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May 11, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Happy Mother’s Day!

The image shows my mother, grandmother, grandfather and some of their friends in 1928 in front of Moku‘aikaua Church. (My mother is the littlest girl sitting near the middle, her mother is sitting next to her near the middle (wearing a hat) and her father is on the right.

This stone and mortar building, completed in 1837, is the oldest surviving Christian church in the state of Hawaiʻi, started by the first Protestant missionaries to land in Hawaiʻi and the oldest intact Western structure on the Island of Hawai‘i.

With the permission of Liholiho (Kamehameha II), the missionaries first built a grass house for worship in 1823 and, later, a large, thatched meeting house.

Missionary Asa Thurston directed the construction of the present Moku’aikaua Church, then the largest building in Kailua-Kona. Its massive size indicates the large Hawaiian population living in or near Kailua at that time.

Built of stones taken from a nearby heiau and lime made of burned coral, it represents the new western architecture of early 19th-century Hawaiʻi and became an example that other missionaries would imitate.

The original thatch church which was built in 1823 but was destroyed by fire in 1835, the present structure was completed in 1837. Moku‘aikaua takes its name from a forest area above Kailua from which timbers were cut and dragged by hand to construct the ceiling and interior.

In 1910, a memorial arch was erected at the entrance to the church grounds to commemorate the arrival of the first missionaries.

My mother was the great-great grand-daughter (and her father was great grandson) of Hiram Bingham, leader of first missionaries to Hawaiʻi who first landed in the Islands, here at Kailua-Kona in 1820.

Happy Mother’s Day!

May 10, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

250 Years Ago … Green Mountain Boys

Vermont was not one of the 13 colonies.

In 1609 French explorer Samuel de Champlain claimed part of the region for France. Several suggest French explorer Samuel de Champlain referred to it as “Verd Mont” (green mountains).

(However, Vermont Historical Society states, “The word Vermont (or alternate renderings) does not appear in the publications of Champlain, Des sauvages and Les Voyages (1613 and 1632 versions), or on the maps which he prepared or published.”) A Vermont lake is named for Champlain.

The state’s name comes from two French words vert (green) and mont (mountain), which explains Vermont’s nickname, the “Green Mountain State.” (Library of Congress)

Samuel de Champlain was followed by missionaries, traders, settlers, and soldiers who identified rivers and other physical features of the Champlain watershed.

Families from southern New England who settled in the ‘Grants’ (as the New Hampshire titled lands were known) created communities similar to the ones they had left behind. They were confident that if they moved their families, built farms, and worked the land, their claims would be justified.

They believed that the royal governments of New Hampshire and New York, representing the king, wouldn’t deny the rights of citizens who tamed the land, organized governments, paid taxes, and obeyed the laws.

When the ‘Yorkers’ (as the New York landholders were called) started to stake their claims, the troubles began. (Vermont Historical Society)

The Green Mountain Boys at present-day Bennington, Vermont, was an unauthorized militia organized to defend the property rights of local residents who had received land grants from New Hampshire.

New York, which then claimed present-day Vermont, disputed New Hampshire’s right to grant land west of the Green Mountains.

When a New York sheriff, leading 300 militiamen, attempted to take possession of Grants farms in 1771, he was met with resistance. A determined group of Bennington militia led by young firebrands Ethan Allen and Remember Baker blocked his efforts.

Several Grants towns then organized committees of safety and military companies to protect their interests against the Yorkers. These military groups called themselves “The New Hampshire Men” while New York authorities referred to them as the “Bennington Mob” and rioters.

By 1772, they were called the “Green Mountain Boys.”

Their leader Ethan Allen declared they were fighting for their “liberty, property, and life,”

“Those bloody law-givers know we are necessitated to oppose their execution of law, where it points directly at our property, or give up the same:”

“but there is one thing is matter of consolation to us, viz. that printed sentences of death will not kill us when we are at a distance; and if the executioners approach us,”

“they will be as likely to fall victims to death as we: and that person, or country of persons, are cowards indeed,”

“if they cannot as manfully fight for their liberty, property and life, as villains can do to deprive them thereof.” (A Vindication, Ethan Allen)

The Green Mountain Boys stopped sheriffs from enforcing New York laws and terrorized settlers who had New York grants, burning buildings, stealing cattle, and administering occasional floggings with birch rods.

