Wall to wall, floor to ceiling, the former Onomea Plantation Store, built in 1902, is chock-full of memorabilia showing how sugar plantations’ ethnically diverse employees lived, worked and played from the mid-1800s until 1996, when Hawaii Island’s last plantation closed.
Many of the items are from the personal collection of the museum’s owner and manager, Wayne Subica, who has spent 50-plus years going on digs, scouring eBay, browsing antique stores and frequenting garage sales in search of artifacts.
They range from tools, bottles and phones to a restaurant booth, one-horse wagon and 16-foot sign weighing more than 100 pounds.