Place Names | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

September 22, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ka ua moaniani lehua o Puna

The rain that brings the fragrance of the lehua of Puna (Pukui 1983:172, verse 1587)

Puna is known for its groves of hala and ʻōhiʻa-lehua trees. This ʻōlelo no‘eau refers to the forests of Puna, which attract clouds to drench the district with many rains, refreshing and enriching the Puna water table, and sustaining the life cycle of all living things in Puna. (McGregor)

While the Puna moku (district) does not have running streams, it does have many inland and shoreline springs continuously fed by rains borne upon the northeast tradewinds. (McGregor)

Another ‘Ōlelo Noe‘au notes “Puna paia ʻala i ka hala. Puna, with walls fragrant with pandanus blossoms. Puna, Hawai’i, is a place of hala and lehua forests.

In olden days the people would stick the bracts of hala into the thatching of their houses to bring some of the fragrance indoors. (Pukui 1983:301, verse 2749)

“Puna on Hawaiʻi Island was the land first reached by Pāʻao, and here in Puna he built his first heiau for his god Ahaʻula and named it Ahaʻula [Wahaʻula.]”

“It was a luakini (large heiau where human sacrifice was offered). From Puna, Pāʻao went on to land in Kohala, at Puʻuepa. He built a heiau there, called Moʻokini.” (Kamakau)

One story tells that Hāʻena, a small bay near the northern boundary of Puna, is said to be the birthplace of hula. The goddess Hiʻiaka is said to have been instructed to dance hula on the beach there.

Puna is said to inspire hula because of the natural movements of waves, wind and trees. (Other stories suggest hula was started in other areas of the Islands.) (McGregor)

Early settlement patterns in the Islands put people on the windward sides of the islands, typically along the shoreline. However, in Puna, much of the district’s coastal areas have thin soils and there are no good deep water harbors. The ocean along the Puna coast is often rough and windblown. (Escott)

As a result, settlement patterns in Puna tend to be dispersed and without major population centers. Villages in Puna tended to be spread out over larger areas and often are inland, and away from the coast, where the soil is better for agriculture. (Escott)

This was confirmed on William Ellis’ travel around the island in the early 1800s, “Hitherto we had travelled close to the sea-shore, in order to visit the most populous villages in the districts through which we had passed.”

“But here receiving information that we should find more inhabitants a few miles inland, than nearer the sea, we thought it best to direct our course towards the mountains.” (Ellis, 1826)

Alexander later (1891) noted, “The first settlement met with after leaving Hilo by the sea coast road, is at Keaʻau, a distant 10 miles where there are less than a dozen inhabitants …”

“… the next is at Makuʻu, distant 14 miles where there are a few more, after which there is occasionally a stray hut or two, until Halepuaʻa and Koaʻe are reached, 21 miles from Hilo, at which place there is quite a village”. (Alexander in Escott)

“Nearly all the food consumed by the residents of this District is raised in the interior belt to which access is had by the ancient paths or trails leading from the sea coast.”

“The finest sweet potatoes are raised in places that look more like banks of cobble stones or piles of macadam freshly dumped varying from the size of a walnut to those as large as ones fist. In these holes there is not a particle of soil to be seen”. (Alexander, 1891)

Puna was famous as a district for some of its valuable products, including “hogs, gray tapa cloth (‘eleuli), tapas made of māmaki bark, fine mats made of young pandanus blossoms (‘ahuhinalo), mats made of young pandanus leaves (ʻahuao), and feathers of the ʻōʻō and mamo birds”. (McGregor)

An historic trail once ran from the modern day Lili‘uokalani Gardens area to Hāʻena along the Puna coast. The trail is often referred to as the old Puna Trail and/or Puna Road. There is an historic trail/cart road that is also called the Puna Trail (Ala Hele Puna) and/or the Old Government Road. (Escott)

It likely incorporated segments of the traditional Hawaiian trail system often referred to as the ala loa or ala hele. The full length of the Puna Trail, or Old Government Road, might have been constructed or improved just before 1840. The alignment was mapped by the Wilkes Expedition of 1804-41. (Escott)

