The Least Populated County In America Is Right Here In Hawaii And It's Unbelievably Serene
By Megan Shute|Published May 24, 2018
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Megan Shute
Author
With more than 10 years of experience as a professional writer, Megan holds a degree in Mass Media from her home state of Minnesota. After college, she chose to trade in her winter boots for slippahs and moved to the beautiful island of Oahu, where she has been living for more than five years. She lives on the west side but is constantly taking mini-road trips across the island and visits the neighboring islands whenever she can getaway. She loves hiking, snorkeling, locally-grown coffee, and finding the best acai bowl on Oahu.
With an estimated 1.42 million residents as of 2017, Hawaii is America’s 10th smallest state when it comes to population, not surprising when looking at its overall land mass. What is surprising, however, is that the Aloha State is home to the smallest county in the entire country. Kalawao County, nestled on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai, is home to less than 100 residents.
Located on the northern coast of Molokai, and comprising the Makanalua (or Kalaupapa) Peninsula, the county of Kalawao is home to just 88 people, according to estimated census data.
That’s not the most surprising fact about Kalawao, though. The county is 53 square miles, 12 of which are on land (the other 41 square miles are water), meaning that the population density is a shocking 7.5 residents per square mile. According to this data, it is also the American county with the smallest land area.
With so few residents, life here is undoubtedly pretty serene, but that wasn’t always the case. You see, Kalawao County isn’t your typical county. There is no elected county government here, and it is located within the judicial district of Maui County and is administered by the Hawaii Department of Health.
In fact, Kalawao County was established for the sole purpose of housing the Kalawao and Kalawao and Kalaupapa leper colonies. In order to prevent the transmission of leprosy, the Kingdom of Hawaii passed a law in 1865 to send leprosy patients to an isolation settlement on Molokai.
The original leper colony was founded in Kalawao in 1866 with a hospital, two churches, and several homes. It served as the home of the U.S. Leprosy Investigation Station in the early 1900s but moved three miles away to Kalaupapa shortly after because it offered a warmer, drier climate and easier access to the sea. At its peak occupation in 1890, approximately 1,100 individuals who suffered from leprosy lived in the colony. Operations seized in 1969.
In 1980, the Kalaupapa National Historical Park was established in order to preserve the culture and physical settings of this former leper colony. The area is home to a dwindling population, those of whom are outnumbered exponentially by those in the cemetery — where an estimated 2,000 graves lie unmarked in addition to those with headstones
Isolated from the rest of the island, with the Pacific Ocean on one side and towering, 1,600-foot cliffs on the other, Kalawao County is as isolated as it gets. It has been described by Robert Louis Stevenson as a "prison fortified by nature." The only land access is via a mule trail down the mountainside.
I’m going to be honest with you for a moment: until a few weeks ago, I wasn’t even aware Kalawao County even existed. I obviously knew about the leper colonies, but I would have never thought it was classified as its own county. Did you know about this teeny tiny county hiding right here in Hawaii? What about these 16 tiny towns, most of which are larger than the entire County of Kalawao?
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