Kunia Camp History

Just a turn off old Kunia Road, between Wahiawa and Waipahu, hides Kunia Camp. As you turn into the old plantation camp and drive up its dusty road, past worn down cottage houses, you see what is left of what was once home to many pineapple pickers, decades before. Kunia Camp was a small town for the workers and families of Del Monte, Inc. There was one main road, Kunia Drive, which ran from one side of the camp to the other. Besides the Del Monte headquarters, Kunia had a store and post office for their residents’ convenience. For employee’s children, Kunia had their own elementary school, with grades K-5. For their entertainment, residents had access to Kunia gym, used for sports events, parties, and their annual orchid show. Kunia is a special place because of it’s agricultural environment and it’s place in Oahu history, it’s family atmosphere and an extra special place in my family.

Sitting at the foot of the Wai’anae Mountains, Kunia Camp was a prime spot for cultivation and harvest of all types. Since the early 1940’s, Del Monte Fresh Produce, Inc. has harvested
The old camp was a small, close- knit town and was praised for its safety. Because it was a company camp, only Del Monte employees, and their families could live there, which meant everyone knew everyone. Del Monte would have guards drive around in pick-up trucks to ensure safety throughout the town and were placed at the camp’s front entrance. As my mom reminisces, she says that “Kunia was a place where you didn’t have to worry about locking your doors at night.” Surrounded by fields of dirt and of what used to be a plantation, Kunia was, and still is, isolated from it’s busy island counterparts. Streets within the camp aren’t busy so kids play freely and ride their rides around Kunia. The old elementary school held many events that got students and their families involved, like their famous Huli Huli chicken fundraiser during the Kunia Orchid