With Western contact, extensive tracts of Puna’s landscape were transformed, first with sandalwood export, which began in 1790 and reached its peak between 1810 and 1825. (Puna CDP)

After Hawai‘i’s first forestry law in 1839 restricted the removal of sandalwood trees, cattle ranching and coffee cultivation became the leading commercial activities. By 1850, agriculture diversified with the cultivation of potatoes, onions, pumpkins, oranges and sugar molasses. (Puna CDP)

Before 1900, coffee was the chief agricultural crop in the area. Over 6,000-acres of coffee trees were owned by approximately 200-independent coffee planters and 6 incorporated companies. (HSPA)

Soon, sugarcane was in large-scale production. The dominant operation in Puna was the Puna Sugar Company, whose plantation fields extended for ten miles along both sides of Highway 11 between Keaʻau and Mountain View, as well as in the Pāhoa and Kapoho areas.

Initially founded in 1899 as Olaʻa Sugar Company, it was later (1960) renamed Puna Sugar Company. The coffee trees were uprooted to make way for sugarcane.

ʻŌhiʻa forests also had to be cleared, field rock piled, land plowed by mules or dug up by hand with a pick. Sugarcane was in large-scale production; the sugar mill operation ran for just over 80 years, until 1984.

Macadamia nuts and papaya were introduced in 1881 and 1919, respectively. Since the closure of the Puna Sugar Company, papaya and macadamia nut production have become the leading crops of Puna. About 97% of the state’s papaya production occurs in Puna, primarily in the Kapoho area.

Another thing growing in Puna is housing. Between 1958 and 1973, more than 52,500-individual lots were created – at least 40-substandard Puna subdivisions were created.

As a comparison, Oʻahu is about 382,500-acres in size; the district of Puna on the island of Hawaiʻi is about 320,000-acres in size – almost same-same.

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September 9, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Victoria Falls

In 1843, Samuel Thomas Alexander and Henry Perrine Baldwin, sons of early missionaries to Hawaiʻi, met in Lāhainā, Maui. They grew up together, became close friends and went on to develop a sugar-growing partnership.

Alexander was the idea man, more outgoing and adventurous of the two. He had a gift for raising money to support his business projects. Baldwin was more reserved and considered the “doer” of the partners; he completed the projects conceived by Alexander.

After studying on the Mainland, Alexander returned to Maui and began teaching at Lahainaluna, where he and his students successfully grew sugar cane and bananas.

Word of the venture spread to the owner of Waiheʻe sugar plantation near Wailuku, and Alexander was offered the manager’s position. Alexander hired Baldwin as his assistant, who at the time was helping his brother raise sugar cane in Lāhainā. This was the beginning of a lifelong working partnership.

In 1869, the young men – Alexander was 33, Baldwin, 27 – purchased 12-acres of land in Makawao and the following year an additional 559-acres. That same year, the partners planted sugar cane on their land marking the birth of what would become Alexander & Baldwin (A&B.)

In 1883, Alexander and Baldwin formalized their partnership by incorporating their sugar business as the Paia Plantation also known at various times as Samuel T Alexander & Co, Haleakala Sugar Co and Alexander & Baldwin Plantation.

By spring of 1900, A&B had outgrown its partnership organization and plans were made to incorporate the company, allowing the company to increase capitalization and facilitate expansion.

A&B was one of Hawaiʻi’s five major companies (that emerged to providing operations, marketing, supplies and other services for the plantations and eventually came to own and manage most of them.) They became known as the Big Five.

Hawaiʻi’s Big Five were: C Brewer (1826;) A Theo H Davies (1845;) Amfac – starting as Hackfeld & Company (1849;) Castle & Cooke (1851) and Alexander & Baldwin (1870.)

“It came as no surprise to Samuel’s family and friends when he announced plans to embark on an African safari in the summer of 1904. Neither did the inclusion of Annie (his daughter).”

“The part of British East Africa that Samuel had selected for their safari was considered at the time to be the greatest hunting ground on the entire African continent, if not in the world.”

