The island’s massive graveyard only has about 1,000 readable stones. A group of former patients and family members is now working to collect residents’ names, photographs, and stories. In the 103 years of the colony’s existence, thousands of couples had married, and thousands of children had been born. After 1931, babies were taken away from their parents, for fear they would contract leprosy. When the residents of Kalaupapa became free to leave, many did not.
