Kona Coffee Living History
Farm
The Kona Coffee Living History Farm (D. Uchida Farm)
is a six-acre coffee and macadamia nut farm that was homesteaded at the turn of the
century by Japanese immigrants. The farm was leased from the Greenwell family in 1913 by
Daisaku and Shima Uchida, who had arrived from the Kumamoto prefecture of Japan in 1906
and 1912. The D. Uchida Farm is typical of the hundreds of coffee farms that dotted the
rural Kona landscape during the early decades of this century. The surviving structures on
the farm date from 1925 and include a six-room farmhouse, belt-driven kuriba (coffee
pulping mill), a hoshidana (coffee drying platform with retractable roof), a
Japanese-style furo (bath house), wash house, redwood water catchment tanks and assorted
outbuildings. The farm is listed on both the State of Hawaii and the National Registers
for Historic Places.
In 1994 when the Kona Historical Society began it
initial study of the farm, many of the original furnishings, and agricultural tools and
equipment were still in place. These items have been preserved or incorporated into the
living history programs. The Kona Coffee Living History Farm (D. Uchida Farm) tells the
stories of daily life on a coffee farm typical of the Kona district between 1925-1945. The
Kona Coffee Living History Farm had its grand opening in November 1999. For tour
information call 808/323-2006.
