Kualoa Ranch is the landowner of Kaaawa Valley, also commonly known as Kualoa Valley, on the windward

Windward and leeward

Windward is the direction upwind from the point of reference. Leeward is the direction downwind from the point of reference. The side of a ship that is towards the leeward is its lee side. If the vessel is heeling under the pressure of the wind, this will be the "lower side"...

 coast of the island of Oahu

Oahu

Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...

 in 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...

. This place was sacred to ancient Oahuans from the 13th to the 18th century, as it was where Laa-mai-kahiki

Laamaikahiki

Laa-mai-kahiki was the 3rd Alii Aimoku of Kauai. He ruled as King or Chief of Kauai. He is sometimes mentioned as two persons: one named La'a and the other named La'amaikahiki . This extra La'a generation is not included in Fornander's preferred Ulu genealogy...

 settled after visiting 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",...

 and before returning to Tahiti

Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...

. It was also the site of the sacred drums of Kapahuula and Kaahu-ulapunawai as well as the sacred Hill of Kauakahi-a-Kahoowaha

Kauakahiakahoowaha

Kauakahi-a-Kahoowaha 18th Alii Aimoku of Oahu. He ruled as titular King or chief of Oahu and district chieftain of Koolau or just Koolaupoko, with his seat at Kailua. He must not be confused with his great-uncle Kauakahi-a-Kakuhihewa....

, the key to the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Oahu.

Kualoa Ranch is open for tourist activities such as horseback riding and hiking, but is best known as a film location for productions such as Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park (film)

Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. It stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Martin Ferrero, and Bob Peck...

, Mighty Joe Young

Mighty Joe Young (1998 film)

The Music was composed and conduced by James Horner. The Soundtrack was released on December of the year 1998.- Tracklist :...

, Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor (film)

Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American action drama war film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Randall Wallace, who wrote the screenplay...

, Windtalkers

Windtalkers

Windtalkers is a 2002 action war film directed by John Woo. Nicolas Cage and Christian Slater star as two US Marine sergeants assigned to protect Navajo code talkers in Saipan during World War II.-Plot:World War II Sgt...

, Godzilla

Godzilla (1998 film)

Godzilla is a 1998 science fiction monster disaster film film co-written and directed by Roland Emmerich. It is a loose remake of the 1954 giant monster classic Godzilla. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Emmerich and Dean Devlin. The film relates a tale of a nuclear incident...

, and Lost

Lost (TV series)

Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...

.

It is located at coordinates 21°31′14"N 157°50′13"W on Kamehameha Highway

Kamehameha Highway

Kamehameha Highway is one of the main highways serving suburban and rural O‘ahu in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Starting from Nimitz Highway near Pearl Harbor and Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, it serves the island's older western suburbs, turning north across the O‘ahu Central Valley to the...

, Hawaii State Route 83, between Kaaawa and Waikane.

A sugar plantation was started here by Gerrit P. Judd

Gerrit P. Judd

Gerrit Parmele Judd was an American physician and missionary to the Kingdom of Hawaii who later became a trusted advisor and cabinet minister to King Kamehameha III.- Life :...

 in the 19th-century, operated by his son-in-law Samuel Garner Wilder

Samuel Garner Wilder

Samuel Gardner Wilder was an American shipping magnate and politician who developed a major transportation company in the Kingdom of Hawaii.-Life:Samuel Gardner Wilder was born June 20, 1831 in Leominster, Massachusetts....

. It was the site of Kualoa Airfield

Kualoa Airfield

Kualoa Airfield is a former wartime airfield on Oahu, Hawaii. Part of it is now the Kualoa Regional Park.-History:Kualoa Airfield was constructed in 1942 and used during World War II on land the military did not own...

 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 entire ahupuaa (traditional land division of 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...

) was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Oahu

National Register of Historic Places listings in Oahu

This is a list of properties and districts on the Hawaiian island of Oahu that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Oahu is the only major island in Honolulu County. The location of the city of Honolulu, Oahu is the most populous island in the state. There are 149 properties and...

 as the Kualoa Ahupua'a Historical District, site 74000718 on October 16, 1974.

See also

• Kaaawa, Hawaii
• Hawaii Film Office

External links

• Hawaii Film Office interview article with Terence Chang, producer of Windtalkers