Long before neatly cultivated rows of pineapple fields stretched out as far as one could see, demon spirits are said to have made Lāna‘i uninhabitable for humans. The spirits were banished by a young man from Lāhaina who is credited with forming the first settlement on the island. Centuries later, in 1778, warriors battled on the island's steep cliffs and drove their enemies to their deaths. Every living thing was destroyed, all except for one man who saved himself by leaping off a cliff into the ocean and swimming to safety. Time heals, and the land endured. When winter storms turned barren slopes green again, the natives returned and were followed in later years by men who carved their names into the history of Lāna‘i.
A keiki o ka āina, a child of the land, Alberta de Jetley is the publisher and editor of Lāna‘i Today, a community newspaper she started in 2008. Alberta grew up at Kōe‘le, which was the center of the island's population base before the island was transformed into the world's largest pineapple plantation. The editor of the Lanaian, a community newsletter from 1986 to 1990, she continues to have a front-row seat to view the changing community of Lāna‘i.