Faleasao 2009

Early AM view of Olesega from Faleasao Beach

Main Street, Faleasao

Faleasao 2009

Sixty years later....Faleasao from the road above that leads to Ta'u. 

My feet on the Beach of Faleasao

"Building a Fale" 1948 Faleasao

The tag on the image:  " Tualemoso right, Mata left and ....."  Who could this be?  If my dad was eight,  this Tualemoso could have been his older brother or maybe a cousin.  My curiousity grows.  I have ony a few photos of my father when he was younger.  I"ll have to go digging to see if there truly is a resemblance.  I'm guessing this young man is in his late teens or early twenties.  Where's the lavalava?  

Faleasao, Ta'u, Manua 1948

JMFlanigan : photos : Pago Pago c. 1948 by Dr. Jim Harris

For more photos visit the website above. 

My dad was eight at the time of this photo.  I can say first hand now, that the landscape has changed since then.  No more Fale's made from natural resources.  Now they have concrete slabs with tin roofs and pre-fab columns.  Talk about what a difference a day makes; what a difference 60 years, a couple of hurricanes, and improved transportation makes!  I remember my dad reminiscing about sandy beaches as white and soft as salt; referring of course, to the all too familiar iodonized table salt that middle America has become so fond of.  I can see now what he meant.  He really was born in a grass shack.  

Faleasao 1948 courtesy of Dr. James Harris