Afao is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in southwest

Tutuila Island Tutuila is the largest and most populous island of American Samoa and is part of the archipelago of the Samoan Islands. It is the third largest island in the Samoan Islands chain of the Pacific Ocean, Central Pacific. It is located roughly north ...

American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...

. It is located on the island's short southwestern coast, between 'Amanave and Leone, to the southwest of

Pago Pago Pago Pago ( or ; Samoan language, Samoan: )Harris, Ann G. and Esther Tuttle (2004). ''Geology of National Parks''. Kendall Hunt. Page 604. . is the capital of American Samoa. It is in Maoputasi County, American Samoa, Maoputasi County on Tutuila ...

. It includes the settlement of Atauloma. Afao is home to two places listed on the

U.S. National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of sites, buildings, structures, districts, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

: Afao Beach Site and Atauloma Girls School. In 1899, the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed tradition, Reformed in outlook, with ...

(LMS) started to raise funds to construct a girls’ school at Atauloma, and after $10,000 had been collected, Commandant

Benjamin Franklin Tilley Benjamin Franklin Tilley (March 29, 1848March 18, 1907) was an American Naval officer who served from the end of the American Civil War through the Spanish–American War. He was the first acting governor of American Samoa as well as the territo ...

was invited to lay the cornerstone of its concrete structure. The girls' school was constructed in 1900 as the second secondary school on

, and the first school on the island to accept female students. It was established by the LMS and provided graduates to the nursing school at the naval station in Pago Pago. The school is located at the western edge of Afao, in Atauloma and was completed in 1900.

Geography

Afao is situated one kilometer northwest of Leone, positioned at the head of Afao Valley. The valley floor extends from sea level up to 300 meters at the surrounding ridge tops.

Demographics

250px, Atauloma Girls School

References

Villages in American Samoa {{AmericanSamoa-geo-stub