KALAUPAPA, Molokai — There is a recent grave at Kalaupapa, and the few living patients on the state Department of Health’s Hansen’s disease registry range in age from 84 to 101.

Time is running out to experience Kalaupapa through a living history perspective. Since 1886, the remote settlement in Kalawao County on the northern coast of Molokai has housed patients with Hansen’s disease, formerly known as leprosy.

The natural configuration of the peninsula — cut off from the rest of the island by towering cliffs — helped to keep patients isolated as entry and escape was extremely difficult. More than 8,000 patients, mostly Native Hawaiian, have died at Kalaupapa and thousands are buried in marked and unmarked graves.

Deer sightings are now more common on Kalaupapa, which has grown increasi

See Full Page