“He envisioned an expedition that would traverse a distance of almost 800 miles, beginning several hundred miles northwest of Mombasa near Nakuru and continuing west to the terminal point of the Uganda railroad at Port Florence, approximately 580 miles inland.”

“Henry Stanley and David Livingstone had explored much of this region during the last half of the nineteenth century and their reports had piqued the interest and excitement of adventurers and armchair travelers alike.” (Stein)

“The trip commenced in early April 1904 when father and daughter, aged 67 and 36, traveled by boat from New York to Europe. From there they boarded a German steamer, the Kanzler, from a Dutch port and landed in Mombasa, British East Africa (present day Kenya) more than a month later.” (Childers)

“Samuel’s original itinerary did not call for their journey to end in British East Africa but rather to travel south from Mombasa by steamer and to visit Victoria Falls.”

“Although he and Annie now held less enthusiasm for this significant addition to their journey, at her behest he agreed to go, fearing that if they did not they might always regret it.”

“The two secured passage on the German steamer the Konig, sailing to Beira. From there they traveled by rail to Bulawayo and then to Matapao, a small town on the Zambesi River where they visited the grave of Cecil Rhodes.”

“Rhodes had died two years earlier, a mere three years before the completion of the famed Zambesi Railway Bridge. Through his foresight and backing, the bridge would span the canyon below Victoria Falls, promoting commerce and uniting the areas that became Northern and Southern Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe).” (Stein)

“On the morning of September 9 they crossed to the northern shore of the Zambesi River by cable in order to view the great chasm into which the water was falling. Work on the famous 900-foot bridge across the river had barely begun. “

“Finding a trail leading into the Palm Grove Ravine, the two descended to view the falls at their exit point, the narrow chasm from which the water emerges after falling over the precipice.”

“Just as the pair reached the point that afforded them their best view into the chasm, they became aware of small rocks falling from the heights directly above them.”

“They turned and ran, Annie reaching safety first and setting up her camera. While Samuel stood just a few feet from her, a large boulder fell, striking a rock, veering and hitting Samuel on his left foot, disabling him.” (Stein)

“He was transported, in agony and with much loss of blood, to a doctor’s house six miles away where his leg was amputated. He died the next morning, September 10, 1904, at the age of sixty-seven, Annie having sat by his side during the operation and throughout the night. Annie buried her beloved father in a small cemetery at Livingstone, Zambia.” (Williams)

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Victoria Falls Bridge

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Charles Beresford Fox crossing the gorge for the first time in the ‘Bosun’s chair’, November 1903

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Victoria Falls Bridge

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Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls (Zambia, Zimbabwe)

Victoria Falls Bridge Design

Samuel Alexander headstone

September 8, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kona in the Early 1820s and 1830s

Artemas Bishop and his family were first permanently stationed at Kailua, Hawaii, in 1824, being transferred to Ewa, Oahu, in 1836, and to Honolulu in 1855, where Mr. Bishop died, Dec. 18, 1872.

Mrs. Bishop died at Kailua, Feb. 28, 1828, the first death in the mission band. She left two infant children, including Sereno Edwards Bishop, who was born at Ka‘awaloa, Hawaii, Feb. 7, 1827. The following are some of Bishop’s “Reminiscences of Old Hawaii” that he included in his book named such.

“Kailua In The 1820s … Kailua was the capital of the Island. It is situated on the west coast, twelve miles north of Kealakekua, where Captain Cook perished. It lies at the base of the great mountain Hualalai, 8,275 feet high.”

“The entire coast consists of lava flows from that mountain, of greater or less age. Here and there in the village were small tracts of soil on the lava, where grew a few cocoanut, kou, and pandanus trees.”

“There were no gardens, for lack of water. Heat and general aridity characterized the place. But it pleased the natives, on account of the broad calm ocean, the excellent fishing, and the splendid rollers of surf on which they played and slid all day.”

“North of the town, the whole region seemed to be occupied by an ocean of black billowy lava which at some recent period had flowed down from the mountain. This bounded that end of the village.”

