Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Pōhakuloa

“E ku a mu mu.” (Be still! It is a god!)

“In ancient time women when they were to become Mothers made a pageant of love and ambition to this stone (Pōhakuloa) giving a Mohai (offering) laying before this God a fish called Hilu and emblem of gentleness, graceful, and good disposition in the child.”

“The fish Hilu was accompanied with the leaves of the Lama (a very large wood used in building houses for the Gods), and Emblem of wisdom, ambition and brightness for the child, Lamalama a torch (a beacon of light.)” (Montano – Galioto)

Pukui says it’s a “Large stone believed to bless expectant mothers and endow children with strength and wisdom.”  “The Pōhakuloa stone … was worshipped by Hawaiian women who prayed for their children to have wisdom and strength.”  (Aluli & McGregor)

About 1830, Queen Ka‘ahumanu ordered that a wall should be built from Punchbowl past Punahou to keep cattle from the inland residential areas. The stone wall also marked a path across Makiki that was first called Stonewall Street (it’s now known as Wilder Avenue.)

The Queen wished to form a gateway at Punahou School through this wall, and wanted two large stones on each side of the gate.

The stone would not move at first, so a kahuna was consulted.  The kahuna suggested that a lūʻau, or feast, be prepared with certain foods. After the lūʻau, the stone was moved easily to its new spot.

“My father had great difficulty in persuading them to move a large stone, which they revered as a Kupua, or local deity.  This was to be placed at one side of the upper gate as a part of the wall. It was considered very dangerous to move a Kupua, and disaster was almost sure to follow.”

“The workmen believed that the rock would remain stationary and refuse to be up-rooted, but it was displaced without any calamity and dragged by a team of oxen to the gate.”  (Rice, The Friend, March 1924)

“The stone was to be transported from the northeastern slope of Round Top (near the former home of Mrs. FM Swanzy). Its sacred nature required that ‘So sacred was Pōhakuloa that none but the king himself could sanction its removal and for that ceremony even the presence of the king was necessary, stripling though he was.'” (Damon, The Friend, March 1924).

“The big rock was exhumed from its bed (on the west side of the road leading to Manoa Valley, opposite the old “Cow Pen”) and rolled upon a framework of ship’s spars. The young King (Kamehameha III) then seated himself upon the apex of the rock, and gave the word of command …”

“… when rock, King and all were lifted upon the shoulders of the hulumanus – numerous as ants tugging at a kernel of corn – and carried down to its place.”  (Damon, The Friend, March 1924)

Pōhakuloa was shaped like a “mammoth taro leaf.”  Originally nine feet in length, the rock stood seven feet above ground and two below.

“(T)he huge lava boulder that stood guard at the Punahou gate. A monumental pyramid it seemed, towering upward in grim majesty, – probably ten feet.”

“A challenge it was to enterprising boys, with an instinct to decorate scenery with their initials, to climb its dizzy heights and leave their sculptured letters on the only “Walhalla” within reach.”  (Weaver, The Friend, March 1924)

“This rock was a curiosity about twelve feet high, and weighing several tons, and of the shape of a mammoth kalo. Often have I climbed to its top and eaten my lunch from my tin-pail thereon, and to my childish imagination it seemed as high as a church-tower.”  (Judd, The Friend, March 1924)

In 1854-59, Pōhakuloa, too large to move, was broken into pieces because it stood in the way of a road widening project.  A remainder of Pōhakuloa still stands at Punahou’s front gate.

“The other part of the stone … was given to a Japanese consul living at the corner of Beretania and Makiki streets. Kapiʻolani Maternity Home was later built at this site and some believe that the mana (divine power) of this pōhaku was a factor in its siting.”  (Aluli & McGregor)

Reportedly, there is another significant stone at Punahou, called Keapopo.  The story suggests it and Pōhakuloa would call to each other: “You come over here,” “No, you come here.”  (Manoa Heritage)

The image shows a remnant of the once larger Pōhakuloa at the Punahou School entrance (the plaque states “Punahou School Founded 1841”.)

