History

German immigrant Hermann A. Widemann

Hermann A. Widemann

Hermann Adam Widemann was a businessman from Germany who was a judge and member of the cabinet of the Kingdom of Hawaii.-Life:Hermann Adam Widemann was born in Hanover, Germany on December 24, 1822.As a teenager he went to work on a whaling ship...

 (1822–1899) started one of the first 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...

 known as Grove Farm in 1854.
During the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, the demand for Hawaii sugar grew, but Widemann supported the Confederate States.
After leasing Grove Farm to its manager George Norton Wilcox

George Norton Wilcox

George Norton Wilcox was a businessman and politician in the Kingdom of Hawaii and Territory of Hawaii.-Life:George Norton Wilcox was born in Hilo August 15, 1839.His father was Abner Wilcox and mother was Lucy Eliza Hart...

 (1839–1933) in November 1864, Widemann moved to Honolulu to work in the capital as a supreme court judge. Wilcox would later buy the plantation, and it remained in the family for over 100 years.
Wilcox had an irrigation system built to bring water from the wet mountains to the flatter lower elevations where the crops were grown.
This idea was later copied by many other planters in the islands.

In 1881 Princess Ruth Keelikolani

Keelikolani

Princess Ruth Luka Keanolani Kauanahoahoa Keelikōlani , was a member of the Kamehameha family, the founding dynasty of the Kingdom of Hawaii. She served as Royal Governor of the Island of Hawaii. As primary heir to the Kamehameha family, Ruth became a landholder of what would become the Bernice...

 sold some adjoining land, which grew the acreage by about a factor of ten.
In 1903 the family hired Charles William Dickey

Charles William Dickey

Charles William “C.W.” Dickey was an American architect famous for developing a distinctive style of Hawaiian architecture...

 to design a house for Ralph Wilcox and his wife Daisy Rice.
Dickey also supervised a renovation of the main house in 1915 which removed interior walls to create large open spaces.
From 1913 to 1917 a row of small houses were built for plantation workers. The houses were called Kaipu Camp after the Hawaiian name for a Chinese foreman of the plantation.

The main estate house has two bedrooms, writing room, two bathrooms, and a library on the first floor. A grand staircase leads up to the second floor which has more bedrooms. Behind the main house is a hexagonal gazebo styled after a Japanese teahouse, built in 1898. To the south is a guest cottage with two living areas from about 1890. Another single story cottage was built in 1877 for George Wilcox, and an office building was built in 1884. A number of support buildings include sheds and a garage.

Wilcox died in 1933, and the farm was left to nieces and nephews. This included the six children of his brother Samuel Wilcox (1847–1929) and Emma Lyman (1849–1943), daughter of missionary David Belden Lyman

David Belden Lyman

David Belden Lyman was an early American missionary to Hawaii who opened a boarding school for Hawaiians. His wife Sarah Joiner Lyman taught at the boarding school and kept an important journal. They had several notable descendants.-Family life:David Belden Lyman was born in on July 28, 1803 in...

.
During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 the farm started to diversify by growing other food crops to feed the growing population of the islands, including the military.
In 1948, Grove Farm purchased the 3000 acres (1,214.1 ha) McBryde plantation which included the Koloa sugar mill

Old Sugar Mill of Koloa

The Old Sugar Mill of Kōloa was part of the first commercially successful sugar plantation in Hawaii, which was founded in Kōloa in 1835 by Ladd & Company. This was the beginning of what would become Hawaii's largest industry. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark on December...

.
By 1974, sugar production was leased to Alexander & Baldwin

Alexander & Baldwin

Following World War II, the company entered a new business: land development and real estate. The company formed a new subsidiary, the Kahului Development Co., to develop housing in the Kahului area. In the following years, the company became more involved in the development of its land and the...

, while the company moved into residential and resort real estate operations.

The Wilcox estate was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Hawaii on June 25, 1974 as site 74000722. Its boundary was adjusted to total 81.79 acres (33.1 ha) on December 8, 1978, and site changed to 78003436.

The main house is now a private museum with tours by appointment.
It is located on Hawaii Route 58

Hawaii Route 58

Route 58 is a two mile road that stretches from Route 50 in Lihue to the junction of Wapaa Road with Hawaii 51 near Nawiliwili Harbor on Kauai island.- Route description :...

, known as Nawiliwili Road.
The Grove Farm Company Locomotives were stored in a warehouse just to the west in the area known as Puhi

Puhi, Hawaii

Puhi is a census-designated place in Kauai County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 1,186 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Puhi is located at ....

, also listed on the NRHP, and formerly owned by Mabel Wilcox.
Some of the restored trains can be ridden about once a month.

In the 1990s all sugarcane

Sugarcane

Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...

 production ended in the area. A golf course designed for the former plantation called Puakea was partially built when Hurricane Iniki

Hurricane Iniki

Hurricane Iniki was the most powerful hurricane to strike the U.S. state of Hawaii in recorded history. Forming on September 5 during the strong El Niño of 1991–1994, Iniki was one of eleven Central Pacific tropical cyclones during the 1992 season. It attained tropical storm status on...

 hit in 1992. It opened with ten holes in 1997. It has come to be a full, 18 hole golf course.
In 2000 Grove Farm was bought by Steve Case

Steve Case

Stephen McConnell "Steve" Case is an American businessman best known as the co-founder and former chief executive officer and chairman of America Online . Since his retirement as chairman of AOL Time Warner in 2003, he has gone on to build a variety of new businesses through his investment...

. In July 2001 he also bought the neighboring Lihue plantation, for a total of about 40000 acres (16,187.4 ha). Case's grandfather A. Hebard Case had worked on the plantation. He paid US$25 million and assumed $60 million of debt, but was sued by Wilcox family shareholders since his father had served as lawyer for the Grove Farm company. The firm hired by Case to do the evaluation, Aspen Venture Group LLC, was headed by Michael James Burns Jr. who was on work release from prison, serving a sentence for theft.
The lawsuit went to court but was dismissed in 2008. Case has proposed more development, characterized as green building

Green building

Green building refers to a structure and using process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition...

.