Peter T Young

March 11, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Walter Chamberlain Peacock

Walter Chamberlain (WC) Peacock was born in in 1858 in Lancaster, England. After a short stay in New Zealand, he arrived in the Islands in about 1881. (Sullivan)

Shortly after arriving, Peacock started a liquor business with George Freeth (Freeth’s son, George Douglas Freeth Jr, is noted as the father of California surfing.) (Whitcomb) By 1890 Freeth had departed and the firm became known as WC Peacock & Co.

In addition to selling liquor at wholesale, Peacock also ran a string of saloons in Honolulu – Pacific, Cosmopolitan and Royal. A notable remnant of Peacock’s enterprises is the Royal Saloon at the corner of Merchant and Nuʻuanu in downtown Honolulu. (Sullivan)

Since 1873, the property had been used as a hotel and saloon (apparently, the initial retail spirit license for it was issued to William Lowthian Green – Freeth’s father-in-law.) In 1884 the saloon was sold, then sold again between that year and 1886, when Peacock owned it. In its early years, the saloon was particularly popular with sailors, the Sailors’ Home being next door.

Peacock’s saloon was demolished for the widening of Merchant Street which took place in 1889. He temporarily moved his establishment to the corner of King and Nuʻuanu Streets. After the street was widened, Peacock constructed a new saloon in 1890, on the site of his earlier structure. (HABS)

Back in the reign of King Kalākaua, a building on the site was called the Hawaiian Steakhouse and Saloon, a place for businessmen, ships’ officers and royalty to gather for food, libations and cigars. (George) Another name for it was Royal Hotel. (It’s now home to Murphy’s.)

For a while, Peacock and his brother, Corbert Alfred Peacock, were involved in a farm implements business (disc ploughs) in Australia as WC Peacock and Bro. It was relatively short-lived (about 1899-1901.) Corbet ran the business in Australia for about 3 years and then returned to Hawaiʻi. (ozwrenches)

In the 1890s, Walter joined other Honolulu elite who constructed mansions along the Waikīkī shoreline, including James Campbell, Frank Hustace and William Irwin. The wealthy discovered the ultimate destination of Waikīkī.

Peacock also built his own a pier (Peacock Pier.) Nearby was an early commercial venture, the Long Branch Baths (offering sea bathing in Waikīkī’s waters.) Down the way, Liliʻuokalani also had her own pier.

Then, Peacock proposed another Hawaiʻi lasting legacy. In the late-1890s, with additional steamship lines to Honolulu, the visitor arrivals to Oʻahu were increasing. In 1896, Peacock proposed to build Waikīkī’s first major resort to provide a solution to the area’s main drawback – the lack of suitable accommodations on the beach.

The initial idea was to construct a number of airy cottages on the Peacock premises, where the surf is in many respects better than at any other point on the beach. The outlook, however, rapidly became so much improved that even more elaborate plans than had ever been thought of were finally adopted. (Thrum)

Peacock created a new company, Moana Hotel Company Ltd, and engaged the well-known architect Oliver G Trephagen to design the hotel. He arranged for his own house to be moved to accommodate the large building. (Sullivan)

The main hotel had 75-five rooms. This does not include the entire lower floor and the large Peacock cottage on the grounds. The lower, or first, floor of the hotel will be given over to a billiard parlor, saloon, office, library, reception parlor, etc.

It was planned to make a club house of the Peacock cottage until such time as it may be required for regular hotel purposes. The rooms on the second, third and fourth floors are large and are so joined together that they may be fitted in any number of manner for family or excursion parties.

Above the hotel proper is a central tower in which is a fifth floor, and above that is a covered roof garden. From the latter a perfect view was to be had of the sea and most of the city of Honolulu.

This roof garden is large enough for receptions and dancing parties. The hotel has its own electric plant, which will supply power and light. It will run the up-to-date elevator, furnish light throughout the buildings and grounds, give power to the laundry and speed the fans in the dining room. (Thrum)

The Moana Hotel officially opened on March 11, 1901. Designed in the old colonial style architecture of the period, it was the costliest, most elaborate and modern hotel building in the Hawaiian Islands at the time.

Each room on the three upper floors had a bathroom and a telephone – innovations for any hotel of the times. The hotel also had its own ice plant and electric generators.

In 1905, Peacock sold the hotel to Alexander Young, a prominent Honolulu businessman with other island hotel interests. After Young’s death in 1910, his estate continued to operate the hotel.