“A vast breadth of this lava-sea had invaded the ocean for miles, beyond the older shore line of Kailua. A wide tongue of lava had bent around and partially enclosed the little cove with its deep sand beach where was the chief landing of the town.”

“Surfing And Canoes … This was a universal sport of the chiefs and common people alike. The ponderous chiefs had very large boards of light wood.”

“In the Bishop Museum may be seen today an immense surf board of the cork-like wili-wili wood, on which the famous Paki used to disport himself at Lahaina fifty years ago. I doubt whether Kuakini, with his 500 pounds, was agile enough to attempt it.”

“In handling canoes the natives were most adroit. Kona, with its great koa forests inland abounded in canoes. There were no boats. The people were skilled fishermen and often went many miles to sea, in pursuit of the larger deep-deep-sea fish.”

“A name given to Mt. Hualalai behind us, was “Kilo-waa,” or Canoe-descrier. The canoes were of elaborate form and smoothness. Most of them were single canoes with outriggers. Many large ones, however, were rigged double, six or eight feet apart, with a high platform between them.”

“All the fastenings were of carefully plaited sinnet or cocoanut fiber, the lashings being laid with great care and skill. The mast was stepped in the platform. The common people had mat sails. Those of Kuakini’s canoes were of sail-duck.”

“Appearance Of Chiefs And People … The relative rank of other natives could be approximately estimated by their stature and corpulence. There were quite a number of large fat men and women of some rank among our neighbors.”

“The leading women met weekly at our house, most of them wearing the lei-pa-Iaoa, consisting of a thick bunch of finely plaited hair passed through a large hole in a hooked polished piece of whale-tooth, and tied around the neck, forming an insignium of rank.”

“They also carried small kahilis to brush away the flies. Any chief of high rank was attended by one or more fly-brushers, by a spittoon-bearer, and other personal attendants.”

“The spittoon holder was the most honored, being responsible to let none of the spittle fall into the possession of an evil-minded sorcerer, who might compass the death of the Alii therewith. Broad, elastic cocoanut leaf fans were in constant play.”

“Hawking and spitting were continued in any gathering of natives, and were apt seriously to disturb public worship at church. But the great crowd of the common people were miserably lean, and often very squalid in appearance. “

“They were too much in the sea to appear filthy, although the heads of both high and low were thoroughly infested. It was a daily spectacle to see them picking over each other’s heads for dainties. Their vicinity rendered necessary the frequent use of a fine-toothed comb on us children, much to our discomfort. But I believe our ancestors at no remote period were little better off.”

“Styles Of Clothing … The common multitude wore no foreign cloth. Their few garments were wholly of tapa. The younger women were rarely seen uncovered beyond decency, although old crones went about with the pa-u only. The smaller children had nothing on. The men always wore the half-decent malo, and nothing more.”

“At meetings, they wore the little kihei, or shoulder cape. Before 1836, simple cotton shirts would not unfrequently be seen in the church. I never saw but two Hawaiians wearing trousers in Kailua. One was Kuakini and the other Thomas Hopu, from the Cornwall School, who came out with Bingham and Thurston.”

“The national female costume was the pa-u, which was worn by all at all times. It was a yard wide strip of bark-cloth wound quite tightly around the hips reaching from the waist to the knees, and secured at the waist by folding over the edges. Foreign cloth was also used. At one great ceremonial, a queen had her body rolled up in a pa-u of one hundred yards of rich satin.”

“Sources Of Drinking Water … The drinking water of the people was very brackish, from numerous caves which reached below the sea level.”

“The white people, and some chiefs had their water from up the mountain where were numerous depressions in the lava, full of clear, sweet rain water.”

“There were also many tunnel-caves, the channels of former lava-streams. The air from the sea, penetrating these chill caverns, deposited its moisture, and much distilled water filled the holes in the floor.”

“Sometimes the fine rootlets of ohia-trees penetrating from above, festooned the ceilings of these dark lava-ducts as with immense spider webs. If in a dry season, water was lacking on the open ground, it could always be found higher up on the mountain in such caves.”

