Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hakipuʻu

The nine ahupuaʻa of Kāneʻohe Bay, beginning at the boundary between Koʻolauloa and Koʻolaupoko Districts (west) and moving eastward, are Kualoa, Hakipuʻu, Waikāne, Waiāhole, Kaʻalaea, Waiheʻe, Kahaluʻu, Heʻeia and Kāneʻohe.

The ahupuaʻa of Hakipuʻu (Broken Hill – referring to the jagged ridge top) is located at the northern end of Kāne’ohe Bay, between Kualoa and Waikāne.

Paliuli (green cliff,) a “legendary paradise of plenty” with many proclaimed sites throughout the islands, was said to have existed in the mauka regions of Hakipuʻu.

The legendary and historic navigator Kahaʻi a Hoʻokamaliʻi was said to have landed on the beach here, on his return trip from Tahiti. He is credited for bringing and planting the first ʻulu (breadfruit) tree, in this ahupuaʻa. (Mālama ʻĀina)

“The area is typical of Oʻahu, in contrast to Kauai, Maui, and Hawaiʻi, in combining: (a) bay and reef coast line which make cultivation feasible right to the shore where coconuts thrive; (b) extensive wet-taro plantations with ample water; (c) swampy areas where taro and fish were raised …”

“… (d) sloping piedmont and level shore-side areas well adapted to sweet-potato farming; (e) ample streams whose mouths are ideal seaside spawning pools; (f) fishponds in which systematic fish farming was practiced; (g) upstream terraced stream-side lo‘i; (h) accessible forested slopes and uplands, for woodland supplies and recourse in famine times”. (Handy; Klieger)

“The bay all round has a very beautiful appearance, the low land and vallies being in a high state of cultivation, and crowned with plantations of taro, sweet potatoes, sugar-cane, etc. interspersed with a great number of coconut trees”. (Portlock, 1786)

Fishponds, loko i‘a, were things that beautified the land, and a land with many fishponds was called a ‘fat’ land (‘āina momona.) They date from ancient times. (Kamakau)

Moliʻi fishpond (within Hakipuʻu) has a pond wall about 4,000-feet in length (attributed to the work of Menehune) that separates about 125-acres of shallow water (one of the largest ever built) from the northern rim of Kāneʻohe Bay. The main species of fish raised in ponds were ʻawa (milkfish) and ʻanae (mullet.)

Handy described the taro flats at Hakipuʻu, originally more than one-half mile south from Moliʻi Fishpond, where all the level land along Hakipuʻu Stream was once in terraces.

It was especially interesting as the only swamp plantation on Oʻahu in which a marshland patch was cultivated in the old mounding method. (Devaney)

“An acre of kalo (taro) land would furnish food for from twenty to thirty persons, if properly taken care of. It will produce crops for a great many years in succession without lying fallow any time.” (Wyllie, 1848)

Based on the estimated rates of population decline due to the introduction of European disease, Hakipuʻu would have had a population of about 300 at the time of ‘contact’ in 1778, decreasing to about 225 by 1800. In the first formal census in 1832 the population of Hakipuʻu had declined to 180.

Later, in Hakipuʻu, “fields were fenced and plowed for the cane, small flumes were put up and Chinese coolies imported for laborers”; by 1867, however, it became evident that the land was poor for sugarcane and it was abandoned.

The land was later used for rice cultivation (1860s,) then pineapple. However, by 1923, it was evident that pineapple cultivation on the Windward area could not keep up with that in other O‘ahu areas.

Crops on the Windward side were not yielding tonnages as compared with the Leeward side, fields were smaller, with wilt more prevalent, and growing costs considerably higher. Plantings were therefore reduced. (Libby; Devaney)

Much of the land was converted to pasture for cattle ranching. Some of the Hakipuʻu land remains part of the Kualoa Ranch.

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Carrollton

The coal industry was a major foundation for American industrialization in the nineteenth century. As a fuel source, coal provided a cheap and efficient source of power for steam engines, furnaces and forges across the US.

The influence of coal was so pervasive that by the advent of the twentieth century, it became a necessity of everyday life. In an era where smokestacks equaled progress, the smoky air and sooty landscape of industrial America owed a great deal to the growth of the availability of coal. (Adams)

A peculiar feature of 1907 was that in spite of the coasting laws, foreign vessels were chartered to bring domestic coal from the Atlantic ports of the US for the use of the American battleships ordered to the Pacific.