In 1918, five-story concrete additions were added to the original wooden structure changing the floor plan from a simple rectangle to the present H-shaped plan that encloses the Banyan Court on three sides.

In the center of the Moana’s courtyard stands a large Banyan tree. The Indian Banyan tree was planted in 1904 by Jared Smith, Director of the Department of Agriculture Experiment Station (about 7-feet at planting, it is now over 75-feet in height.)

The original 240-foot-long timber Peacock Pier (subsequently renamed Moana Pier) was taken down in 1931, due to its deterioration. (Wiegel)

In 1909, Peacock died at the age of 51. He was buried in the Oʻahu Cemetery in a section known as the “Peacock Plot.” His mother, Margaret, age 82, three years later would join him in the grave. Mother and son are memorialized on a joint headstone. (Sullivan)

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Royal Saloon (NPS)

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Royal Saloon Building, 1890

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W C Peacock & Bro Plough Hammer Spanner. © Ozwrenches

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March 10, 2015 by Peter T Young 12 Comments

What happened to ʻOlaʻa?

That seems to be the question of some, because in the district of Puna on the Island of Hawaiʻi what once was called Olaʻa is now called Keaʻau. So why did it change?

Let’s look back a bit.

Part of the confusion may be that Olaʻa was formerly called Laʻa, a legendary area for collecting bird feathers. (Ulukau) To further confuse things, some scholars believe that ʻOlaʻa is misspelled, and should be spelled as ʻO-Laʻa.

Some believe that the okina is a substitute for the letter ‘k,’ as it is in some other Polynesian languages, which would, in turn, change the meaning to the name of the hula deity Laka, or a place dedicated (Iaʻa) to the god. (Cultural Surveys)

Laka is the goddess of the upland forests worshiped in the hula dance. (Beckwith) Since Laka is guardian of the forest, her name is invoked by hula dancers and others when entering the forest.

Forests once covered much of ʻOlaʻa; they were later (1905-1928) made part of the forest reserve system within the Islands. The forest lands of ʻOlaʻa were noted for their growth of ʻohiʻa and koa trees, and hapuʻu tree fern.

At the Mahele (1848,) ʻOlaʻa was retained by the Crown. It was described as “A very large land, but cut off from the sea by Keaʻau.” (Cultural Surveys)

Keaʻau (about 60,000-acres of land) is the northern most of some 50 ahupuaʻa (ancient land divisions) found in the district of Puna. Keaʻau extends from the ocean fishery some 26 miles inland, and reaches an elevation of about 3,900-feet – portions of it wrap around the makai point of ʻOlaʻa. In the uplands, Keaʻau is cut off by Keauhou, eastern-most of the ahupuaʻa of the district of Kaʻu. (Maly)

While historically people typically settled along the shoreline, because much of the Puna’s district’s coastal areas have thin soils and there are no good deep water harbors, settlement patterns in Puna tend to be dispersed and without major population centers. Villages in Puna tended inland, and away from the coast, where the soil is better for agriculture. (Escott)

This was confirmed on William Ellis’ travel around the island in the early 1800s, “Hitherto we had travelled close to the seashore, in order to visit the most populous villages in the districts through which we had passed. But here receiving information that we should find more inhabitants a few miles inland, than nearer the sea, we thought it best to direct our course towards the mountains.” (Ellis, 1826)

“Nearly all the food consumed by the residents of this District is raised in the interior belt to which access is had by the ancient paths or trails leading from the sea coast. The finest sweet potatoes are raised in places that look more like banks of cobble stones or piles of macadam freshly dumped varying from the size of a walnut to those as large as ones fist. In these holes there is not a particle of soil to be seen”. (Alexander; Rechtman)

What is consistent and clear from testimony before the Land Commission, there definitely was an Olaʻa in upper Puna on the Island of Hawaiʻi. The testimony is equally consistent and clear that there also was a Keaʻau.

Thrum, in his 1894 Hawaiian Almanac and Annual, noted, “The year 1894 witnessed the completion of the volcano road which was begun in 1889. This is a boon to visitors and the settlers in the new coffee district of ʻOlaʻa, as it affords a fine carriage drive the entire distance of thirty miles. Regular stages now run between Hilo and the Volcano House every other day.”

