The word "Piiholo" literally means "climb run." The road, which winds its way up past pineapple fields and pastures, through old eucalyptus trees and evergreens is certainly steep enough to warrant the name.

Old-timers say the loop road cutting through the wet forests and pastures above Makawao town that is now the Piiholo and Olinda Roads were once named, respectively, "East Piiholo" and "West Piiholo." Then Samuel T. Alexander built a home on West Piiholo. It is said the home was called "Olinda," after a place in Spain.

An interesting footnote: Erwin G. Gudde, in his book California Place Names wrote that Olinda is a place in Shasta County, California and that the name was brought there in the early 1860's by Samuel T. Alexander from the Hawaiian Islands. Hmmm.

The authors of Place Names of Hawaii theorize that it is probably a shortening of the phrase "O linda vista!" (What a beautiful view!)

The tree-lined roads are often narrow and winding. The views between the trees can be breathtakingly beautiful. The beauty of the area has always attracted those who wish to escape the hustle and bustle of town life and those drawn to a rural lifestyle. Old family estates of island movers and shakers mingle with rustic farmsteads and more modern designer homes amid pastures and forest.

Just above Makawao town, past the 1843 coral-block Pookela Church and across the road from Seabury Hall, a private school built on one of the old estates, is the "Oskie Rice Arena." The arena was named for Kaonoulu Ranch manager Harold F. "Oskie" Rice, who was called "the cowboy of cowboys in Hawaii." Along with George Manoa, Sr. and other working cowboys and rodeo enthusiasts, he started the Maui Roping Club in 1955. One year later the club sponsored the first Makawao Rodeo.

Oskie donated the land for the arena where the event is held every year. Today, the annual Makawao Fourth of July rodeo is famous internationally. The annual parade, which is held in conjunction with the rodeo, is an excuse for the townspeople to host a celebration of all things Makawao.

Farther up on Olinda Road, just before it connects with Piiholo Road, is the old Olinda Prison correctional facility that has evolved into the state's Captive Rearing Project for endangered 'alala crows and nene geese. It is an old joke that most of the skilled island woodworkers of a certain generation were "bad boys" who had spent time in the Prison's woodshop learning how to turn wood into bowls and such.