Kingston Images

Waves break against the rocky shoreline of Kalaupapa as morning light illuminates the settlement built for Hawaii's Hansen's disease patients. The white lighthouse rising among swaying palm trees once guided ships bringing supplies and new arrivals to this isolated peninsula. From this vantage point begins the arduous trail with 26 switchbacks climbing nearly 2,000 feet up steep cliffs—the only land route connecting residents to the outside world. What appears as an idyllic Pacific village was for over a century a place of forced quarantine for thousands of Hawaiians. Today, this peaceful community is home to fewer than a dozen former patients who, having found dignity and community here, chose to remain even after the quarantine law was abolished in 1969.