A common reference relates to the old road to Volcano, “ʻOlaʻa (is) on the Hilo side of the road and Keaʻau on the Puna side.” Others phrased it “ʻOlaʻa being on the North side of the road and Keaʻau on the South east side.”

“ʻOlaʻa has come into prominence in the past few years as a most promising coffee center. The opening of the road from Hilo to the volcano, which traverses this neighborhood, was the means of bringing the possibilities of the ʻOlaʻa lands to public notice as well as within reach.” (Thrum, 1898)

So, what happened with the ʻOlaʻa – Keaʻau name changes?

Before 1900, coffee was the chief agricultural crop in the area. Over 6,000-acres of coffee trees were owned by approximately 200-independent coffee planters and 6 incorporated companies.

Soon, sugarcane was in large-scale production. Initially founded in 1899, ʻOlaʻa Sugar Company leased about 4,000-acres of land, expanded and eventually became the dominant operation in the region. Plantation fields extended for 10-miles along both sides of Highway 11 between Keaʻau and Mountain View, as well as in the Pāhoa and Kapoho areas.

Construction of centrally-located ʻOlaʻa Sugar Mill was completed in 1902, requiring 51 men working a three-shift operation. This industrial expansion marked the beginning of massive landscape alterations and clearing operations.

A community grew around the plantation. Attention to employee welfare was demonstrated by ʻOlaʻa Sugar Company in the housing program, free medical attention and recreational facilities. ʻOlaʻa modernized the housing by building new family units and relocating outlying houses scattered about the plantation into nine main villages.

They became miniature towns with running water, electric lights, schools, churches, stores, clubhouses, theaters, parks and ball fields. The plantation roads radiated from these nine camps to cover the cane areas where the men worked. The 1930 plantation census noted a total of 5,999-men, women and children residing in 1,098-houses at ʻOlaʻa. (HSPA)

The plantation made land available for community uses. As examples, the ʻOlaʻa Hongwanji was built in 1902. Likewise, ʻOlaʻa Christian Church was nearby. ʻOlaʻa School, an elementary school, began in 1939. Other groups and places were formed using the ʻOlaʻa namesake.

That changed … and, it’s not clear how or when the mistake was learned.

But a 1951 article in The Friend paper reported part of the reasoning for subsequent name changes. “At an impressive ceremony, more than 250 members and friends of the church gathered to witness the old ʻOlaʻa Christian Church become the new Keaʻau Congregational Church.”

“The name-changing and rededication ceremony took place on the night of April 10, 1951, at the ʻOlaʻa Christian Church …. The Christian assertion, ‘God is Truth,’ is no mere, pious assertion designed to conceal their inner fear of truth nor their secret attachment to falsehood.”

“Christians are incurably truthseekers. Thus when the members of our church learned that the original and correct name of the village in which the church is situated is Keaʻau and not ʻOlaʻa, they felt that the time had come when they should change the name of the church.” (The Friend, June 1, 1951)

Others followed.

In 1960, ʻOlaʻa Sugar Company became Puna Sugar Company. ʻOlaʻa Elementary School became Keaʻau Elementary and Intermediate School (later Keaʻau Middle School.) In the early-1970s, ʻOlaʻa Hongwanji became Puna Hongwanji.

Not all early labels and references were incorrect; a 1914 USGS map appears to correctly label the place once known as ʻOlaʻa as Keaau.

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March 9, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Tennooe’ – William Kanui

“William Kanui, who had been placed at Kailua, having in a few short months violated his vows by excess in drinking (and) was excluded from Christian fellowship, but still performed some service for the chiefs for a time, then became a wanderer for many years.” (Bingham)

Let’s look back …

“He was born on the Island of Oʻahu, about the close of the last century. His father belonging to the party of a defeated chief, fled with his son to Waimea, Kauai, while there (1809,) an American merchant vessel … touched for supplies.” Kanui and his brother caught a ride on the ship and ended up in Boston. (The Friend, February 5, 1864)

By 1815, many divinity school students at Yale were fascinated with the prospect of evangelizing what were considered the “heathen” (a person who does not belong to a widely held religion) in far-off lands. Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia had been befriended by members of the church community, and was held up as an example of the intelligence and propensity for spirituality that could be found among the Hawaiian people. (Warne)

The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions’ (ABCFM) Foreign Mission School at Cornwall, Connecticut opened in the spring of 1817. Kanui was among seven Hawaiians in the opening class. Three other “heathen” included two boys from Calcutta and one Native American.

