March 8, 1820 – no entry. (Thaddeus Journal)
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March 8, 1820 – no entry. (Thaddeus Journal)
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For several years after the American Board missionaries reached Lahaina in 1823, church services were held in temporary structures.
The first mission to Maui was founded by Reverend William Richards at that time. For a few years, temporary structures made from wooden poles with a thatched roof were used.
The church started under the name Waine‘e Church (“Moving Water.”) In 1826, it was blown down by wind and replaced by stone and wood.
In 1828, the chiefs, led by Ulumāheihei Hoapili, proposed to build a new stone church. The cornerstone was laid on September 14, 1828, for this ‘first stone meeting-house built at the Islands’; it was dedicated on March 4, 1832.
Waine‘e served as the church for Hawaiian royalty during the time when Lāhainā was effectively the Kingdom’s capital, from the 1820s through the mid-1840s.
In 1858, a whirlwind ravaged the roof and church steeple, but was repaired without too much trouble. The church stood safely for another 36 years, until it was destroyed by fire in 1894.
A new church building was built, a gift from Henry P. Baldwin, and that lasted another 50 years until it was partially destroyed by fire again. It was restored and re-dedicated only to be completely destroyed by a Kaua‘ula wind (a strong wind, especially in Lāhainā, that shifted from one point to another) three years later.
The Church finally changed its name from Waine‘e Church, to Waiola Church (“Water of Life”) in 1954, and has been safely and well taken care of since. The materials changed over time from grass, to coral, then to stone and wood, and then to the stronger materials such as brick.
The present church structure and the old cemetery occupy a tract of 2.45-acres on Waine‘e Street, between Chapel and Shaw Streets. The property is owned by the Waiola Protestant Church.
The priesthood at the church has changed multiple times since the original establishing of the church, and some reputable and well-known priests and preachers including, Dwight Baldwin, who preached from 1837 to 1868.
Waiola Church has extremely strong cultural ties to the people and land of Hawaiʻi. Waiola church served royalty for years, as Lāhainā was the capital of the Kingdom.
Waiola Church is one of the few still-standing buildings and monuments of the Hawaiian royalty long ago, and the great changes that Hawai‘i and its people went through in the 19th century.
Rev. Ephraim Spaulding joined with his wife Juliet Brooks from 1832 to 1836. Missionary Rev. Dwight Baldwin transferred here in 1836, and served as physician. The Baldwins rebuilt the house of the Spaulding’s.
Reportedly, the church is immortalized in James Michener’s Hawai‘i (as Reverend Abner Hale’s church in Lāhainā.)
The adjoining cemetery is said to date from 1823. Several members of the royal family were buried in the cemetery. A notable aspect of the cemetery is that the missionaries and native Hawaiians were buried side by side.
It contains the body of Keōpūolani (“Gathering of the Clouds of Heaven”), wife of Kamehameha the Great and mother of Kamehameha II and Kamehameha III.
She and Ka‘ahumanu were largely responsible for the abolition of the kapu system. Keōpūolani is said to have been the first convert of the missionaries in the islands, receiving baptism from Rev. William Ellis in Lāhainā on September 16, 1823.
Other prominent Hawaiian nobles interred there include King Kaumuali‘i, Queen Kalākua, Princess Nahiʻenaʻena, Governor Hoapili and Governess Liliha. Here, too, is buried the Rev. William Richards, a pioneer missionary and advisor to the Hawaiian monarchy.
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March 9, 1820 – no entry. (Thaddeus Journal)
March 9th. Crossed the equator this afternoon for the last time; have been becalmed several days which in this region renders our situation uncomfortable. We suffer much from the heat are obliged sometimes to arise in the night and use our fans to prevent suffocation from the stagnated air in our rooms. We hope for a breeze soon, if we should not be favoured with one, we fear that some of us must fall a prey to disease. Our Father knows our wants and will take care of us. In all our little trials we cast not one look behind to wish ourselves back in our country, but feel happy in the prospect of soon reaching the Isle of our destination and imparting the rich treasures of the Gospel to those degraded idolaters for whom Christ died, and to whom he has never been named. (Samuel & Nancy Ruggles)
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“In reporting to the Society on the subject of the grape-vine, it is gratifying to feel, that in this body, at least, its value, as well as its suitableness, to the soil and climate of these islands, is conceded … “
“… and that we have no longer to combat the hostility of some, who on former occasions, sought to discourage its culture, on the ground that we are ‘too far South,’ and that ‘grapes cannot be profitably grown in the tropics’ and so forth.”
“The cumulative experience of each succeeding season, goes incontrovertibly and conclusively to negative such obsolete theories, which cannot hold their ground against the every day evidence of our senses.” (John Montgomery, Report to Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society, June 1, 1854)
Don Francisco de Paula Marin (known to the Hawaiian as ‘Manini’), a Spaniard who arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in the 1790s (at about the age of 20), is credited with introducing and/or cultivating in Hawai‘i: pineapple, coffee, avocado, mango and grapes.
He fermented the first wine in Hawai‘i and distilled brandy. He also made rum from sugarcane and brewed beer, all of which he sold at his boarding house-saloon near the waterfront.
His ‘New Vineyard’ grapevines were located Waikiki side of Nu‘uanu Stream and makai of Vineyard Street; when a road was cut through its mauka boundary, it became known as Vineyard Street.