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Waipi‘o, Hāmākua, Hawaiʻi

Waipi‘o (“curved water”) is one of several coastal valleys on the north part of the Hāmākua side of the Island of Hawaiʻi. A black sand beach three-quarters of a mile long fronts the valley, the longest on the Big Island.

The Waipiʻo Valley was once the Royal Center to many of the rulers on the Island of Hawaiʻi, including Pili lineage rulers – the ancestors of Kamehameha.  Līloa and his son ʻUmi ruled from Waipiʻo.  The Valley continued to play an important role as one of many royal residences until the era of Kamehameha.  (UH DURP)

In the 1780s, warring factions were fighting for control. The island of Hawaiʻi was in internal struggle when one of the aliʻi nui, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, died.  He passed his title to his son Kīwalaʻo and named his nephew, Kamehameha, keeper of the family war god, Kūkaʻilimoku.

Kīwalaʻo was later killed in battle, setting off a power struggle between Keōua, Keawemauhili and Kamehameha.  The 1782 Battle of Mokuʻōhai gave Kamehameha control of the West and North sides of the island of Hawaiʻi.

It was off the coast of Waimanu, near Waipiʻo, that Kamehameha overpowered Kahekili, the Chief of Maui Nui and O’ahu, and his half-brother, Kāʻeokūlani of Kauaʻi (1791.)

This was the first naval battle in Hawaiian history – Kepuwahaulaula, – known as the Battle of the Red-Mouthed Guns (so named for the cannons and other western weapons;) from here, Kamehameha continued his conquest of the Islands.

Many significant sites on the Island of Hawaiʻi were located in Waipiʻo:

Honuaʻula Heiau – “… all the corpses of those slain in battle were offered up in the heiau of Honua‘ula in Waipi‘o … when ʻUmi-a-Līloa laid the victims on the altar in the heiau—the bodies of the fallen warriors and the chief, Hakau …”

“… the tongue of the god came down from heaven, without the body being seen. The tongue quivered downward to the altar, accompanied by thunder and lightning, and took away all the sacrifices.” (Kamakau)

Pakaʻalana Heiau – “The puʻuhonua of Pakaʻalana was 300-feet to the southwest of Honua‘ula Heiau …There are many references to this famous place…[Fornander notes:…the tabus of its [Waipi‘o] great heiau were the most sacred on Hawaii …”

“… and remained so until the destruction of the heiau and the spoliation of all the royal associations in the valley of Waipi‘o by Kāʻeokūlani, king of Kauai, and confederate of Kahekili, king of Maui, in the war upon Kamehameha I, in 1791 …” (Stokes)

Hokuwelowelo Heiau – “The heiau is a small pen near the edge of the sea cliff, overlooking the mouth of Waipi‘o valley….This heiau is said to have been “built by the gods” and was the place where the famous Kihapu was guarded until it was stolen by the thief-dog, Puapualenalena .” (Stokes)

Moaʻula Heiau – “The site is at the foot of the steep northwest cliff bounding Waipi‘o valley, 2,500 feet from the sea. According to local information, Moaʻula was built by Hākau but was not dedicated at the time of ‘Umi’s rebellion. After ʻUmi killed Hākau, he dedicated the heiau and used Hākau’s body for the first offering.  (Stokes)

Fornander recounts that the great high chief ʻUmi “built large taro patches in Waipiʻo, and he tilled the soil in all places where he resided.” So it is readily apparent that the valley was intensively cultivated from long ago.

The valley floor was once the largest wetland kalo (taro) cultivation site on the Big Island and one of the largest in the Islands; but only a small portion of the land is still in production today.

Waipiʻo was a fertile and productive valley that could provide for many.  Reportedly, as many as 10,000-people lived in Waipiʻo Valley during the times before the arrival of Captain Cook in 1778.