Catamount Tavern

The Catamount Tavern was the gathering place of men who played vital roles in the creation of the state of Vermont. Built in the mid-1760s by Stephen Fay, one of Bennington’s original settlers, it was first called the Green Mountain Tavern. It was one of three taverns in the town that served people journeying to their new homes on the frontier.

Dr. Jonas Fay, Ethan Allen, Remember Baker, and Thomas Chittenden were some of the patriots that gathered in the Catamount’s rooms. They plotted the course of the Green Mountain Boys, the Council of Safety, and later the government of the new Republic of Vermont.

Westminster Massacre

The Westminster confrontation was a continuation of the Grants vs. Yorkers dispute. The farmers needed to put off their creditors until the fall harvest when they would have money to pay off their debts. They resented the New York land speculators they owed and feared being jailed or losing their land.

Up until this time, most Grants settlers on the east side of the Green Mountains had peacefully negotiated any disputes with New York.

When one hundred unarmed farmers occupying the county courthouse at Westminster refused to leave, a Yorker sheriff ordered his men to shoot them. Panic ensued and forty men, including the wounded, were herded like animals into the courthouse jail and left to die.

Massachusetts and New Hampshire militia came to the farmers’ aid the next day and arrested the sheriff. The Westminster Massacre of March 13, 1775 is viewed by some as the first battle of the American Revolution.

They had not been enthusiastic supporters of the Green Mountain Boys. The New York sheriff’s actions changed their minds, and they were happy when Ethan Allen’s men rode into town the next day.

Green Mountain Boys in the American Revolution

Under the joint command of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, the Green Mountain Boys immediately joined the Revolution.

(Benedict Arnold, later known as a traitor during the American Revolution, was an important part of fighting for the American cause. He created a navy for Lake Champlain, battled the British at Valcour Island, and burned the boats in what is now Arnold Bay during retreat from that battle, effectively stopping the British from gaining a foothold in the area.)

A Green Mountain Boys regiment was authorized by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1775 and they became part of the Continental Army (they were part of the Northern Army).

Control of Lake Champlain was a crucial military objective during the Revolutionary War.

The British strategy was to unite their Canadian forces with those in New York. If they succeeded they would cut off New York and New England from the other colonies.

The Champlain Valley was the site of several bloody encounters. Settlers in this no man’s land fled their homes for the duration of the war, fearful of the British and their Iroquois Indian allies.

The British had several victories, but the Americans fought hard and delayed their advance south. These delays allowed the American armies to regroup.

When the British were defeated at Bennington and again at Saratoga, they gave up their plan to control Lake Champlain.

This was a turning point in the war, as it allowed the Continental Army to turn southward and convinced France to enter the war as an ally of the Americans.

Ethan Allen

Ethan Allen (born January 21, 1738, Litchfield, Connecticut – died February 12, 1789, Burlington, Vermont) was a soldier and frontiersman, and leader of the Green Mountain Boys during the American Revolution.

After fighting in the French and Indian War (1754–63), Allen settled in what is now Vermont. At the outbreak of the American Revolution, he raised his force of Green Mountain Boys (organized in 1770) and Connecticut troops and helped capture the British fort at Ticonderoga, New York (May 10, 1775).

Later, as a volunteer in General Philip Schuyler’s forces, he attempted to take Montreal (September 1775), in the course of which he was captured by the British and held prisoner until May 6, 1778.

Congress gave Allen the brevet rank of colonel with back pay, but he did not serve in the war after his release. Instead, he devoted his time to local affairs in Vermont, especially working for separate statehood from New York. Failing to achieve this, he attempted to negotiate the annexation of Vermont to Canada.

Vermont Statehood

It was not a certainty in 1777 that Vermont would become the fourteenth state in the Union. America was still at war and victory wasn’t assured. New York, an important part of the American effort, wasn’t going to give up title to the Grants without a fight.

