Waimea - Cowboy Country

Waimea is a small town of remarkable beginnings, resembling a Wild West settlement of the 19th Century, with its frontier town flavor. It is headquarters for the enormous Parker Ranch, founded in 1847 and renowned today as the biggest cattle spread under single ownership in the United States. The Parker Ranch at its peak extended across more than half a million acres, and now covers about 10% of the Big Island. The Parker Ranch Visitor Center and Museum on Highway 19, features a multimedia presentation about the history of the ranch.

Waimea is about 2,500 feet above sea level set amongst the gentle rolling hills of green pastureland, where the paniolo, Hawaiian cowboys, rule the cattle and ranch land. The main visitor attraction is the landscape itself; the rail-fenced pastures, cool air, wind-breaking stands of trees, grazing cattle, and riding cowboys. Grazing cattle can be seen meandering their way through sloping pastures filled with cactus and dry underbrush as paniolos still ride horseback and work the ranges.

Waimea is becoming more diverse, there are now seven schools, a string of world-class hotels and two major shopping centers. There are art galleries, boutiques, wonderful little cafes, some of the finest chef-owned and operated restaurants on the island, together with some of the most beautiful homes and neighborhoods in Hawaii. This community and the surrounding countryside represents one more of the wonderfully diverse cultures and environments that make up the whole that is the Big Island.