Kalo cultivation and poi production in traditional Hawaiian was the mainstay of the Hawaiian diet. In the later part of the 19th-century and early half of the 20th-century its commercial manufacture became an important economic activity for the residents of Waipi‘o Valley.

William Ellis in 1823 described valley walls that “were nearly perpendicular, yet they were mostly clothed with grass, and low straggling shrubs were here and there seen amidst the jutting rocks.” The valley floor he described as “one continued garden, cultivated with taro, bananas, sugar-cane, and other productions of the islands, all growing luxuriantly.”

Workers were seen carrying back “loads of sandal wood, which they had been cutting in the neighbouring mountains.” Isabella Bird, viewing the valley from the pali above in 1873, described “a fertile region perfectly level…watered by a winding stream, and bright with fishponds, meadow lands, kalo patches, orange and coffee groves, figs, breadfruit, and palms.”

Waipiʻo was the greatest wet-taro valley of Hawaiʻi and one of the largest planting areas in the entire group of islands. In 1870, the Chinese started rice farming in areas which were previously cultivated in taro.

In 1902 Tuttle estimated 580 acres cultivated in rice and taro in Waipiʻo. Rice crop production came to an end in 1927 when it could no longer compete with the lower-cost California rice.  (UH DURP)

By 1907, Waipiʻo Valley had four schools – one English, three Hawaiian. It had five stores, four restaurants, one hotel, a post office, a rice mill, nine poi factories, four pool halls and five churches. (UH DURP)

Tidal waves came in 1819 and 1946 destroying crops, destroying the fertility of the land with salt intrusion and in 1946, destroyed the people’s spirit. “The brutal 55-foot waves … came in at an angle, hitting the Waimanu side of the pali, deflecting up the flat and then circling down the Wailoa River in torrents” (UH DURP)

There is limited access (due to the steep and narrow roadway) into the valley.  Warning signs at the top of the extremely steep and narrow Waipiʻo Valley access road restrict use to 4-WD vehicles in low range to keep a reduced speed and to save your vehicle’s brakes. Periodically, the road is closed.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Royal Hawaiian Hotel

The first Royal Hawaiian Hotel was not in Waikīkī.  It was in downtown Honolulu where the “One Capitol District” building now stands.  By the 1900s, the Royal Hawaiian lost its guests to the newer Alexander Young hotel a few blocks away.

The downtown Royal Hawaiian was converted to a YMCA building in 1917.  The building was demolished in 1926, and a new YMCA in a similar style was built in its place.

For centuries, Helumoa in Waikīkī was the home to Hawaiʻi’s royalty.  Portions of this area would eventually become the home to the new Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

In the 1890s, the property was leased as a seaside annex to the downtown Royal Hawaiian Hotel located at Richards and Hotel streets.

In 1907, the Seaside Hotel opened on the property, and was later acquired by Alexander Young’s Territorial Hotel Company, which operated the Alexander Young hotel in downtown Honolulu.

In 1924, the Seaside Hotel’s lease of the land at Helumoa was soon to expire and the land’s owners (Bishop Estate) put out a request for proposals to build a hotel.

This was the time before flight; Matson Navigation Co. had luxury ocean liners bringing wealthy tourists to Hawaii – but, they needed a hotel equally lavish to accommodate their passengers at Waikīkī (at that time, the 650 passengers arriving in Honolulu every two weeks were typically staying at Hawaiʻi’s two largest hotels, the Alexander Hotel and the Moana.)

The availability of the Waikīkī land began putting wheels into motion.  A new hotel was planned and conceived as a luxurious resort for Matson passengers, the brainchild of Ed Tenney (who headed the “big five” firm of Castle and Cooke and Matson Navigation) and Matson manager William Roth (son-in-law to William Matson founder of Matson Navigation.)

Castle & Cooke, Matson Navigation and the Territorial Hotel Company successfully proposed a plan to build a luxury hotel, The Royal Hawaiian, with 400 rooms on the 15-acre parcel of Waikiki beach to be leased from Bishop Estate.