Vermont didn’t improve its chances of acceptance when it began negotiating with Great Britain to become part of greater Canada. The American Congress was suspicious of the new republic and became even more frustrated when Vermont tried to annex more lands—this time from New Hampshire.

Finally, in 1790 New York and Vermont settled their long-standing differences over the Grants. In January 1791 Vermont delegates met in Bennington and ratified the US Constitution. On March 4, 1791, Vermont was accepted into the United States of America, as the fourteenth state.

Click the following link to a general summary about the Green Mountain Boys:

Click to access Green-Mountain-Boys-SAR-RT.pdf

Click to access Green-Mountain-Boys.pdf

May 9, 2025 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Rock Silo to Bell Tower

Carl W Winstedt and the National Construction Company began construction on the Aloha Tower on 1924. The project took a year and a half to complete.

Aloha Tower opened in 1926; at 184-feet, 2-inches tall, it was the tallest building in the Territory (and remained such for the next forty years.) (LRB)

Winstedt was originally from Sweden. Life wasn’t always so tall for Winstedt; back in 1915, he and his wife Marie Camr Winstedt went through bankruptcy in Juneau, Alaska.

But things were looking up.

Following Aloha Tower, Winstedt built the Egholm Residence in the Diamond Head Terraces subdivision in 1926. It is one of the few examples of small cottages in the Spanish Colonial Revival style popular in Hawai‘i in the 1920s and early-1930s.

Both of those structures (Aloha Tower and Egholm residence) are still here. In fact, there is another structure attributed to Winstedt that is still around, although it is very unlike the prior two examples of his work.

Reportedly in 1926, Winstedt’s National Construction Company, Ltd was the lowest bidder for the construction of a portion of the Kamehameha highway, designated “Job 4057.”

Winstedt and National were awarded the contract for this work by the Territory of Hawaiʻi acting through Lyman H Bigelow, the territorial highway commissioner. (Court Records, March 8, 1933)

Winstedt was to build Kamehameha Highway from Waimea Bay to Kahuku. Reportedly, to support it, in 1930, he built a rock quarry on the North edge of Waimea Bay to produce gravel. (pupukea-waimea)

However, it appears Winstedt and his companies, National Construction Co and Realty Development Co, faced hard times related to the road project.

“(T)he aggregate of the claims filed against the construction company … is in excess of $100,000. It is also conceded that the construction company and the sureties on its bond are insolvent.” (Court Records, March 8, 1933)

The facility was abandoned in 1932; it’s not clear what happened with it for the next 20-years.

Then, St Michael’s Church was looking for a church facility. With changing demographics and land needs, they had given up their 1853 stone church in Waialua and were in a 1923 concrete building; they looked at Waimea, at the far end of the parish.

In April of 1953, the Catholic mission acquired the old rock crusher site and converted the buildings into Saint Michael Parish, Waialua with Mission of Saints Peter & Paul.

The concrete rock silo was converted into a 100-foot bell tower. The former construction company machine sheds were converted into a patio and chapel. (Clark & pupukea-waimea)

About that time, other changes were happening at Waimea Bay; sand was being removed to replenish the eroded Waikīkī Beach, across the island.

Reportedly, before sand mining operations removed over 200,000-tons of sand from Waimea Bay to fill beaches in Waikīkī and elsewhere, there was so much sand that if you would have tried to jump off Pōhaku Lele (Jump Rock,) you would have jumped about six feet down into the sand below.

Like Aloha Tower, the former silo for crushed rubble has become one of the most famous landmarks on Oʻahu.

Sts Peter and Paul Mission_St Michaels Church

Outside Silo

Silo/bell tower shaft

Sts Peter and Paul Mission_St Michaels Church

Waimea Bay – Gravel Tower-2616-1951-portion-zoom

Waimea Bay – Gravel Tower-Williams

Waimea Bay-Sts Peter and Paul Mission-St Michaels Church

Waimea-SOEST-C75_356

Sts Peter and Paul Mission-St Michaels Church

Looking up shaft

Lowere doors/gates

Waimea Bay – Gravel Tower-2616-1951-marks on beach appear to be part of sand mining

Shark_cove_three_tables-SOEST

Ruins of the first St. Michael’s Church

St. Michael’s Church, Waialua, built in 1853-SB

Ruins of the first St. Michael’s Church-SB

Honolulu_Harbor-Aloha_Tower-Toward_Manoa-Aerial-1940

Aloha_Tower,_Honolulu,_1959

Winstedt grave marker-Oahu Cemetery

May 8, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mourning Kamehameha’s Death

“Kookini held in his hand the portrait of Tammeamah, which had been tolerably well painted by the draftsman of the Russian expedition, under Capt. Kotzebue, and of which he had requested me to make him a copy.”