“Soon after their arrival, they attracted the attention of the friends of foreign missions, and when the mission school was opened … they were received as pupils (Kanui, ʻŌpūkahaʻia, Thomas Hopu, William Kanui, and Prince Humehume (son of Kauaʻi’s King Kaumuali‘i”.)) (The Friend, February 5, 1864)

The coming of ʻŌpūkahaʻia and other young Hawaiians to the continent had awakened a deep Christian sympathy in the churches. “The arrival in this country of several youth from the Sandwich Islands, and the leadings of Providence respecting them, have been viewed from the first, by those acquainted with the facts, as an indication of some important design…”

“… under this impression, several individuals undertook to assist and patronize these youth. Their efforts have been crowned with unexpected success.” (Five Youths from the Sandwich Islands, 1815)

The boys were taught to read and write, but the only available textbooks were in the English language – there was not yet an appropriate alphabet, nor was there a single printed page in Hawaiian. For 2 ½ years, Kanui was totally immersed in studies. (Warne)

In the fall of 1819, the brig Thaddeus, was chartered to carry the Pioneer Company of missionaries to the Islands. There were seven American couples sent by the ABCFM to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity (two Ordained Preachers, Hiram & Sybil Bingham and Asa and Lucy Thurston; two Teachers, Samuel & Mercy Whitney and Samuel & Mary Ruggles; a Doctor, Thomas & Lucia Holman; a Printer, Elisha & Maria Loomis; and a Farmer, Daniel Chamberlain (and his family.))

Kanui was among four native Hawaiians selected to accompany the group. He, along with Hopu and Honoliʻi, had progressed in their Christian studies to the point of being accepted as “pious” and baptized into the church. The fourth was Prince Humehume. (Warne) (Unfortunately, ʻŌpūkahaʻia died suddenly of typhus fever in 1818 and did not fulfill his dream of returning to the islands to preach the gospel.)

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US set sail on the Thaddeus for the Islands.

After 164-days at sea, on April 4, 1820, the Thaddeus arrived and anchored at Kailua-Kona on the Island of Hawaiʻi. Hawai‘i’s “Plymouth Rock” is about where the Kailua pier is today.

By the time the Pioneer Company arrived, Kamehameha I had died and the centuries-old kapu system had been abolished; through the actions of King Kamehameha II (Liholiho,) with encouragement by former Queens Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani (Liholiho’s mother,) the Hawaiian people had already dismantled their heiau and had rejected their religious beliefs.

In the Kailua mission at Kona Lucy Thurston noted, “In the morning the two Hawaiian youth walked away to see the gentry; and having an eye to influence, they put on their best broadcloth suits and ruffled shirts, their conspicuous watch chains, of course, dangling from the fobs of their pants.”

“Their hair was cut short on the sides and back of the head, but left long on top, to stand gracefully erect. Their style was the same as if again about to enter the capacious drawing rooms of Boston where they had been received with much éclat.” (Thurston, 1882)

After the Thaddeus departed, Kanui was severely put to the test. For the first time in years he was back in a culture that he had loved in his childhood – the dress, or lack thereof, the chants and dances, swimming in the ocean, fishing, games of bowling with the ‘ulu maika stones.

However, it was Kanui’s close association with Liholiho that posed the most serious temptation for the young Kanui. Liholiho “loved his liquor, and was often recorded as being extremely intoxicated. It was not long until Kanui began to drink with Liholiho and his court – an action that surely led to severe admonitions from the pastor, Asa Thurston.” (Warne)

July 23, 1820, Kanui was the first to return to the “old ways.” Bingham excommunicated Kanui from the church. Thus, a mere 4-months after his arrival home, Kanui was on his own – he served for a time in the court of Liholiho, worked in a Honolulu grog shop and signed aboard various whaling vessels.

He left the Islands and joined the California gold rush in 1848; he was successful in gold digging, but lost all (about $6,000) when the bank where he had his deposits, Page, Bacon & Co, of San Francisco, failed. He reconnected with the church, joining the Bethel Church in San Francisco, under the charge of the Rev. M. Rowell. (The Friend, February 5, 1864)

Kanui later returned to the Islands and the first person he looked up was Hiram Bingham. Kanui was welcomed back, but told he would be treated as an outsider for a considerable period until he proved to the missionaries he was truly “pious.”