“‘The Doubter’ … asserted that the grape could not be profitably grown in the tropics, and which I rebutted by an array of facts, proving that grapes are grown and good wine made in large quantities, in much lower latitudes than ours.”
“The suitableness of our climate for vine-culture, being conceded, the next most important consideration in connection with the subject, is the selection of the best soil and situation for the full development of the fruit.”
“It is generally known that volcanic countries are those in which the vine flourishes most and produces the best and most abundant crops. The best wines of Italy are yielded by grapes grown in the vicinity of Vesuvius, and large quantities are grown in the neighborhood of Aetna; both Tokay and Hermitage, are the produce of volcanic regions.”
“I entirely concur in the remark of Dr. Baldwin in his report on this subject, last year, that so far as our observation goes, we should expect that the grape would flourish in every part of the islands where there is sufficient depth of soil, not too dry, well exposed to the sun, and where they are protected from the trade-winds.”
“That the alluvial soil of the valleys, formed by deposits of the disintegrated and decomposed volcanic rocks which form the basis of our mountains, combined with decomposed vegetable matter, is admirably adapted for vine-culture, no one who has visited Lahaina, on Maui, or Waimea valley, on Kauai, can doubt …”
“… and I presume many others of our sheltered valleys would be equally productive. But our valleys form only a small fraction of the entire surface, and besides are so very valuable for the raising of other important crops, which cannot be well grown elsewhere …”
“… that it becomes the more important to investigate with care, the other portions of the surface, with a view to finding localities, less valuable for other purposes, where the grape can be profitably grown, and whether the rocky hill-sides which in other volcanic countries produce grapes in abundance, cannot here also be made available for the purpose.”
“A soil abounding in rocks and stones, is that in which the vine flourishes most, in the majority of wine-making regions ; and the rocky and precipitous hill-sides of Madeira, Teneriffe, the Azores and other similar countries where wine of high character is largely made for export, closely resemble our own barren mountain slopes.”
“In these countries, the earth found in the interstices of the rocks, is stirred up to a sufficient depth to receive the young plant, which finds usually sufficient moisture and shelter, to induce its rapid vegetation …”
“… and in the course of time its erratic shoots deposit and dispere themselves over the intervening rocks, where they find abundant heat and light to encourage the growth and the full development of their fruit, which in such a position matures with much rapidity, to great perfection.”
“That the same result will follow in similar localities on these islands has been already proved by several parties, one of whom, Mr. Cummins, of Kealakeakua, has at present a flourishing and highly promising little vine-yard on the stony surface of Kona, on Hawaii, a district which I apprehend, offers unmistakable evidence of its entire adaptation to vine-culture on a vastly extensive scale.”
“The elevation at which the vine will flourish and produce large and remunerative crops of fine fruit, is much higher than many imagine, and it is a great error to suppose, that it requires the high temperature of Lahaina to bring it to perfection.”
“Dr. Baldwin states in his report of last year, that he has seen ‘the finest grapes, produced too, in great abundance, in Kuapehu, on Hawaii, at an elevation of 1,500 feet,’ and adds that his impression is that the vine-growing regions are of great elevation, in which opinion he is fully sustained by facts.”
“On the same island, in Hāmākua, and at about the same elevation, another of our enterprising settlers, Robert Robinson, has produced enormous crops of excellent grapes this season; but it is unnecessary to multiply evidence on the subject.”
“Next in importance, after the selection of suitable soil, for a vineyard, is to secure a situation, either naturally sheltered from the trade-winds, or on which artificial shelter can be cheaply and easily made. “
“The mode of training the vine is also an important consideration. The object sought to be obtained by training, is to secure the largest crop of grapes of the best quality, and for the latter, an abundant exposure to the direct rays of the sun, both for heat and light, seems to be indispensable.”
“In extensive vine-yards, the more usual plan is, to train each plant to a single pole, the plants being set in rows 3 or 3 ½ feet apart, each way, and this method seems to answer the purpose admirably, and at a small cost.”
“Another method, perhaps best adapted for gardens, is to train the shoots on lateral trellices, about 6 feet high, but avoiding all top shade, which is always injurious to the quality and flavor of the fruit.”
“Humidity of climate, so far from being beneficial, is decidedly injurious to it, and in damp countries, grapes seldom come to perfection …”
“… whereas, in some countries, where it never rains, as in Guayaquil, in Bolivia, and other parts of the South American continent, excellent grapes and good wines are produced in abundance, a sample of which wine I have had the pleasure to taste at the hospitable board of HBM’s Consul-General in this city.”
“In discussing the important subject of vine-culture, I have hitherto gone on the assumption that it is desirable to be carried on, on an extensive scale …”
“… but if our present system is to be perpetuated, and that we are to be prohibited from using the fruit for any other purposes than eating only, it is idle to think of converting our now barren wastes into vine-yards, which could serve no useful purpose, or compensate for the cost of their formation.”
“The application of a crop, for the encouragement of the culture of which, this Society awards annual premiums, I take to be within the scope of a report, and as such I would take leave to say that I trust and hope the time has gone by when the manufacture of wine for export will be opposed by any important sections of this intelligent community.” (John Montgomery, Report to Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society, June 1, 1854)
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March 10, 1820 – no entry. (Thaddeus Journal)
10th. Caught a shark, and two Boneters, beautiful purple fish about the size, of a shad. (Samuel Ruggles)
March 10. – Today we crossed the Equator. (Samuel Whitney Journal)
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