“(H)e and the governor had scarcely shaken hands, when they cried aloud several times; beat their breasts, frequently kissed the portrait of the King; and during a quarter of an hour shed abundance of tears.”

“Some of the persons who surrounded us, particularly the women, uttered cries of sorrow; while there were others who appeared scarcely to notice this scene of mourning.”

“When they had done weeping, I asked Kookini the reason of this sudden affliction; he answered, laughing, it arose from remembering the death of Tammeamah; and from that moment he began to amuse himself, as if a few tears had totally effaced the recollection of the virtues and great actions which had given rise to them.” (Arago; portions of Letter CIX, August 1819)

“On the 8th of May, 1819, Owhyhee was the theatre of a terrible calamity, which plunged the whole island into consternation; and not only extinguished amongst the inhabitants, the pride arising from the recollection of glorious conquests, but also made them look to the future with grief and apprehension.”

“Whenever you attempt to persuade the inhabitants of this place how little is sufficient to make them happy, they recur with affliction to the past, they look forward with dread to the future …”

“… and, with hearts overwhelmed with sorrow at the recent death of Tammeamah, they pronounce his beloved name with respect, and cannot find in the qualities of his son any motive for consolation under so severe a loss.”

“The people of this Archipelago were on the point of reaping the fruits of their courage and perseverance; they were about to taste the advantages of civilization, which had commenced under the most favourable auspices; a moment has again plunged them into that darkness, the veil of which had been lifted by their victorious arms.”

“On a bed of pain, Tammeamah saw the moment approach which was to tear him from the love of his subjects. He had just punished some rebels, and had established his power on a firm and durable basis.”

“He was not afraid of death, he had sought and braved it a thousand times in the midst of dangers; but he regretted a life which might still have been useful to the people under his dominion.”

“No sooner had fears begun to be entertained for so valuable a life, than the conjurors, quacks, and priests, from all the islands, were assembled at Karakakooa. Useless trouble! Tammeamah was no more.”

“Couriers were dispatched at every moment of the day to convey intelligence to the most distant towns of the state of him on whom the happiness or misery of all depended.”

“He was then in a situation of appreciating the love and attachment of subjects for their good Sovereign; but finding that all efforts to restore him to health were fruitless, he devoted his last moments to the happiness of his people.”

“He called around him his son and his principal chiefs, who suppressed their sorrow, that he might the less regret a life, rendered illustrious by such glorious actions; he expressed his gratitude to them, and, addressing the heir to his authority, said: …”

“‘My son, I leave you master of a country, which ought, if you are prudent, to satisfy your ambition, but which you will lose if you endeavour to aggrandize yourself. You may judge from the sacrifice I have been obliged to make of my ease, what the inheritance I bequeath to you has cost me.’”

“‘The chiefs who at this moment surround me, have participated in my dangers; and I am indebted to them for a great part of the glory I have acquired.’”

“‘They will be faithful, if you are just; their attachment to me guarantees it: but your inexperience may lead you astray; and you must guide your actions by their counsels and instructions.’”

“‘Never be hasty in punishing a fault committed by the foreigners established in the islands; put up even with a second offence; and only endeavour to repel them at the third attack.’”

“‘If you behave yourself according lo the advice I am now giving you, I will receive with pleasure the sacrifices with which you may honour me, and the offerings your love may bring. Farewell, my son! bear my best wishes to my wives, and to my mother. Farewell, my friends!’”

“As soon as this melancholy news was spread far and near, the people vied with one another in their cries of sorrow; every one seemed to have lost a benefactor and a father.”