But Kanui, now 45-years of age, was a changed man. He obtained permission from local Chiefs to establish a school on a small plot of land at the foot of Palolo Valley and called it “William Tennooe’s English School.” (Although the newly-standardized alphabet would spell his name as “Kanui,” he retained the old anglicized spelling, “Tennooe.”)

It was a subscription school, charging parents were 12 ½ to 25 cents per week. Textbooks included the Bible in English, Webster’s Spelling Book and Adam’s Arithmetic. After a slow start the school grew to about 50-students. (Warne)

“Of the fourteen pioneers, I gratefully record it, after twenty-seven years, four men and the seven women are still living to praise God for his faithfulness to them, and for his surpassing favor to that mission and that nation. Wm. Kanui, after wandering twenty years, has returned to his duty as a teacher.” (Bingham)

Kanui died at Queen’s Hospital, January 14, 1864, at the age of about 66 years. “(H)e departed this life leaving the most substantial and gratifying evidence that he was prepared to die. His views were remarkably clear and satisfactory. Christ was his only hope, and Heaven the only desire of his heart.”

“It was peculiarly gratifying to sit beside his bedside and hear him recount the ‘wonderful ways’ in which God had led him. He cherished a most lively sense of gratitude towards all those kind friends in America who provided for his education … a stranger in a foreign land.” (The Friend, February 5, 1864)

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Foreign Mission School (CornwallHistoricalSociety)

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March 7, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Royal Footsteps

To the unsuspecting motorist, travel along Ali‘i Drive is a very pleasant coastal drive filled with scenic vistas, natural features and recreational opportunities.

But look a little closer and discover that these seven miles of roadway hold seven centuries of Hawaiian history and culture revealed in the archaeological sites that have survived over hundreds of years.

Ali‘i, Hawai‘i’s royal class, were the ruler-caretakers of the islands. The great chiefs, through their strong genealogical connections, owned all the land in the areas they controlled.

Royal Centers were compounds selected by the Ali‘i for their abundance of resources and recreation opportunities, with good surfing and canoe-landing sites being favored. Structures most likely included heiau (religious temples) and sacred areas, house sites for the Ali‘i and their entourage of family and kahuna (priests).

Four of the seven ancient Royal Centers in use in Kona are located on what is now called Ali‘i Drive: Kamakahonu, Hōlualoa, Kahaluʻu and Keauhou.

Kamakahonu, Kailua – Occupied by Kamehameha I between 1813 and 1819.
Holualoa – Area with numerous heiau and good surf. Associated with Keolonahihi in the ca. 1300, Keakamahana and Keakealaniwahine in ca. 1600 and Kamehameha I in the 18th Century.
Kahaluʻu – Complex of multiple heiau surrounding Kahaluʻu Bay.
Keauhou – This area is noted for the largest hōlua slide in Hawai‘i called Kaneaka, the surfing area called Kaulu and numerous heiau.

Oral traditions that tell us that in the time of Pāʻao, or by western calculations the 1300s, Chiefess Keolonāhihi resided at the Hōlualoa Royal Center.

Keolonāhihi (reported to be either the daughter or niece of Pāʻao) is an essential link to the beginnings of old Hawai‘i’s kapu system – the religious, social and political structure introduced by Pāʻao which lasted for some 500-years until King Kamehameha II defiantly ended it in 1819 at the Kamakahonu Royal Center.

Defending these old traditions, over 300 warriors lost their lives in the fierce Battle of Kuamoʻo and are buried at Lekeleke, the southern endpoint of Ali‘i Drive.

In the early-1500s, ʻUmialiloa (ʻUmi) consolidated his reign by killing off other chiefs to become the sole ruler of Hawai‘i Island. He then moved to Kona, where he was known as a benevolent chief, and during this time the Kahaluʻu area grew in its political stature and religious significance.

Lonoikamakahiki, who also ruled during the 1500s, chose Kahaluʻu and Keauhou for his residence and the seat of government.

The Kahaluʻu Royal Center included the ancient Hāpaiali‘i Heiau that once stood for prayers, along with adjacent Ke‘ekū heiau and Makolea heiau. All have been recently restored.

In the 1600s, Keakealaniwahine, the great-great grandmother of King Kamehameha I, and her mother Keakamahana were Ali‘i of the highest rank and they resided at the Hōlualoa Royal Center. Alapaʻinui and Kalaniʻōpuʻu, 1600s to 1700s, are also associated with several sites and heiau in the region.

