After about 160 days at sea, on March 30, 1820, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries first sighted the Islands.
Later that day, they learned Kamehameha died, Liholiho was now King and the kapu was abolished. Journal entries from some on the Thaddeus tell of the joy they felt … follow the links to read what they saw and felt.
Kamakahonu (lit. turtle eye) was possibly established as early as the sixteenth century by ʻUmi-a-Līloa. It was during the early nineteenth century that Keawe a Mahi, a kahu of Keaweaheulu presided over Kamakahonu, and upon the death of Keawe a Mahi, Kamakahonu became the residence of Kamehameha I.
During Kamehameha’s tenure at Kamakahonu he first moved into the former residence of Keawe a Mahi. He then built another house on the seaward side of that residence, that was referred to as hale nana mahina ‘ai. The “King erected three houses thatched with dried ti leaves,” a sleeping house (hale moe) and separate men’s (hale mua) and women’s (hale ‘āina) eating houses. “After these houses were built, another heiau house, called Ahuʻena, was restored.”
In 1967, Richard Boone (with Vera Miles, Joan Blondell, Kent Smith, Duane Eddy and a bunch of folks from Kona) filmed ‘Kona Coast,’ a pilot that he hoped CBS would adopt as a series. (Instead, CBS chose Hawaii Five-O.) (It was released in 1968 – with its premier in the Kona Theater.)
“Kona Coast” was an adventure story about a Honolulu charter-boat captain (‘Sam Moran,’ played by Boone) who leads fishing expeditions and later hunts down the man responsible for his daughter’s death. It did not receive favorable reviews; “… most of Kona Coast utilizes actual locations and this is the film’s single greatest asset.”