“Twice a week one of our ohuas or native dependants went up the mountain with two huewai, or calabash bottles, suspended by nets from the ends of his mamaki or yoke, similar to those used by Chinese vegetable venders.”

“These he filled with sweet water and brought home, having first covered the bottles with fresh ferns, to attest his having been well inland. The contents of the two bottles filled a five-gallon demijohn twice a week.”

“Source Of Food Supply … The people had ample cultivable land in the moist upland from two to four miles inland at altitudes of one thousand to twenty-five hundred feet.”

“It is a peculiarity of that Kona coast that while the shore may be absolutely rainless for months gentle showers fall daily upon the mountain slope.”

“The prevailing trade-winds are totally obstructed by the three great mountain domes and never reach Kona. There are only the sweet land breeze by night, and the cooling sea-breeze by day.”

“The latter comes in, loaded with the evaporations of the sea, and floats high up the mountain slopes. As it rises, the rarification of the air precipitates more and more of its burden of vapor, so that at two thousand and three thousand feet, there are daily copious rains, and verdure is luxuriant.”

“The contrast is immense and delicious between the arid heat of the shore, and the moist cool greenness of the near-by upland. The soil is most fertile, being formed from the decay of recent lava flows.”

“There the natives found their chief means of subsistence, and, in good seasons, were sufficiently fed. In bad seasons there were drought, and more or less of ‘wi,’ or famine. The uala or sweet potatoes, and the taro, which constituted their chief food grew best on the lower and warmer ground, where was more liability to drought.”

“How Fire Was Obtained … The people commonly procured fire by friction of wood, although some of them had old files, from which they elicited sparks by strokes from a gun-flint. It was common to carry fire in a slow-burning tapa-match, especially when they wanted to smoke.”

“I first saw fire obtained from wood at our camp on Mauna Kea. A long dry stick of soft hau or linden wood was used. A small stiff splinter of very hard wood was held in the right hand, and the point rubbed with great force and swiftness in a deep groove formed in the soft wood by the friction.”

“A brown powder soon appeared in the end of the groove, began to smoke and ignited. This was deftly caught into a little nest of dry fibre and gently blown into a flame, which soon grew into an immense camp-fire.” (Bishop)

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View of Kailua from Laniakea-1836

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Kaawaloa, Kealakekua Bay. A copperplate engraving from a drawing by Lucy or Persis Thurston about 1835

September 6, 2018 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Kahuku Ranch

On July 8, 1861 184,298 acres of Kahuku, the entire ahupua‘a was assigned by King Kamehameha IV to Charles Coffin Harris under Patent 2791 for $3,000. As with most grants it recognized the “ancient boundaries” and reserved “the rights of native tenants.”

Harris, a graduate of Harvard learned the Hawaiian language and set up a law practice in Hawai`i. His service to the kingdom included Minister of Finance, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hawai`i’s first Attorney General, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and then Chief Justice, 1877-1881, police magistrate and legislative member.

Kalākaua studied law under Harris at the age of 17 making it no surprise Harris became the King’s adviser. While no record of Harris’ activities in Kahuku could be found the land may not have been used for ranching until the next owner. (Helen Wong Smith)

Ownership of Kahuku Ranch transferred from Harris to Theophilus Brown of Groton Connecticut on April 3, 1866 for the price of $5,250. Theophilus’ brother Captain Robert Brown operated the Ranch bringing his family with him.

A visitor to the ranch during these years was Mrs. Alura Brown Cutler wrote the ranch had miles of stone walls enclosing gardens, cattle yards, calf pasture, goat and pig pens.

The gardens contained fig and peach trees as well as bananas and mulberries. She reported the house was located seven miles from the sea and five stone houses for families working for the ranch were provided. (Helen Wong Smith)

Then, “On Friday, March 27, 1868, at 5:30 a.m., several whaling ships anchored in Kawaihae Harbor noticed a dense column of fume reflected by a bright light southwest of the summit of Mauna Loa.”