The ground-breaking ceremony took place on July 26, 1925.  However, the official building permits were delayed while city officials changed the building code to allow increased building heights.  After $4 million and 18 months, the resort was completed.

On February 1, 1927, the Royal Hawaiian (nicknamed The Pink Palace) was officially opened with the gala event of the decade.  At the same time, and associated with the hotel, the Territorial Hotel Co opened the Waiʻalae Golf Course.

Duke Kahanamoku, the legendary Olympic swimmer and surfer, frequented the Royal Hawaiian Hotel restaurants and private beachfront. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel became a favorite stomping ground for Kahanamoku’s famed group, dubbed the “Waikiki Beach Boys”.

Over the following decades, the Royal Hawaiian was THE place to stay and the Pink Palace hosted world celebrities, financiers, heads of state and the elite from around the world.

World War II, with its associated martial law and blackout measures, meant significant changes at the Royal Hawaiian.  In January of 1942, the U.S. Navy signed a lease with the Royal Hawaiian to use the facilities as a rest and relaxation center for officers and enlisted personnel serving in the Pacific.

During the war, over 200,000 men stayed at the Royal Hawaiian. Each day as many as 5,500 service-related visitors (most of who were not staying at the hotel) passed through the front gates to enjoy the beach or social activities.

At the conclusion of World War II, the hotel was given a makeover to restore her to the level of luxury her guests would expect.

ITT Sheraton purchased The Royal Hawaiian from Matson in June 1959.  The Royal Tower Wing was added to the existing structure in 1969.  The resort was sold in 1974 to Kyo-ya Company, Ltd., with Starwood Hotels & Resorts operating it under a long-term management contract.

In 2008, the Royal Hawaiian again underwent significant renovation (to the tune of $85-million) and held its official grand reopening on March 7, 2009.  The Tower section was renovated yet again in November 2010 and reopened as The Royal Beach Tower with upgraded rooms.

Why the color pink?  Bob Krauss once reported that the Royal Hawaiian’s pink color is due to the typically pink-painted homes in Lisbon, Portugal.

Friends of William Roth (Kimo and Sarah Wilder) had visited Lisbon and upon returning repainted their home pink with blue-green shutters.  Roth commented, “I love what you’ve done to your house. Can I paint my hotel the same color?”

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Betsey Stockton

Born in 1798 in Princeton, New Jersey, as a slave owned by the family of Robert Stockton, Esq., Betsey Stockton was presented as a gift to the Stockton’s eldest daughter and her husband, the Reverend Ashbel Green (who was later the President of Princeton College (later known as Princeton University.))

Although masters did not typically favor educating their slaves beyond proficient training as domestic nurse, seamstress and cook, Green gave her books and encouraged her to use the family library. She later attended evening classes at Princeton Theological Seminary.

In September 1816, Betsey’s application for admission to the First Presbyterian Church in Princeton was formally approved. Around 1817, Ashbel Green freed her.

Stockton often spoke to Green about her wish to journey abroad, possibly to Africa, on a Christian mission. Green introduced her to Charles S Stewart, a young missionary, newly ordained in 1821, who was about to be sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) to Hawaiʻi.

Through a special agreement between Green, the Stewarts and the ABCFM, Stockton joined the mission both as a domestic in the Stewart household and was commissioned by the ABCFM as a missionary.

She became the first single American woman sent overseas as a missionary.

Her contract with the Board and with the Stewarts said that she went “neither as an equal nor as a servant, but as a humble Christian friend” to the Stewarts, and provided that she was not to do more than an equal share of menial duties which might “prevent her being employed as a teacher of a school”.

In November 1822, Stockton, the Stewarts and the other missionaries in the 2nd Company set sail on the ‘Thames’ from New Haven, Connecticut for the Hawaiian Islands.

On April 24, 1823, “we saw and made Owhyhee (Hawaiʻi). At the first sight of the snow-capped mountains, I felt a strange sensation of joy and grief. It soon wore away, and as we sailed slowly past its windward side, we had a full view of all its grandeur.”

