of Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

.

History

The wetlands of Hanalei Bay were used to grow taro
Taro
Taro is a common name for the corms and tubers of several plants in the family Araceae . Of these, Colocasia esculenta is the most widely cultivated, and is the subject of this article. More specifically, this article describes the 'dasheen' form of taro; another variety is called eddoe.Taro is...

 by ancient Hawaii
Ancient Hawaii
Ancient Hawaii refers to the period of Hawaiian human history preceding the unification of the Kingdom of Hawaii by Kamehameha the Great in 1810. After being first settled by Polynesian long-distance navigators sometime between AD 300–800, a unique culture developed. Diversified agroforestry and...

ans. By the 1860s, the shrinking population of native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants. Native Hawaiians trace their ancestry back to the original Polynesian settlers of Hawaii.According to the U.S...

 was being replaced by ethnic Chinese people
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....

 when their contracts expired on sugar plantations in Hawaii
Sugar plantations in Hawaii
Sugarcane was introduced to Hawaii by its first inhabitants in approximately 600 AD and was observed by Captain Cook upon arrival in the islands in 1778. Sugar quickly turned into a big business and generated rapid population growth in the islands with 337,000 people immigrating over the span of a...

, such as the one directly to the north in Princeville
Princeville, Hawaii
Princeville is a census-designated place on the north shore of the island of Kauai in Kauai County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 1,698 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Princeville is located at ....

. The new crop was rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

, which was shipped to Honolulu to become the second largest export crop of the islands.
After the annexation of Hawaii to the US in 1898, Hawaiian rice could not compete with rice grown in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 and shipments declined.

The pier was built originally of wood before 1892. In 1912 it was lengthened to 340 feet (103.6 m), but the wooden deck proved difficult to maintain in the tropical climate. In 1921 the legislature authorized US$25,000 for a concrete deck. Conney and Morris were selected as contractors, and the work was completed by the end of 1922.

The pier has been a gathering place for the citizens of Hanalei
Hanalei, Hawaii
Hanalei is a census-designated place in Kauai County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 478 at the 2000 census. Hanalei means "lei making" in Hawaiian...

 since it was abandoned for shipping in 1933. It was also the main filming area for the 1957 film South Pacific
South Pacific (film)
South Pacific is a 1958 musical romance film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, and based on James A. Michener's Tales of the South Pacific...

.

The pier was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Hawaii on September 13, 1979 as site 79000757.
Although originally owned by the state, the land at the base of the pier is a Kauai County park known as Black Pot Beach.
It is located at the end of Weke Road north of Route 560
Hawaii Route 560
Route 560 or Kaua'i Belt Road-North Shore section, is a ten-mile scenic road on the northern shore of the island of Kauai in Hawaii. The entire belt road is signed as the Kuhio Highway and Hawaii Route 56 was once signed on this route before it was downgraded to become Hawaii Route 560...

 at 22°12′44"N 159°29′49"W. Adjacent to the north is the mouth of the Hanalei River
Hanalei River
The Hanalei River on the island of Kauai in Hawaii flows north from the eastern slopes Mount Waialeale for until entering the Pacific Ocean at Hanalei Bay as an estuary...

, where a public boat landing provides recreational and commercial access.
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