“They beat their breasts, tore their hair, and rolled themselves in the dust; all the domestic animals which could be got at were sacrificed, and a great number of houses thrown down.”

“To preserve the memory of this fatal event, almost all the inhabitants had several of their teeth extracted: they engraved on their arms the beloved name of Tammeamah, and the date when they lost this good Prince: the women made a sacrifice of all their hair, and with hot irons burnt themselves in various parts of their bodies.”

“At Karakakooa, all the people collected in the public square, filling the air with groans; their too poignant sorrow made them desert their huts, and they appeared proud of exhibiting the scars, the infliction of which seemed to them an act of duty.”

“Such as repaired to the capital from a distance, to ascertain the truth of this great misfortune, were afraid to make inquiries on the road; and while they shook hands, they regarded each other with terror.”

“The Chiefs, in particular the officers who had first shared the glory and the danger of Tammeamah, saw, in his death, the melancholy presage of every sort of calamity.”

“Three days and three nights passed at Karakakooa, without the people venturing to leave the public square; and such was their attachment to their departed monarch …”

“… that he who had only slightly wounded his body and his face, blushing at his neighbour’s deeper gashes, appealed to him, and intreated him to extract one or two more of his teeth, and to cover his body with other burns, and with additional scars.”

“Such scenes of desolation took place, not only at Owhyhee, and under the eyes of the principal chiefs; but also with the same fury, or rather cruelty, at all the other islands.”

“There was no necessity to prohibit amusements and gaming; during fifteen days, the people either confined themselves to their houses, or the public square, where they could see the tomb of Tammeamah, except to satisfy the wants of nature.”

“Tammeamah was the exclusive subject of conversation: every body could relate some instance of his extraordinary courage; his justice and goodness were praised by all.”

“Sleep overtook them with such topics of consolation in their mouths, and they awoke at sun-rise, to renew the same eulogiums. He was for them the active monarch, and the just judge, the protector of the oppressed, and the terror of his enemies.”

“Even now, when sorrow for his loss is somewhat blunted, his virtues are never spoken of but with tenderness and regret. Friends never meet without shedding tears at the memory of the days that are gone; and the first toast given at meals, is always ‘Tammeamah.” (Arago; portions of Letter CX, August 1819.)

Kamehameha Final Days-Parker

May 7, 2025 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kawaihae Harbor

Kawaihae is also generally referenced as Pelekane, which means ‘British,’ possibly named after the Young and the Davis families who lived there (when Isaac Davis (born in Pembrokeshire, Wales) died in 1810, his friend and co-advisor to Kamehameha, John Young (an Englishman born in Liverpool,) looked after Davis’ children.)

The vicinity around what is now Kawaihae Harbor (“the water of wrath”) has been the scene of many important events, from the killing of Kamehameha’s rival and cousin, Keōua in 1791, to interactions with foreign visitors, including Captain George Vancouver of Great Britain, Otto von Kotzebue of Russia, and dignitaries from France, the United States and other nations.

Kamehameha had a house here. Following his death in 1819 and the succession of Liholiho to rule as Kamehameha II, Kawaihae served as the initial Royal Center for Liholiho, who sought consolidation of his forces and consecration of his leadership role, there. (Kelly)

When the Pioneer Company of the American Protestant missionaries arrived the next year, they first stopped at Kawaihae; this is where the missionaries first learned that the kapu system had been abolished and heiau were destroyed.

Kawaihae’s position as the center of inter-island trade and transport on northwest Hawai‘i is detailed in a description published in the Merchant’s Magazine and Commercial Review in 1858:

“Kawaihae is a small village in the bay of the same name in the western shore of Hawaii…It derives its importance from being the port of the rich and extensive grazing uplands of Waimea, one of the finest agricultural districts of the islands, which has not yet developed its full resources.”

“Forty or fifty whale ships have annually visited this port for the last few years, to procure salted beefs and Irish potatoes, which are considered the finest produced in the islands.“

Features of the village in 1861 were described by Charles de Varigny, the secretary of the French Consulate in Honolulu (who later served Kamehameha V as finance minister and minister of foreign affairs.)

