Spreckelsville, Hawaii
Spreckelsville is an
Geography
It lies to the west of Paia and to the east of Kahului Airport. It is the home of the Maui Country Club. As of 2010[update], the population was 461.[1]
Climate
The average amount of precipitation for the year in Spreckelsville is 22.6" (574 mm). The month with the most precipitation on average is January, with 4.0" (101.6 mm). The month with the least precipitation on average is June, with an average of 0.4" (10.2 mm). There are an average of 112.0 days of precipitation, with the most precipitation occurring in March, with 13.0 days, and the least precipitation occurring in June, with 6.0 days.[2]
History
Spreckelsville was founded in 1878 as a company town by German-American businessman Claus Spreckels, who later founded the Spreckels Sugar Company. Spreckels already ran the most successful sugar refinery in California[3] (and was the namesake of the town of Spreckels in Monterey County, California). He arrived in Maui in 1876 after the passage of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875, which gave freer access to market for sugar exported to the United States. Spreckels initially opposed the treaty, fearing that low tariffs on sugar would be detrimental to his business. After its passage, he resolved to establish his own plantations instead.[3]
At the time, his rivals Henry Perrine Baldwin and Samuel Thomas Alexander were building the Hamakua ditch to irrigate their plantation in nearby Haliimaile.[4] Spreckels intended to compete with them, but had neither any land nor any water rights.
Spreckels was able to purchase and lease 40,000 acres (160 km2) of land and became friends with
Spreckels then
By 1892, Spreckelsville was the largest sugarcane plantation in the world,[3] and employed thousands of immigrant farm laborers from Japan,[9] Korea,[10] China,[11] and other countries, who often lived in squalid conditions. These camps no longer exist and the land they were on has been reclaimed for sugar crops.[4]
However, Spreckels began suffering setbacks after falling out of Kalākaua's favor in 1886.
Eventually, A&B sold off the desirable coastal lands to real estate developers, and those houses and vacation rentals are the ones that now make up the community.
Beaches
Spreckelsville Beach is the historic name for approximately two miles (3.2 km) in length from Kanaha Beach Park on the west in Kahului to Maui Country Club on the east. The beach is not one continuous stretch of sand, but is broken up into sections by lava, boulders, and groins.[4] The different sections of the beach are now known by separate names. From west to east, they are:
- Camp One (20°54′35″N 156°25′24″W / 20.909835°N 156.423458°W) is named after one of the sugarcane plantation camps and is located at the westernmost end of Spreckelsville Beach at the end of the Kahului Airport runway. As a result, the Beachgoers can reach Camp One via an access road off the western end of Stable Rd.
- Sprecks Beach (20°54′28″N 156°24′58″W / 20.907695°N 156.416174°W) is popular among European windsurfers, and as such is also known as Euro Beach. There is a small area where cars may be parked at the end of a dirt road leading from Stable Rd.[13]
- Lobster Cove (20°54′28″N 156°24′47″W / 20.907791°N 156.412946°W) is only publicly accessible by foot from Sprecks Beach or Sugar Cove.
- Sugar Cove (20°54′34″N 156°24′35″W / 20.909420°N 156.409840°W) is fronted by private condominiums, but there is a public access path with limited parking at the end of Paani Place.[14]
- Baby Beach (20°54′46″N 156°24′08″W / 20.912742°N 156.402228°W) was an ancient Hawaiian burial site. It is separated from the rest of Spreckelsville Beach by shoreline features and thus is generally now considered to be distinct from it. In fact, it is the western end of a one-mile (1.6 km) portion of beach that stretches to Baldwin Beach Park in Paia. An exposed reef creates a lagoon that makes the beach popular with families. It is served by a parking area at the end of Kealaka Place.[15]
Footnotes
References
- ^ "Spreckelsville". To-Hawaii.com. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
- ^ [1] Spreckelsville weather, weather base.com
- ^ ISBN 9780874178241. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
- ^ ISBN 9780824812461. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
- ^ ISBN 9780520923812. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
- ISBN 9780521022194. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
- ^ All about Hawaii: The Recognized Book of Authentic Information on Hawaii, Combined with Thrum's Hawaiian Annual and Standard Guide. Honolulu Star-Bulletin. 1900. pp. 154–161.
- ^ "East Maui Irrigation System". American Society of Civil Engineers. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
- ISBN 9781496907516. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
- ISBN 9780824826857. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
- ISBN 9780974755113. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
- ^ "Maui Kiteboarding Areas, Zones and Beaches". Maui Kiteboarding Association. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
- ^ a b "Spreckelsville Beach". Maui Guidebook. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
- ^ "Sprecks and Sugar Cove". Maui Windsurfing. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
- ^ "Baby Beach (N Shore)". Maui Guidebook. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
External links
- Media related to Spreckelsville, Hawaii at Wikimedia Commons
- Map of the East Maui Irrigation System (PDF), Hawaii State Department of Agriculture