“The tops of the mountains are hidden in the clouds, and covered with perpetual snow. We could see with a glass the white banks, which brought the strong wintry blasts of our native country to our minds so forcibly, as almost to make me shiver.” (Betsey Stockton Journal)

Upon her arrival, Stockton became the first known African American woman in Hawaiʻi.

Intelligent, industrious and frugal, she was aptly described as a devoted Christian, not only because of her constant attendance at church and her faith in God, but also because she supported the interests of the church, secured clothes for her students, and helped to heal the sick while continuing her domestic work to help the Stuarts. (Jackson)

“On Saturday, the 10th of May (1823,) we left the ship, and went to the mission enclosure at Honoruru. We had assigned to us a little thatched house in one corner of the yard, consisting of one small room, with a door, and two windows – the door too small to admit a person walking in without stooping, and the windows only large enough for one person to look out at a time.”

“The family all eat at the same table, and the ladies attend to the work by turns. Mrs. Stewart and myself took each of us a day separately.” (Betsey Stockton Journal)

“On the 26th of May (1823) we heard that the barge (Cleopatra’s Barge, or “Haʻaheo o Hawaiʻi,” Pride of Hawaiʻi) was about to sail for Lahaina, with the old queen (Keōpūolani) and princess (Nāhiʻenaʻena;) and that the queen was desirous to have missionaries to accompany her …”

“A meeting was called to consult whether it was expedient to establish a mission at Lahaina. The mission was determined on, and Mr. S. (Stewart) was appointed to go: he chose Mr. R. (Richards) for his companion … On the 28th we embarked on the mighty ocean again, which we had left so lately.” (Betsey Stockton Journal)

Per the requests of the chiefs, the American Protestant missionaries, at that time, were typically teaching their own children and the children of the Hawaiian chiefs.

“Now the chiefs have expressed their determination to have instruction in reading and writing extended to the whole population and have only been waiting for books, and an increase in the number of suitably qualified native teachers, to put the resolution, as far as practical, into effect.”

“A knowledge of this having reached some of the makaainana, or farmers of Lahaina … application was made by them to us for books and slates, and an instructor …”

“… and the first school, consisting of about thirty individuals, ever formed among that class of people, has, within a few days, been established in our enclosure, under the superintendence of B (Betsey Stockton), who is quite familiar with the native tongue.” (Charles Stewart Journal, August 1824)

In 1823, Kalākua Kaheiheimālie (ke Aliʻi Hoapili wahine, wife of Governor Hoapili) offered the American missionaries a tract of land on the slopes surrounding Puʻu Paʻupaʻu for the creation of a school.

Stockton founded a school for makaʻāinana (common people) including the women and children. The school was situated on what is now Lahainaluna School (and some suggest it served as the initial basis for that school.)

Stockton’s school was commended for its teaching proficiency, and later served as a model for the Hilo Boarding School and also for the Hampton Institute in Virginia, a historic Black college in Virginia established after the Civil War (founded by General Samuel C. Armstrong (son of missionary Richard Armstrong, former Pastor at Kawaiahaʻo Church.))

(Kalākaua visited Hampton Normal and Agricultural School – later known as Hampton Institute on one of his trips to the continent.)

Because of the serious illness of Mrs. Harriet Stewart, the Stewarts decided to return to Cooperstown, New York, after two and a half years in Hawaiʻi. Stockton accompanied them; leaving native Hawaiian teachers she had trained to take her place.

Stockton left Hawaiʻi in 1825, returning to the continent where she was assigned to teach Native American children in Canada. Then, Stockton returned to Princeton in 1835, living in a small house on Witherspoon Street, which was primarily an African American neighborhood.

Stockton was instrumental in the founding of the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church, originally called the First Presbyterian Church of Color of Princeton. She also began teaching African American children in a public school in Princeton in 1837, which she continued to do for several years.

She spent the rest of her life in Princeton working on behalf of its African American and white residents to enrich the lives of the members of the local African American community.