The coal trade of San Francisco was practically in the hands of one firm. Coal was always dear in California, as no supply is produced locally, but since the formation of this combination it has doubled in price. … 80,000-tons were on the way from Australia. (Great Britain, Trade & Commerce Report, 1908)

Coal was first discovered in Australia in 1791 by an escaped convict near the site of Newcastle. Mining began in 1799 with the collection of coal from outcrops near Newcastle for sale in Sydney; the cargo resulted in Newcastle becoming Australia’s first commercial export port. (Australia Bureau of Statistics)

Fast forward about a century … the three-masted bark Carrollton was en route from “New South Wales” Australia to San Francisco, via Honolulu, with a load of coal.

The Carrollton was built in 1872 by the Arthur Sewall Shipyard in Bath, Maine. Bath-built down-easters were some of the most celebrated commercial sailing vessels of their day.

Sewall ships, though not the fastest, were proven economic winners in the long-haul maritime trades of the mid- and late-19th century.

In the midst of her career in the Pacific lumber, grain, and coal business, the Carrollton under the command of Captain Hinrichs was accidentally lost on December 26th, 1906, when she ran bow-on onto the reef on the southern side of Sand Island at Midway. (PMNM)

Here’s a link to a Google Earth ‘Street View’ on the southern part of Sand Island at Midway:
https://goo.gl/WVhYhb

All of her crew were saved (rescued by the cable ship Restorer,) but the vessel was a total loss.

Typical of wooden ship wreck sites, all exposed hull and superstructure have vanished. But the heavier elements (anchor, chain, stanchions, fasteners, deck machinery, donkey boiler, lead scuppers, pintles and gudgeons etc.) remain scattered in an area near the reef.

The confused path of the anchor chain on the bottom adds to the story of the wreck. The chain locker, its wooden sides long gone, is now a fused mass of iron almost indistinguishable from reef. The windlass has grown corals. The ship remains will ultimately be ‘recycled’ as reef substrate in this fashion. (Van Tilburg)

A large variety of artifacts from the shipwreck lie scattered over an area almost 1,000 feet long. A portion of the ship’s cargo of coal testify to the sea’s power to break apart what the best wooden shipwrights once created. (PMNM)

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

First Christmas Tree

Mary Dominis, mother-in-law to Queen Liliʻuokalani, is credited with starting the Christmas tree and Santa Claus traditions in Hawai‘i.

“Christmas Eve was worthily observed in Honolulu by a party at Mrs. Dominis residence which drew together such a crowd of company that no second house could have opened its doors successfully.”

“The ‘Christmas Tree’ was beautiful in its decoration and beautifully covered with fruit such as no other tree can bear, that bent its branches to the ground.” (Polynesian, January 1, 1859)

“The Christmas tree can be traced to the land of Luther. How long it there flourished in the forests of Germany, before Luther’s day, we cannot stop now to enquire.”

“A sprig was brought to the Sandwich Islands few years ago, and it appears to have found genial climate and fruitful soil. It is really wonderful how it flourishes.”

“Like Jonah’s gourd, which came up in night and perished in night, the Christmas-tree makes great display of fruit on the first night of its growth.”

“Mrs Dominis, with her wonted skill for flower-growing and tree-planting, produced Christmas-tree that was much admired, especially by the juveniles, who gathered under its shadow and plucked its ripe fruit ready to drop into their hands, marked and labelled.”

“How much Santa Claus had to do in the wonderful production we cannot say, but he appeared very much at home on the occasion, and seemed to know by name all the little folks that were dancing and kiting about like so many fairies.”

“We congratulate the children of Honolulu that they enjoy so many pleasant gatherings, and we would thank Mrs. Dominis for her expense, trouble and labor to make the young people happy. (The Friend, January 1, 1859)

As further described in the newspaper, “Christmas – passed off in the good old fashioned, style. The eve was ushered in by the assemblage, about 7 o’clock, of a large number of children and their parents at Washington Place, the Mansion of Mrs Dominis …”

“… where Santa Claus had given out that he would hold his court, and distribute the gifts which he had ordered for the occasion. A magnificent “Christmas Tree” had been provided in one of the upper chambers, and the little folks …”

“… as they gathered about it with sparkling eyes and clattering tongues, found it all lighted up with candles and the branches bending under the weight of gifts. …”

“In a moment old Santa Claus was heard at the door, and in a twinkling more he stood before the youthful group, who greeted him with a volley of merry shouts. He came dressed in the garb in which children love to imagine the saintly old elf. …”

“For an hour, or while he was bestowing his gifts with princely lavishness among the hundred children present, there was some of the happiest groups ever witnessed in Honolulu.”

“He bid a gift for every one, and bestowed it with a facetiousness that added much to the enjoyment of the occasion and him a host of friends among the juveniles, who will long continue to talk of Santa Claus of Washington place.”