“An eruption near Moku`āweoweo had taken place, lasting several hours before subsiding. Pele’s hair had drifted down upon the residents of Ka‘ū and South Kona, indicating the presence of lava fountains above. (HVO; Helen Wong Smith)

“This was the scene that opened before us as we ascended the ridge on Friday (April 10, 1868). At the left were these four grand fountains playing with terrific fury, throwing blood-red lava and huge stones, some as large as a house, to £ varying from 500 to 1,000 feet.”

“The grandeur of this scene, ever changing like a moving panorama, no one who has not seen it can realize. Then there was the rapid, rolling stream, rushing and tumbling like a swollen river, down the hill, over the precipice and down the valley to the sea, surging and roaring like a cataract, with a fury perfectly indescribable.”

“This river of fire varied from 200 to 800 feet in width, and when it is known that the descent was 2,000 feet in five miles, the statement that it ran at the rate of ten to twenty-five miles an hour will not be doubted.”

“We waited till night, when the scene was a hundred fold more grand and vivid. The crimson red of the lava now doubly bright, the lurid glare of the red smoke-clouds that overhung the whole, …”

“… the roaring of the rushing stream, the noise of the tumbling rocks thrown out of the crater, the flashes of electric lightning, and the sharp quick claps of thunder – altogether made the scene surpassingly grand.” (HM Whitney, editor of the Honolulu Advertiser, April 13, 1868)

“The 1868 flow destroyed the house of Capt. Robert Brown …. The flow advanced so quickly on the house that Captain Brown and his family escaped with only the clothes on their backs.”

“Soon after the eruption, Theophilus sold the ranch to a hui (group) that included George Jones, who bought out his partners’ interests to became sole owner in 1877.”

“Another Mauna Loa eruption in 1887 produced an ‘a‘ā flow to the west of the 1868 eruption. From vent to ocean, the flow advanced 24 km (15 mi) in about 29 hours and came close – but did not damage – Jones’ residential compound.”

“The real impact of the 1887 eruption on Jones’ ranch was the flow of sightseers. George was known as a very hospitable man and, for several weeks, was forced to suspend operations in order to accommodate the hordes of curious visitors.”

“About a year-and-a-half after the 1887 eruption, Jones sold the ranch to Col. Samuel Norris. Norris, described as eccentric and peculiar, was not hospitable to his fellow Caucasians.”

“Another Mauna Loa eruption in 1907 produced lava flows to the west of the 1887 and 1868 flows, further reducing pasture lands. Tourists flocking to the new flows were not welcomed by the new ranch owner.”

“Norris was 66 when he bought the ranch. In 1910, when he realized he was dying, Norris essentially gave away the ranch, “selling” it to his long-time friend, Charles Macomber, for a dollar, complaining that lava flows had devalued the property. Norris died a few months later.”

“The upper reaches of the ranch were overrun by lava in 1903, 1916, and 1926 but these eruptions did not precipitate a sale as the earlier ones had.“

“In 1912, Macomber sold the ranch to A.W. Carter for inclusion in the famed Parker Ranch.” “During this ownership 1,200 head of cattle were largely run on the land nearest the highway, marginally using the land above the 1,400 foot elevation”

“On February 6, 1947 Parker Ranch sold Kahuku to James W Glover founder of the general construction firm bearing his name …. During his ownership Glover planted koa for logging and continued the installation of smooth wire fencing.”

“After Glover’s death, the ranch was sold under court order by the Hawaiian Trust company, the executor of his estate to pay estate debts including inheritance taxes amounting to almost a million dollars. The trustees of the Samuel M. Damon Estate made the winning bid in 1958”. (HVO; Helen Wong Smith)

On July 3, 2003, the National Park Service partnered with the Nature Conservancy to purchase the 116,000-acre Kahuku Ranch from the estate of Samuel Mills Damon as an addition to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, increasing the size of the park by 50% to 333,086 acres. (Vacation and event rentals remain for remnants of the former Kahuku Ranch, makai of the highway)

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September 5, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ahupuaʻa ʻO Kahana State Park

Ahupuaʻa ʻO Kahana State Park (formerly Kahana Valley State Park) is located in Ko‘olauloa on the windward side of O’ahu, between Kane’ohe and Laʻie, and 26 miles from Honolulu. Kahana is a relatively unspoiled valley, and one of only a few publicly owned ahupuaʻa, or ancient Hawaiian land division, in the state. (DLNR)

In 1965, John J. Hulten (real estate appraiser and State Senator) prepared a report for DLNR noting that Kahana was ideally suited to be a regional park, offering seashore water sports, mountain camping, and salt and freshwater fishing, and a tropical botanical garden. “Properly developed it will be a major attraction with 1,000,000 visits annually.”