Betsey Stockton began life as a slave, and went on to become a schoolteacher, medical nurse and missionary; she died in her hometown of Princeton, New Jersey in October 1865.

Here is a link to an expanded discussion on Betsey Stockton:

Click to access Betsey-Stockton.pdf

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Keauhou Heiau Restoration

Kamehameha Investment (formerly acting as a for-profit arm of Kamehameha Schools) restored heiau on its Keauhou Resort area.

As background, formalized worship, offerings and/or sacrifice by chiefs took place in temples, or heiau.

These structures were typically stone-walled enclosures having several houses and open-air temples with terraces, extensive stone platforms, and numerous carved idols in which ruling chiefs paid homage to the major Hawaiian gods.

There were several types of heiau: including agricultural, economy-related, healing or the large sacrificial war temples.

Erecting heiau was the prerogative and responsibility of the Ali‘i, for only they could command the necessary resources to build them, to maintain the priests and to secure the sacrifices that were required for the rituals.

Though temple worship was primarily an affair of the royalty, the whole land depended upon the effectiveness of these rituals.

I don’t mean any disrespect here, and remember we are talking about heiau that are hundreds of years old. Over the years they aged and disassembled. Prior to restoration, to some, they were just a pile of rocks. The restoration has now allowed people to see the heiau as they once were.

Three significant heiau have been restored at Keauhou: Hāpaiali‘i Heiau, Ke‘ekū Heiau and Mākole‘ā Heiau. Using modern-day technology coupled with ancient techniques, restoration of the heiau using the Hawaiian art of uhau humu pōhaku (dry stack masonry) have rebuilt the massive stone platforms.

Hāpaiali‘i Heiau

Information suggests that Hāpaiali‘i Heiau was built by Ma‘a, a kahuna of Maui, who later left for Kaua‘i.

The period of Ma‘a was said to be later than that of Pa‘ao. Carbon dating indicates the heiau was built on a smooth Pāhoehoe lava flow sometime between 1411 and 1465. The heiau was for prayers only.

Ke‘ekū Heiau

Ke‘ekū Heiau is an imposing, heavy-walled enclosure surrounded on the west, north, and east by the ocean at high tide.

Tradition indicates that, after building it, Lonoikamakahiki attacked Kamalalawalu, king of Maui, who had invaded Hawai‘i, and that after defeating Kamalalawalu, Lonoikamakahiki offered him as a sacrifice at Ke‘ekū.

The spirits of his grieving dogs, Kauakahi‘oka‘oka and Kapapako, are said to continue to guard this site. Outside the entrance to the heiau and towards the southwest are a number of petroglyphs on the pāhoehoe. One of them is said to represent Kamalalawalu.

During restoration, it was discovered that the heiau also served as a solar calendar. On the winter solstice, from a spot directly behind the temple’s center stone, the sun sets directly off the southwest corner of the heiau; at the vernal equinox, the sun sets directly along the centerline of the temple and at summer solstice, it sets off the northwest corner.

Mākole‘ā Heiau

Mākole‘ā Heiau (also known as Ke‘ekūpua‘a,) is located 600 feet from the ocean, on the same tidal flat as Hāpaiali‘i Heiau and Ke‘ekū Heiau.

The backwater nearly encircles Ke‘ekū Heiau at high tide does not quite reach Mākole‘ā. Tradition indicates that the heiau had been built (or consecrated) by Lonoikamakahiki and that it was used for prayers in general.

Historic Hawai‘i Foundation awarded Preservation Honor Awards for these efforts.

I applaud Kamehameha Investment for these restorations. While ruins of a heiau are impressive, I really think people today can get a far better appreciation of what heiau are, after they have been restored.

The photo notes the before and after of the restoration of Hāpaiali‘i Heiau (photos primarily from Keauhou Resort.)

(In 2013, Kamehameha Schools began consolidating operations, bringing the day-to-day land management activities of Kamehameha Investment Corporation under the school’s auspices.)

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