The Kamehameha Dynasty ruled for nearly a century from the late-1700s to the late-1800s. During the late-1700s and early 1800s, King Kamehameha I, also known as Kamehameha the Great, was the first to unify the entire Hawai‘i archipelago under a single rule.

He excelled at surfing at Hōlualoa Bay; in the final years of his life, Kamehameha I selected Kamakahonu as his residence and his rule established the first Capital of Hawai‘i here from 1812 until his death in 1819. Shortly thereafter, the capital of the kingdom was moved from Hawai‘i Island, never to return.

Archaeological features of these various sites, for the most part, remain in place along Ali‘i Drive and signal their monumental importance in Hawai‘i’s history and culture. Several heiau have been restored in Keauhou.

It was here, along Ali‘i Drive, over centuries in time where chiefs of the highest rank walked.

Here was the coming of the first Christian missionaries who arrived in Kailua Bay in 1820 and began the transformation of Hawai‘i through rapid religious conversion.

Historic Kailua Village hosts renowned international sporting events (Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament, Ironman Triathlon World Championship and Queen Lili‘uokalani Long Distance Canoe Races.)

Historic sites once covered much of the Kailua to Keauhou section of the Kona Coast. It is important for us to honor the Ali‘i by maintaining, enhancing and interpreting the remaining ancestral inheritance.

Recently, TripAdvisor, considered the world’s largest travel site, announced that Historic Kailua Village was the top choice for visitors in the US (the awards annually highlight 54-spots globally that have seen the greatest increase in positive traveler feedback and traveler interest, year-over-year.)

We prepared a corridor management plan for Royal Footsteps Along the Kona Coast Scenic Byway for the Kailua Village Business Improvement District – it runs the length of Aliʻi Drive.

We were honored and proud when the Scenic Byway received an Environment / Preservation Award from the American Planning Association‐Hawaiʻi Chapter; Historic Preservation Commendation and Preservation Media Awards from Hawaiʻi Foundation from Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation; and the Pualu Award for Culture & Heritage from the Kona‐Kohala Chamber of Commerce.

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Alii Drive Interpretive Sign

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Princess Keelikōlani’s hale pili (grass house) in Kailua, Kona, Hawai‘i. ca 1883_Hulihee_Palace-WC

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March 4, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kahana

Ka ua leina hua o Kaʻanapali
The rain of Kaʻanapali that leaps and produces fruit
ʻOlelo Noʻeau – Pukui

The song Moloka‘i Nui A Hina, primarily about Molokaʻi starts ‘Ua nani nā hono a Pi‘ilani’ ‘How beautiful are the bays of Pi‘ilani,’ referencing the view across the channel at northwest Maui, the district the ancients called Kaʻānapali.

In the 1500s, Chief Piʻilani (“stairway to heaven”) unified West Maui and ruled in peace and prosperity. His territory included the six West Maui bays, a place he frequented.

There are six hono bays: from South to North, Honokōwai (bay drawing fresh water), Honokeana (cave bay), Honokahua (sites bay,) Honolua (two bays), Honokōhau (bay drawing dew) and Hononana (animated bay).

This area was extensively terraced for wet taro (loʻi) in early historic and later times. Honokahua Valley has been described as having loʻi lands. Sweet potatoes were reportedly grown between the Honokōhau and Kahakuloa Ahupuaʻa.

In this area, between that ahupuaʻa of Honokōwai and Honokeana, was Kahana (cutting or turning point,) another ahupuaʻa of the moku (district) of Kāʻanapali.

Settlement patterns in the region followed patterns elsewhere, permanent habitation around the coastal and near shore lands, as well as the inland valley land. The forested and ridge-top lands were used for gathering forest products, and for forest plantings of various utilitarian Hawaiian plants.

Ancient Hawaiian villages on Maui were generally placed at the mouths of the larger gulches or at least within sight of the sea. Both pre-contact and historic features have been identified in the coastal and nearshore lands region. It can be inferred that the coastal lands were settled since the pre-contact period and extensively used during the historic period. (Cultural Surveys)

Handy notes, “ … the flat coastal plain all the way from Kihei and Māʻalaea to Honokahua, in old Hawaiian times, must have supported many fishing settlements and isolated fishermen’s houses, where sweet potatoes were grown in the sandy soil or red lepo (soil) near the shore.”