The “proper development” he had in mind included 600 “developable acres” for camping, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, and swimming, and foresaw over 1,000 camping sites plus cabins, restaurant, and shops.

He said that a hotel and other commercial buildings could be developed, and wanted the creation of a 50 acre lake. All of this development would be assisted by a botanical garden and a mauka road from Likelike Highway to Kahana.

Instead from 1965 to 1969, the State initiated eminent domain proceedings to acquire the land as a way to prevent a proposed resort development and to retain the open space and rural character of the area. (DlNR)

In 1965, the State condemned the property for park purposes with a $5,000,000 price, paid in five annual installments (which included some federal funds.) By 1969, the State owned Kahana free and clear.

The State acquired the ahupua‘a ‘o Kahana in 1969 from the estate of Mary Foster and six individual lessees. The State was prompted to do so by a 1965 report that portrayed Kahana as a blank slate to be developed in a highly commercial way, including 1,000 camping sites, hotel, cabins, restaurant, a botanical garden, a manmade lake, and shops.

An additional factor supporting state acquisition was that it was one of the few, if not the only, ahupua`a left under virtually sole ownership and in a relatively pristine state.

The families living in Kahana at that time had long-standing ties to the valley, and lobbied the Legislature to allow them to stay in the park and preserve their lifestyle. (Legislative Reference Bureau)

In 1970, a Governor’s task force proposed the concept of a living park that would allow the families to stay and in some way participate in the park. The Governor recommended the concept to the Department of Land and Natural Resources. The residents were allowed to stay on the land under revocable leases.

On December 1, 1993, the Board issued thirty-one leases to families living in Kahana, and in most cases the lessees relocated, as a condition for receiving the leases, from their traditional homes near the coast to new residential subdivisions within Kahana and outside of the coastal flood zone. (Legislature)

In lieu of a monetary payment, the State determined that as a condition of their lease each Kahana family would contribute interpretive services per month to the park, to preserve, restore, and share the history and rural lifestyle of the ahupua‘a with the public.

Each family had to have its adult members contribute twenty-five hours of “interpretive services” each month to the park in exchange for their land lease. The scope of the term “interpretive service” was not well defined, which was soon to become a real problem.

Although the original plan was to delay the interpretive requirements for a year to allow residents to build their homes, the interpretative services were not actually required until February 1996. (LRB)

Over the years, communication difficulties have created challenges between park personnel and residents to the detriment of the cultural interpretive program. Some residents are fully up to date in their required hours, some have partially fallen behind, while others are not participating in the program at all. (DURP, 2013)

Requirements for eligible programs included residents’ interest in the program. This requires programs to be reviewed by a committee working with Park Manager and recommended for action. All aspects of scheduled activities (planning, presenting, clean up, etc.) must be voluntary.

Family members over 14 were accepted as eligible to provide counted working hours. The number of interpretive hours was also fixed to 25 hours per family per month required and a lessee could earn an excess of credit hours (maxing out at 150 hours per year). (DURP, 2013)

In 2017, a resolution in the legislature noted, “lessees are required to contribute twenty-five hours per month of cultural interpretive activities to the park in lieu of lease rent, and although most of the residents are of Hawaiian ancestry and a number have tenure in Kahana going back several generations, many of the current lessees are not engaging in cultural practices”.

That resolution also acknowledged that, “lack of consistent lessee participation and documentation of interpretive hours per the lease requirement makes it evident that the “Living Park” concept has not succeeded in the current form and should be reconsidered”. (There was no action on the resolution by the legislature.)

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