Varigny observed how much of the village was given over to its commercial functions: “The village consists chiefly of a single large wooden structure which serves as a country store and warehouse for the products of the district. Around the shop are clustered several makeshift buildings providing annexes for further storage.”

“A small wharf serves for the departure and landing of travelers. At a short distance from shore floats an old stripped-down vessel, its melancholy hull balancing at anchor and providing storage for products arriving from Honolulu.” (pacificworlds)

Over time, Kawaihae and Waimea (up the hill) developed a synergistic relationship. The area was a canoe landing area, whether for commerce or combat. (This is where Maui’s chief Kamalālāwalu landed in his assault against Lonoikamakahiki’s Hawaiʻi forces (Lono won.)) But Kawaihae’s presence was really focused on commerce as a landing site.

A 1914 map of Kawaihae Village shows a concentration of development along the shoreline; the uplands of the Kawaihae region remained undeveloped pasture land.

During WWII war years (1941-1945,) Kawaihae’s role as the shipping outlet for Waimea was intensified. Troops were shipped in and out through Kawaihae. At the southern end of the bay, in Kawaihae 2, amphibious landing exercises were conducted and military emplacements were set up in the area of Puʻukohola Heiau.

The war in the Pacific had been over less than a year when on April 1, 1946, an earthquake off the Aleutian Islands caused a tsunami that devastated the Hawaiian Islands. Although no lives were lost at Kawaihae, its effects wiped out commercial fishing activity there and it was reported that the tsunami “…was the beginning of the end for the Kawaihae Fishing Village. People left.” (Cultural Surveys)

The old landing had been destroyed in the 1946 tsunami and the one built in 1937 had proven unsafe in high seas. By the 1950s, the need for improved harbor facilities at Kawaihae was apparent.

The Kawaihae Deep-Draft Harbor project was authorized by the US Congress in 1950; to be constructed were: “an entrance channel 400 feet wide, approximately 2,900 feet long, and 40 feet deep; a harbor basin 1,250 feet square and 35 feet deep; and a breakwater with a maximum crest elevation 13 feet above low water and approximately 4,400 feet long, of which 3,200 feet would be protected with heavy stone revetment.”

The harbor was created by dredging part of an extensive coral reef which extended 4,000-feet seaward and ran along the shore more than a mile south of Kawaihae town; the reclaimed reef area created a coral flat peninsula that extends approximately 1,000-feet makai (seaward) of the piers across the natural reef, forming a beach along the south harbor boundary and terminating at the outer breakwater.

The harbor’s construction was hailed as an “economic shot in the arm,” for sugar planters in the Kohala region of the island would no longer had to ship their crops overland to Hilo or to Kailua-Kona. The harbor would serve military needs as well. The Army was about to acquire a 100,000-acre training site nearby and could unload supplies at Kawaihae Harbor. (Cultural Surveys)

At the completion of construction in 1959 (officially dedicated on October 5, 1959,) the Kawaihae facilities included an inter-island terminal, mooring areas, and a large harbor basin with a wide entrance channel. Harbor modifications in 1973 widened the entrance channel and enlarged the basin (a little over 71-acres.)

The South Kawaihae Small Boat Harbor entrance channel and 850-foot West breakwater was constructed as part of Operation Tugboat and completed in December 1970. As part of Project Tugboat, the Army used conventional high explosives to blast an 830-foot entrance channel, 120-feet wide/12-feet deep and a 200 by 200-foot turning basin.

(“Project Tugboat” was conducted by the Army’s Nuclear Cratering Group; perhaps because of this, some suggest nuclear explosives were used to clear the small boat harbor. However, twelve 10-ton charges of an aluminized ammonium nitrate slurry explosives (placed 36-feet deep and 100 to 120-feet apart) were used; they were meant to simulate the yield of a nuclear explosion, but were not radioactive.)

After years of delay, it was recently announced that a project to improve the eastern portion of Kawaihae Small Boat Harbor is moving forward. Among the improvements are a 445-foot long floating dock, as well as a 47-foot-long access ramp, gangway and 25 berthing stalls. Later a paved access road and new water system is planned.