“For fishing, this coast is the most favorable on Maui, and, although a considerable amount of taro was grown, I think it is reasonable to suppose that the large fishing population, which presumably inhabited this leeward coast, ate more sweet potatoes than taro with their fish.”

“…the Kahana settlement pattern in AD 1848 consisted of houselots, and at least one small fishpond, extending several miles inland along the banks of Kahana Stream. No houselots were claimed beyond a few hundred feet inland. This pattern also appears to hold for at least the next three ahupuaʻa to the north of Kahana – Mailepai, ʻAlaeloa and Honokeana.” (Engledow)

When chief Kekaulike died, his younger son Kamehamehanui (uncle to Kamehameha I) was named heir to rule Maui. In 1738, Kauhi‘aimokuakama (Kauhi,) his older brother, began to wage war to win the title of ruling chief.

Battles were fought across West Maui. Kamehamehanui engaged the forces of his uncle from Hawai‘i to fight with him, whose troops numbered over 8,000, and Kauhi brought troops of warriors from O‘ahu. (Fornander)

The war ended with the battle Koko O Nā Moku (“Bloodshed of the Islands.”) Over several days, the blood of fallen warriors from both sides flowed from a stream into the shorebreak and caused the ocean to turn red. (Kamehamehanui won.) (Kāʻanapali Historical Trail)

Several socio-economic factors influenced the later evolution of West Maui. Kahana was right in the middle of these changes and played a role in the transformation.

For a couple of decades after 1812 West Maui was an important shipping point for the sandalwood trade. It became a well-known point of call for trading and exploring vessels, whose captains found the open roadstead a safe and convenient anchorage.

In 1819, the first American whaling ships reached the islands, and by 1822 there were 34-whalers making Hawaiʻi a base of refreshment. From that time the number increased rapidly. Although Honolulu was originally the port most favored by the whalers, West Maui often surpassed it in the number of recorded visits, particularly from about 1840 to 1855.

Another factor to affect the change, growth and social structure of West Maui was the arrival of the first missionaries in the Islands during 1820. The first missionaries to be established at Lāhainā, the Rev. CS Stewart and the Rev. William Richards, arrived in 1823. They came at the request of Queen Mother Keōpūolani, who moved to live in Lāhainā that year.

It was not until 1823 that several members of the Lāhainā Mission Station began to process sugar for their own use. The first commercially-viable sugar plantation, Ladd and Co., was started at Kōloa on Kaua‘i in 1835. It was to change the face of Hawai‘i forever, launching an entire economy, lifestyle and practice of mono-cropping that lasted for well over a century. By the 1840s, efforts were underway in West Maui to develop a means for making sugar a productive commodity.

James Campbell, who arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1850 ‐ having served as a carpenter on a whaling ship and then operated a carpentry business in Lāhainā ‐ started a sugar plantation there in 1860. The small mill, together with cane from Campbell’s fields, manufactured sugar on shares for small cane growers in the vicinity. His operation became Pioneer Mill.

Historically Maui’s second largest industry, pineapple cultivation, had also played a large role in forming Maui’s modern day landscape. The pineapple industry began on Maui in 1890 with Dwight D Baldwin’s Haiku Fruit and Packing Company on the northeast side of the island.

West Maui’s roots in the historic pineapple industry began in 1912, when of Honolua Ranch manager, David Fleming began growing pineapple there; almost overnight the pineapple industry boomed. The ranch was soon renamed Baldwin Packers; at one time they were the largest producer of private label pineapple and pineapple juice in the nation; it later became Maui Land and Pineapple.

As sugar and pineapple declined, tourism took its place ‐ and far surpassed it. Like many other societies, Hawaii underwent a profound transformation from an agrarian to a service economy. Resorts in Kāʻanapali (1962) and Kapalua (1978) popped up. In 1987, Hawaiian Airlines built the Kapalua Airport (situated within the Kahana ahupuaʻa.)

The visitor destinations of Lāhainā-Kāʻanapali-Kapalua continue to lead the neighbor islands in room occupancy and they lead the state in average daily room (ADR) rates and revenue per available room (ADR x occupancy rate.)

Kahana (situated in the middle of the West Maui resort community) has its share of commercial, condo, timeshare, hotel and other resort improvements along its shore.

West Maui is a full‐fledged tourist resort second only to Waikīkī. Tourism is the activity most responsible for Hawaiʻi’s current economic growth and standard of living.

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