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Until the Queen Kaahumanu Highway opened in 1975, visitors flew into Kona Village Resort on a five-passenger Piper Cherokee from nearby Kona Airport, landing on the present entrance drive. Originally, fifty thatch-roofed cottages were scattered over twenty-five acres, but over the next thirty years, the resort expanded to 125 units spread over eighty-two acres. Evoking the architectural traditions of Hawaii as well as those of Tahiti, Samoa, Fiji, the New Hebrides, Tonga, and the Marquesas, the cottages are picturesquely nestled along the beach and the coast's natural ponds, amidst palm trees and other tropical vegetation.