The area was named in honor of an 1860 visit by Prince Albert Kamehameha, son of King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma. It was then a plantation owned by Robert Crichton Wyllie. He named another part of the plantation "Emmaville", but that name never stuck. Originally the land was planted with coffee, which was not suited to the wet lowlands. It was then planted with sugarcane. Wyllie's nephew Robert Crichton Cochran inherited the land on the condition he would adopt the Wyllie surname, but he died by suicide on February 7, 1866. In 1867 it was purchased by Elisha Hunt Allen and later became a cattle ranch. It was sold for development in 1968 and became a golf course and resort called "Princeville at Hanalei".
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,698 people, 752 households, and 491 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 806.7 people per square mile. There were 1,640 housing units at an average density of 779.1 per square mile. The racial makeup of the CDP was 81.3% White, 0.3% African American, 0.5% Native American, 4.6% Asian, 3.4% Pacific Islander, 1.0% from other races, and 9.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.0% of the population. There were 752 households out of which 23.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.5% were married couplesliving together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.7% were non-families. 26.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.70. In the CDP the population was spread out with 19.3% under the age of 18, 3.4% from 18 to 24, 25.3% from 25 to 44, 35.6% from 45 to 64, and 16.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.3 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $63,833, and the median income for a family was $67,266. Males had a median income of $48,229 versus $29,542 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $37,971. About 7.4% of families and 8.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.5% of those under age 18 and 4.3% of those age 65 or over.