Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Entourage

On November 27, 1823, L’Aigle, an English whaling ship, took Kamehameha II (Liholiho), Kamāmalu and their entourage to England to gain firsthand experience in European ways. The king and his chiefs agreed that Liholiho needed a competent interpreter to travel with him and Frenchman John Rives went as interpreter.

Liholiho’s chosen party were Governor Boki and his wife, Liliha, Kapihe, Chief Kekuanaoa, steward Manuia, Naukana (Noukana), Kauluhaimalama, servant Na‘aiweuweu, and James Kanehoa Young. In London, Liholiho and Kamāmalu became ill; Kamāmalu (aged 22) died on July 8, 1824, Kamehameha II (age 27) died six days later, on July 14, 1824. The British Government dispatched HMS Blonde to return them back to Honolulu; they arrived on May 6, 1825.

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Timeline Tuesday … 1850s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1850s – Kuleana Act, Smallpox Epidemic, death of Kamehameha III and growth in rice cultivation. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

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Timeline Tuesday … 1810s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1810s – Kamehameha and Kaumualiʻi negotiations, death of Kamehameha and the fall of the Kapu. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

A Comparative Timeline illustrates the events with images and short phrases. This helps us to get a better context on what was happening in Hawai‘i versus the rest of the world. I prepared these a few years ago for a planning project. (Ultimately, they never got used for the project, but I thought they might be on interest to others.)

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

The Reef

To accommodate the growing commerce at Honolulu Harbor, from 1856 to 1860, the work of filling in the reef to create an area known as the “Esplanade” (where Aloha Tower is now situated) was underway. They removed Fort Kekuanohu (Fort Honolulu – then serving as a prison) and used the material “in the construction of prisons, and the filling up of the reef.”

On the ʻEwa side of Nuʻuanu stream was a fishpond. The new prison was built on a marshy no-man’s land almost completely cut off from the main island by two immense fishponds. The causeway road led to the new “Oʻahu Prison,” simply called “The Reef;” it was a coral block fortress built upon coral fill at the end of a coral built road over the coral reefs and mudflats of Iwilei.

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Halekoa

Theodore C Heuck, a German, arrived in the Islands on the British brigantine “Cheerful” January 20, 1850, after a long voyage from Australia. Heuch was the first professional architect in Honolulu.  Shortly after arrival, he ran an ad in the local paper directed “To Builders” and offered “his services to the people of Honolulu and […]