“After the tree was lightened of its burden of presents, some of which we noticed were quite costly, the old saint bid the little folks a hearty good-bye and vanished.”

“He sprang to his sleigh, to his team he rare a whistle.
And away they ail flew like the dawn of a thistle;
But I heard him exclaim, ere be drove out of sight,
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.”

“The whole affair was got up and executed with good taste. After the gifts were distributed the children were invited to a liberal repast prepared by the generous hostess.”

“As the little folks retired to their homes their places were filled with an assemblage of ladies and gentlemen, and the evening was spent in dancing.”

“At 10 o’clock on Christmas forenoon the Episcopal service was performed by Rev Mr Arthy on board the Calypso, which had been gaily decked for the holiday.”

“At half past eleven Episcopal service was also performed by the same gentleman at the Bethel, which was well filled.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 30, 1858)

“The evening was a happy one to every body present, and the hospitality unbounded.” (Polynesian, January 1, 1859)

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Duke Kahanamoku Beach

Duke Paoa Kahanamoku was born in 1890, one of nine children of a Honolulu policeman.

Duke was named after his father who was given the name by Bernice Pauahi Bishop. The elder Duke explains his naming as “Mrs. Bishop took hold of me and at the same time a salute to the Hawaiian flag from the British Battleship in which the (Prince Albert) Duke of Edinburgh arrived”.

“… after I was washed by Mrs. Bishop she gave me the name ‘The Duke of Edinburgh.’” (The Duke of Edinburgh was visiting the Islands at the time (July 21, 1869.))

“The Duke heard and was glad and came to (the) house and I was presented to him and tooke me in his arms. And that is how I got this name.” (Nendel)

Both were born at the Paki property in downtown Honolulu. The Paki (Pauahi’s parents) home was called Haleʻakala (the ‘Pink House,’ made of coral.)

A couple years after Duke’s birth (1893,) the family was living in a small house on the beach at Waikiki where the present day Hawaiian Hilton Village now stands.

Duke had a normal upbringing for a young boy his age in Waikiki. He swam, surfed, fished, did odd jobs such as selling newspapers and went to school at Waikiki grammar school; he would never graduate from high school due to the need to help his family earn enough money to live.

For fun and extra money he and others would greet the boatloads of tourists coming to and from Honolulu Harbor. They would dive for coins tossed into the water by the visitors, perform acrobatic displays of diving from towers on boat days, and explore the crop of newcomers for potential students to teach surfing and canoeing lessons to on the beach.

He earned his living as a beachboy and stevedore at the Honolulu Harbor docks. Growing up on the beach in Waikiki, Duke surfed with his brothers and entertained tourists with tandem rides. (Nendel)

Duke’s love of surfing is what he is most remembered. He used surfing to promote Hawaiian culture to visitors who wanted to fully experience the islands.

Through his many travels, Duke introduced surfing to the rest of the world and was regarded as the father of international surfing.

Back at home, the beach and subsequent lagoon near where he lived now carry his name.

Ownership of the Waikiki property by the Paoa family goes back to Kaʻahumanu as noted in testimony before the Land Commission on December 16, 1847 (LCA 1775:)

“I hereby state my claim for a section of irrigation ditch. I do not know its length – perhaps it is two fathoms more or less. The length of my interest at this place is from the time of Kaahumanu I, which was when my people acquired this place, and until this day when I am telling you, no one has objected at this place where I live.”

“The houselot where we live is on the north of the government fence at Kalia. Some planted trees grow there-five hau and four hala. There is a well which is used jointly.” The Royal Patent for the claim was awarded to Paoa on December 7, 1870 (Royal Patent No. 7033) (Rosendahl)

In 1891, the ‘Old Waikiki’ opened as a bathhouse, one of the first places in Waikiki to offer rooms for overnight guests. It was later redeveloped (1928) as the Niumalu Hotel. Henry J Kaiser bought it and adjoining property and started the Kaiser Hawaiian Village.

The shoreline area was filled and is considered State-owned land. A 1955 lease allowed Kaiser’s Hawaiian Village to dredge and fill areas – in the process the 4.6-acre Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon was created in 1956. To the east of the lagoon is the crescent-shaped Duke Kahanamoku Beach. (In 1961 Kaiser sold to Hilton Hotels.)

Initially, the Territory of Hawaiʻi constructed the ‘Crescent Beach’ project by dredging and filling the nearby ocean shoreline; most of the material that now makes up the banks of the lagoon originated from that project (the beach and lagoon were built at the same time.)

Duke Kahanamoku Beach was crowned the Best Beach in the list of annual ‘Top 10 US Beaches 2024’ by Stephen Leatherman, a.k.a. ‘Dr. Beach’ (and has been on the top 10 list often).

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC