Place Names | Page 105 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 3, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Puakea

Patrick Kirch has convincingly argued that Polynesians may not have arrived to the Hawaiian Islands until at least AD 1000, but expanded rapidly thereafter. The initial settlement in Hawai‘i is believed to have occurred from the southern Marquesas Islands. (Rechtman)

The earliest date range for permanent settlement in Kohala (AD 1300) was obtained from Koai‘e, a coastal settlement where subsistence primarily derived from marine resources. According to Tomonari-Tuggle, these resources were probably supplemented by small-scale agriculture. (Rechtman)

“(O)ne of the most obvious settlement forms along the leeward coast [of Kohala] is the houselot, a low-walled rectangular compound with an interior house platform” which is likely a historic habitation pattern established in the early nineteenth century.” (Tomonari-Tuggle; Rechtman)

There was also “the massive field system [the Kohala field system] which sweeps across the leeward slopes of Kohala [and] reaches the coast [at the northern end]”. The Kohala field system once stretched from the shore to the inland edge of the mountain forest.

The field system was characterized by low walls oriented cross-slope to block the prevailing winds with mauka/makai trails demarcating the narrow strips of field areas. (Tomonari-Tuggle; Rechtman)

Traditional land use patterns saw a rapid shift after the Māhele in 1848. At this time, land ownership was defined by grants and awards by the king (Kamehameha III) to the chiefs and other retainers.

By 1850, laws were enacted under which commoners could also own land (kuleana) if they could prove that they actually occupied those lands. The Māhele paved the way for land to be sold to foreigners. (Rechtman)

On July 18, 1873, Princess Ruth, granted to Henry Christiansen several parcels of land including in North Kohala. (Kohala Corp v State) He started a sheep ranch, apparently calling it Puakea Ranch.

Christiansen also planted some sugar cane, the milling of which was apparently not too successful with the crude equipment of that time. (Henke)

Dr. James Wight acquired the Puakea Ranch lands about 1875 and continued with the sheep ranch (having a herd of about 7,000 head of the Merino breed).

In about 1886, Wight imported two Maltese jacks at a cost of $1,400 and he was probably one of the first men to breed mules in Hawaii.

Sheep herding suffered due to various factors and cattle were substituted for the sheep in the 1880s; there were few or no sheep left after 1890.

Two Shorthorn bulls were imported from California and bred to the native cattle and Shorthorn blood predominated on Puakea Ranch till 1901, although some Hereford blood was introduced as early as 1889.

During the next twenty years Hereford blood gradually replaced the Shorthorns. At the time, beef had little value and many cattle were sold as work oxen for the cane fields. Wight died in 1905, and the ranch was operated by trustees of his estate. (Henke)

Nearby was Pu‘uhue, a cattle ranch was started about 1880; James Woods then being the owner and manager. Pu‘uhue had 4,000-5,000 cattle at that time, which roamed over much of the Puakea section on a rental arrangement.

At about 1906, Puakea and Pu‘uhue merged into what was called Puakea Ranch. These combined ranches ran from the sea to an elevation of about 4,000 feet and had a total area of about 25,000 acres and about 5,000 Herefords, 350 light horses and 10 Berkshire sows. Good Hereford bulls as well as females were imported from time to time.

Cattle were marketed from two years of age to about five (about 450 to 650 pounds dressed weight). About 500 to 600 were shipped to Honolulu annually (loaded at Kawaihae), with an additional 180 slaughtered on the ranch for consumption in the Kohala district.

In about the 1940s Parker Ranch purchased Puakea Ranch (and later sold portions that were subsequently developed into the Puakea Ranch subdivision, along the Kohala Coast).

OK, that’s the ‘ranch’ side of ‘Puakea’; Puakea Planting Company ran the sugar planting and production.

“There was filed for record at the Registrar’s office today a document transferring one-half interest in the Puakea Planting Co. situated in the Kohala District, owned by Mrs Eliza V Mackenzie, to Howard R. Bryant, for the sum of $16,025.”

“Mrs Mackenzie and Howard R. Dry–Bryant formed the Puakea Planting Company about five years ago, and started the growing of cane on the lands owned by Dr. James Wight. … The cane grown on this property is ground at the Hawi Mill.”

“There are some five or six thousand acres of land suitable for cane cultivation and it is the intention of the Puakea Planting Co to enlarge as soon as the water reaches the land.”

“The Kohala planters and the Kohala Ditch Company have been dickering for the past row moths regarding terms of which water is to be delivered, but a settlement of all differences has now practically been reached.” (Evening Bulletin, September 10, 1904)

Later, “Articles of incorporation were filed by the Puakea Plantation Co., Ltd., of Kohala, Hawaii. The incorporators with the offices held are as follows: John Hind, president; W. S. May, vice president; H. R. Bryant, treasurer; A. Mason, secretary, and Robert Hall, director. “

“The company has taken over the planting interests of what was heretofore known as the Puakea Planting Company and which are situated on the lands belonging to the estate of James Wight just above Mahukona.”

“The advent of the Kohala ditch has brought out a greater development of these lands and the present corporation will raise in the neighborhood of 4000 tons of sugar annually, after two or three years’ development. “

“The present output of sugar on the planting interests taken over is something about 900 tons. Henry Waterhouse Trust Co., Ltd., organized the company.” (Hawaiian Gazette, May 28, 1907)

The ditch was conceived of by John Hind who, with the financial help of Sam Parker and the irrigation knowledge of JT McCrosson and MM O‘Shaughnessy, formed the Kohala Ditch Company.

They hired Japanese laborers for wages of seventy-five cents to a dollar and a half a day to construct the twenty-one mile long ditch from the headwaters of the Kohala valleys to Puakea Plantation (in upland Kukuipahu Ahupua‘a).

The ditch ran through miles of ridge terrain, valleys, and forty-four tunnels. Seventeen laborers died during the construction of the Kohala Ditch. It carried twenty million gallons of water a day at the outset, with a projected maximum of seventy million gallons a day, to the sugar fields and ranch lands of North Kohala. (Rechtman)

In the 1930s, the Kohala Sugar Company was expanded by the consolidation of smaller plantations under the agency of Castle & Cooke (Puakea, Niuli‘i, Halawa, Hawi and Kohala Sugar). In 1975, Castle & Cooke closed Kohala Sugar. (Wilcox)

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Leeward North Kohala Ahupuaa

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September 22, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ka ua moaniani lehua o Puna

The rain that brings the fragrance of the lehua of Puna (Pukui 1983:172, verse 1587)

Puna is known for its groves of hala and ʻōhiʻa-lehua trees. This ʻōlelo no‘eau refers to the forests of Puna, which attract clouds to drench the district with many rains, refreshing and enriching the Puna water table, and sustaining the life cycle of all living things in Puna. (McGregor)

While the Puna moku (district) does not have running streams, it does have many inland and shoreline springs continuously fed by rains borne upon the northeast tradewinds. (McGregor)

Another ‘Ōlelo Noe‘au notes “Puna paia ʻala i ka hala. Puna, with walls fragrant with pandanus blossoms. Puna, Hawai’i, is a place of hala and lehua forests.

In olden days the people would stick the bracts of hala into the thatching of their houses to bring some of the fragrance indoors. (Pukui 1983:301, verse 2749)

“Puna on Hawaiʻi Island was the land first reached by Pāʻao, and here in Puna he built his first heiau for his god Ahaʻula and named it Ahaʻula [Wahaʻula.]”

“It was a luakini (large heiau where human sacrifice was offered). From Puna, Pāʻao went on to land in Kohala, at Puʻuepa. He built a heiau there, called Moʻokini.” (Kamakau)

One story tells that Hāʻena, a small bay near the northern boundary of Puna, is said to be the birthplace of hula. The goddess Hiʻiaka is said to have been instructed to dance hula on the beach there.

Puna is said to inspire hula because of the natural movements of waves, wind and trees. (Other stories suggest hula was started in other areas of the Islands.) (McGregor)

Early settlement patterns in the Islands put people on the windward sides of the islands, typically along the shoreline. However, in Puna, much of the district’s coastal areas have thin soils and there are no good deep water harbors. The ocean along the Puna coast is often rough and windblown. (Escott)

As a result, settlement patterns in Puna tend to be dispersed and without major population centers. Villages in Puna tended to be spread out over larger areas and often are 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 sea-shore, 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)

Alexander later (1891) noted, “The first settlement met with after leaving Hilo by the sea coast road, is at Keaʻau, a distant 10 miles where there are less than a dozen inhabitants …”

“… the next is at Makuʻu, distant 14 miles where there are a few more, after which there is occasionally a stray hut or two, until Halepuaʻa and Koaʻe are reached, 21 miles from Hilo, at which place there is quite a village”. (Alexander in Escott)

“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, 1891)

Puna was famous as a district for some of its valuable products, including “hogs, gray tapa cloth (‘eleuli), tapas made of māmaki bark, fine mats made of young pandanus blossoms (‘ahuhinalo), mats made of young pandanus leaves (ʻahuao), and feathers of the ʻōʻō and mamo birds”. (McGregor)

An historic trail once ran from the modern day Lili‘uokalani Gardens area to Hāʻena along the Puna coast. The trail is often referred to as the old Puna Trail and/or Puna Road. There is an historic trail/cart road that is also called the Puna Trail (Ala Hele Puna) and/or the Old Government Road. (Escott)

It likely incorporated segments of the traditional Hawaiian trail system often referred to as the ala loa or ala hele. The full length of the Puna Trail, or Old Government Road, might have been constructed or improved just before 1840. The alignment was mapped by the Wilkes Expedition of 1804-41. (Escott)

With Western contact, extensive tracts of Puna’s landscape were transformed, first with sandalwood export, which began in 1790 and reached its peak between 1810 and 1825. (Puna CDP)

After Hawai‘i’s first forestry law in 1839 restricted the removal of sandalwood trees, cattle ranching and coffee cultivation became the leading commercial activities. By 1850, agriculture diversified with the cultivation of potatoes, onions, pumpkins, oranges and sugar molasses. (Puna CDP)

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. (HSPA)

Soon, sugarcane was in large-scale production. The dominant operation in Puna was the Puna Sugar Company, whose plantation fields extended for ten miles along both sides of Highway 11 between Keaʻau and Mountain View, as well as in the Pāhoa and Kapoho areas.

Initially founded in 1899 as Olaʻa Sugar Company, it was later (1960) renamed Puna Sugar Company. The coffee trees were uprooted to make way for sugarcane.

ʻŌhiʻa forests also had to be cleared, field rock piled, land plowed by mules or dug up by hand with a pick. Sugarcane was in large-scale production; the sugar mill operation ran for just over 80 years, until 1984.

Macadamia nuts and papaya were introduced in 1881 and 1919, respectively. Since the closure of the Puna Sugar Company, papaya and macadamia nut production have become the leading crops of Puna. About 97% of the state’s papaya production occurs in Puna, primarily in the Kapoho area.

Another thing growing in Puna is housing. Between 1958 and 1973, more than 52,500-individual lots were created – at least 40-substandard Puna subdivisions were created.

As a comparison, Oʻahu is about 382,500-acres in size; the district of Puna on the island of Hawaiʻi is about 320,000-acres in size – almost same-same.

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September 9, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Victoria Falls

In 1843, Samuel Thomas Alexander and Henry Perrine Baldwin, sons of early missionaries to Hawaiʻi, met in Lāhainā, Maui. They grew up together, became close friends and went on to develop a sugar-growing partnership.

Alexander was the idea man, more outgoing and adventurous of the two. He had a gift for raising money to support his business projects. Baldwin was more reserved and considered the “doer” of the partners; he completed the projects conceived by Alexander.

After studying on the Mainland, Alexander returned to Maui and began teaching at Lahainaluna, where he and his students successfully grew sugar cane and bananas.

Word of the venture spread to the owner of Waiheʻe sugar plantation near Wailuku, and Alexander was offered the manager’s position. Alexander hired Baldwin as his assistant, who at the time was helping his brother raise sugar cane in Lāhainā. This was the beginning of a lifelong working partnership.

In 1869, the young men – Alexander was 33, Baldwin, 27 – purchased 12-acres of land in Makawao and the following year an additional 559-acres. That same year, the partners planted sugar cane on their land marking the birth of what would become Alexander & Baldwin (A&B.)

In 1883, Alexander and Baldwin formalized their partnership by incorporating their sugar business as the Paia Plantation also known at various times as Samuel T Alexander & Co, Haleakala Sugar Co and Alexander & Baldwin Plantation.

By spring of 1900, A&B had outgrown its partnership organization and plans were made to incorporate the company, allowing the company to increase capitalization and facilitate expansion.

A&B was one of Hawaiʻi’s five major companies (that emerged to providing operations, marketing, supplies and other services for the plantations and eventually came to own and manage most of them.) They became known as the Big Five.

Hawaiʻi’s Big Five were: C Brewer (1826;) A Theo H Davies (1845;) Amfac – starting as Hackfeld & Company (1849;) Castle & Cooke (1851) and Alexander & Baldwin (1870.)

“It came as no surprise to Samuel’s family and friends when he announced plans to embark on an African safari in the summer of 1904. Neither did the inclusion of Annie (his daughter).”

“The part of British East Africa that Samuel had selected for their safari was considered at the time to be the greatest hunting ground on the entire African continent, if not in the world.”

“He envisioned an expedition that would traverse a distance of almost 800 miles, beginning several hundred miles northwest of Mombasa near Nakuru and continuing west to the terminal point of the Uganda railroad at Port Florence, approximately 580 miles inland.”

“Henry Stanley and David Livingstone had explored much of this region during the last half of the nineteenth century and their reports had piqued the interest and excitement of adventurers and armchair travelers alike.” (Stein)

“The trip commenced in early April 1904 when father and daughter, aged 67 and 36, traveled by boat from New York to Europe. From there they boarded a German steamer, the Kanzler, from a Dutch port and landed in Mombasa, British East Africa (present day Kenya) more than a month later.” (Childers)

“Samuel’s original itinerary did not call for their journey to end in British East Africa but rather to travel south from Mombasa by steamer and to visit Victoria Falls.”

“Although he and Annie now held less enthusiasm for this significant addition to their journey, at her behest he agreed to go, fearing that if they did not they might always regret it.”

“The two secured passage on the German steamer the Konig, sailing to Beira. From there they traveled by rail to Bulawayo and then to Matapao, a small town on the Zambesi River where they visited the grave of Cecil Rhodes.”

“Rhodes had died two years earlier, a mere three years before the completion of the famed Zambesi Railway Bridge. Through his foresight and backing, the bridge would span the canyon below Victoria Falls, promoting commerce and uniting the areas that became Northern and Southern Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe).” (Stein)

“On the morning of September 9 they crossed to the northern shore of the Zambesi River by cable in order to view the great chasm into which the water was falling. Work on the famous 900-foot bridge across the river had barely begun. “

“Finding a trail leading into the Palm Grove Ravine, the two descended to view the falls at their exit point, the narrow chasm from which the water emerges after falling over the precipice.”

“Just as the pair reached the point that afforded them their best view into the chasm, they became aware of small rocks falling from the heights directly above them.”

“They turned and ran, Annie reaching safety first and setting up her camera. While Samuel stood just a few feet from her, a large boulder fell, striking a rock, veering and hitting Samuel on his left foot, disabling him.” (Stein)

“He was transported, in agony and with much loss of blood, to a doctor’s house six miles away where his leg was amputated. He died the next morning, September 10, 1904, at the age of sixty-seven, Annie having sat by his side during the operation and throughout the night. Annie buried her beloved father in a small cemetery at Livingstone, Zambia.” (Williams)

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Victoria Falls Bridge

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Charles Beresford Fox crossing the gorge for the first time in the ‘Bosun’s chair’, November 1903

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Victoria Falls Bridge

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Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls (Zambia, Zimbabwe)

Victoria Falls Bridge Design

Samuel Alexander headstone

September 6, 2018 by Peter T Young 5 Comments

Kahuku Ranch

On July 8, 1861 184,298 acres of Kahuku, the entire ahupua‘a was assigned by King Kamehameha IV to Charles Coffin Harris under Patent 2791 for $3,000. As with most grants it recognized the “ancient boundaries” and reserved “the rights of native tenants.”

Harris, a graduate of Harvard learned the Hawaiian language and set up a law practice in Hawai`i. His service to the kingdom included Minister of Finance, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hawai`i’s first Attorney General, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and then Chief Justice, 1877-1881, police magistrate and legislative member.

Kalākaua studied law under Harris at the age of 17 making it no surprise Harris became the King’s adviser. While no record of Harris’ activities in Kahuku could be found the land may not have been used for ranching until the next owner. (Helen Wong Smith)

Ownership of Kahuku Ranch transferred from Harris to Theophilus Brown of Groton Connecticut on April 3, 1866 for the price of $5,250. Theophilus’ brother Captain Robert Brown operated the Ranch bringing his family with him.

A visitor to the ranch during these years was Mrs. Alura Brown Cutler wrote the ranch had miles of stone walls enclosing gardens, cattle yards, calf pasture, goat and pig pens.

The gardens contained fig and peach trees as well as bananas and mulberries. She reported the house was located seven miles from the sea and five stone houses for families working for the ranch were provided. (Helen Wong Smith)

Then, “On Friday, March 27, 1868, at 5:30 a.m., several whaling ships anchored in Kawaihae Harbor noticed a dense column of fume reflected by a bright light southwest of the summit of Mauna Loa.”

“An eruption near Moku`āweoweo had taken place, lasting several hours before subsiding. Pele’s hair had drifted down upon the residents of Ka‘ū and South Kona, indicating the presence of lava fountains above. (HVO; Helen Wong Smith)

“This was the scene that opened before us as we ascended the ridge on Friday (April 10, 1868). At the left were these four grand fountains playing with terrific fury, throwing blood-red lava and huge stones, some as large as a house, to £ varying from 500 to 1,000 feet.”

“The grandeur of this scene, ever changing like a moving panorama, no one who has not seen it can realize. Then there was the rapid, rolling stream, rushing and tumbling like a swollen river, down the hill, over the precipice and down the valley to the sea, surging and roaring like a cataract, with a fury perfectly indescribable.”

“This river of fire varied from 200 to 800 feet in width, and when it is known that the descent was 2,000 feet in five miles, the statement that it ran at the rate of ten to twenty-five miles an hour will not be doubted.”

“We waited till night, when the scene was a hundred fold more grand and vivid. The crimson red of the lava now doubly bright, the lurid glare of the red smoke-clouds that overhung the whole, …”

“… the roaring of the rushing stream, the noise of the tumbling rocks thrown out of the crater, the flashes of electric lightning, and the sharp quick claps of thunder – altogether made the scene surpassingly grand.” (HM Whitney, editor of the Honolulu Advertiser, April 13, 1868)

“The 1868 flow destroyed the house of Capt. Robert Brown …. The flow advanced so quickly on the house that Captain Brown and his family escaped with only the clothes on their backs.”

“Soon after the eruption, Theophilus sold the ranch to a hui (group) that included George Jones, who bought out his partners’ interests to became sole owner in 1877.”

“Another Mauna Loa eruption in 1887 produced an ‘a‘ā flow to the west of the 1868 eruption. From vent to ocean, the flow advanced 24 km (15 mi) in about 29 hours and came close – but did not damage – Jones’ residential compound.”

“The real impact of the 1887 eruption on Jones’ ranch was the flow of sightseers. George was known as a very hospitable man and, for several weeks, was forced to suspend operations in order to accommodate the hordes of curious visitors.”

“About a year-and-a-half after the 1887 eruption, Jones sold the ranch to Col. Samuel Norris. Norris, described as eccentric and peculiar, was not hospitable to his fellow Caucasians.”

“Another Mauna Loa eruption in 1907 produced lava flows to the west of the 1887 and 1868 flows, further reducing pasture lands. Tourists flocking to the new flows were not welcomed by the new ranch owner.”

“Norris was 66 when he bought the ranch. In 1910, when he realized he was dying, Norris essentially gave away the ranch, “selling” it to his long-time friend, Charles Macomber, for a dollar, complaining that lava flows had devalued the property. Norris died a few months later.”

“The upper reaches of the ranch were overrun by lava in 1903, 1916, and 1926 but these eruptions did not precipitate a sale as the earlier ones had.“

“In 1912, Macomber sold the ranch to A.W. Carter for inclusion in the famed Parker Ranch.” “During this ownership 1,200 head of cattle were largely run on the land nearest the highway, marginally using the land above the 1,400 foot elevation”

“On February 6, 1947 Parker Ranch sold Kahuku to James W Glover founder of the general construction firm bearing his name …. During his ownership Glover planted koa for logging and continued the installation of smooth wire fencing.”

“After Glover’s death, the ranch was sold under court order by the Hawaiian Trust company, the executor of his estate to pay estate debts including inheritance taxes amounting to almost a million dollars. The trustees of the Samuel M. Damon Estate made the winning bid in 1958”. (HVO; Helen Wong Smith)

On July 3, 2003, the National Park Service partnered with the Nature Conservancy to purchase the 116,000-acre Kahuku Ranch from the estate of Samuel Mills Damon as an addition to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, increasing the size of the park by 50% to 333,086 acres. (Vacation and event rentals remain for remnants of the former Kahuku Ranch, makai of the highway)

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September 5, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ahupuaʻa ʻO Kahana State Park

Ahupuaʻa ʻO Kahana State Park (formerly Kahana Valley State Park) is located in Ko‘olauloa on the windward side of O’ahu, between Kane’ohe and Laʻie, and 26 miles from Honolulu. Kahana is a relatively unspoiled valley, and one of only a few publicly owned ahupuaʻa, or ancient Hawaiian land division, in the state. (DLNR)

In 1965, John J. Hulten (real estate appraiser and State Senator) prepared a report for DLNR noting that Kahana was ideally suited to be a regional park, offering seashore water sports, mountain camping, and salt and freshwater fishing, and a tropical botanical garden. “Properly developed it will be a major attraction with 1,000,000 visits annually.”

The “proper development” he had in mind included 600 “developable acres” for camping, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, and swimming, and foresaw over 1,000 camping sites plus cabins, restaurant, and shops.

He said that a hotel and other commercial buildings could be developed, and wanted the creation of a 50 acre lake. All of this development would be assisted by a botanical garden and a mauka road from Likelike Highway to Kahana.

Instead from 1965 to 1969, the State initiated eminent domain proceedings to acquire the land as a way to prevent a proposed resort development and to retain the open space and rural character of the area. (DlNR)

In 1965, the State condemned the property for park purposes with a $5,000,000 price, paid in five annual installments (which included some federal funds.) By 1969, the State owned Kahana free and clear.

The State acquired the ahupua‘a ‘o Kahana in 1969 from the estate of Mary Foster and six individual lessees. The State was prompted to do so by a 1965 report that portrayed Kahana as a blank slate to be developed in a highly commercial way, including 1,000 camping sites, hotel, cabins, restaurant, a botanical garden, a manmade lake, and shops.

An additional factor supporting state acquisition was that it was one of the few, if not the only, ahupua`a left under virtually sole ownership and in a relatively pristine state.

The families living in Kahana at that time had long-standing ties to the valley, and lobbied the Legislature to allow them to stay in the park and preserve their lifestyle. (Legislative Reference Bureau)

In 1970, a Governor’s task force proposed the concept of a living park that would allow the families to stay and in some way participate in the park. The Governor recommended the concept to the Department of Land and Natural Resources. The residents were allowed to stay on the land under revocable leases.

On December 1, 1993, the Board issued thirty-one leases to families living in Kahana, and in most cases the lessees relocated, as a condition for receiving the leases, from their traditional homes near the coast to new residential subdivisions within Kahana and outside of the coastal flood zone. (Legislature)

In lieu of a monetary payment, the State determined that as a condition of their lease each Kahana family would contribute interpretive services per month to the park, to preserve, restore, and share the history and rural lifestyle of the ahupua‘a with the public.

Each family had to have its adult members contribute twenty-five hours of “interpretive services” each month to the park in exchange for their land lease. The scope of the term “interpretive service” was not well defined, which was soon to become a real problem.

Although the original plan was to delay the interpretive requirements for a year to allow residents to build their homes, the interpretative services were not actually required until February 1996. (LRB)

Over the years, communication difficulties have created challenges between park personnel and residents to the detriment of the cultural interpretive program. Some residents are fully up to date in their required hours, some have partially fallen behind, while others are not participating in the program at all. (DURP, 2013)

Requirements for eligible programs included residents’ interest in the program. This requires programs to be reviewed by a committee working with Park Manager and recommended for action. All aspects of scheduled activities (planning, presenting, clean up, etc.) must be voluntary.

Family members over 14 were accepted as eligible to provide counted working hours. The number of interpretive hours was also fixed to 25 hours per family per month required and a lessee could earn an excess of credit hours (maxing out at 150 hours per year). (DURP, 2013)

In 2017, a resolution in the legislature noted, “lessees are required to contribute twenty-five hours per month of cultural interpretive activities to the park in lieu of lease rent, and although most of the residents are of Hawaiian ancestry and a number have tenure in Kahana going back several generations, many of the current lessees are not engaging in cultural practices”.

That resolution also acknowledged that, “lack of consistent lessee participation and documentation of interpretive hours per the lease requirement makes it evident that the “Living Park” concept has not succeeded in the current form and should be reconsidered”. (There was no action on the resolution by the legislature.)

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