Naalehu, HI

Naalehu sits on the south end of Hawaii Island in the Ka'u District, where the name means the volcanic ashes. The community grew around the Hutchinson Sugar Plantation, whose headquarters and mill stood here at the foot of Mauna Loa. Cane fields climbed from sea level toward 2,000 feet, and the plantation was among Hawaii's most isolated sugar operations. The mill later became part of Ka'u Sugar, which ended the area's sugar era in 1996. Naalehu still reads like a plantation town on a volcanic slope: Highway 11, Naalehu Elementary, Lighthouse Baptist Church, and long views toward the island's south coast. It is one of the southernmost U.S. communities with a post office.