Place Names | Page 47 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

September 30, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kapaʻakea Spring

It was once a perched water-table pond and spring.

It was originally known as Kumulae Spring (Pond – also Kapaʻakea and later Hausten Spring/Pond) and was reportedly the property of Kamāmalu (sister of Kamehameha IV and V.) She and her brothers loved swimming in the pond; they and others shared food and drinks there.

The spring is the subject of an old legend that tells of a wondrous princess upon whom men’s eyes were forbidden to gaze. The princess loved the waters of the spring and from time to time she would go there at night and bathe. In time, the waters of the spring became known for its healing powers. (Kanahele)

As in much of Oʻahu, geologically, the bedrock is actually reef limestone. Lava from the upslope Sugarloaf covered the limestone and cooled (with a thickness of about 40-feet.) After cooling of the Sugarloaf lava, alluvium and marshy lagoon sediments accumulated atop much of the limestone. A few inches of soil covered the top. (Halliday)

Groundwater flow cut through the limestone forming a karstic drainage system (Karst being a geological formation shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock, such as limestone.) This region, in and around the lower portions of the University of Hawaiʻi, became part of the Mōʻiliʻili Karst. Caverns and perched water-table springs and ponds were exposed at the surface.

The best-known of theses ponds was Kumulae. By the early-1920s, Mr. Hausten purchased and cleared the land, and stocked the pond with koi which interbred with existing fish. The large clear fishpond quickly became a noted attraction.

It was the family’s garden home with beautiful tropical gardens of flora and fauna. Emma McGuire “Ma” Hausten was an avid gardener and planted white ginger, water lilies, plumeria from the South Seas, willow trees, kukui trees, breadfruit and fruit trees as well as Hawaiian herbs and medical plants.

The gardens thrived and people asked if they might use the tropical setting for weddings, luaus and parties. Finally, in the mid-1930s limited private parties were held. (Willows)

Then, ‘tragedy’ happened. In the autumn of 1934, the Hausten pond disappeared without warning, draining in less than 24 hours.

It turns out, construction activities downslope from the King-University intersection struck a master conduit in the underground watered cave system. Water drained out. Upslope, the results of this dewatering were dramatic.

The master conduit was eventually resealed, the cave’s water table temporarily recharged, but the karst was never the same again. There have been several instances of collapses since the dewatering. One instance in 1952 involves the Standard Trading store falling through the ground into the karst below it. Another instance involves the emergence of a large cavern downslope from the King-University intersection.

During World War II, times were tough. An offer was made for the property; but instead of selling, the family decided to serve light lunches and drinks. In 1944, the Willows Restaurant opened as a club by Emma’s daughter, Kathleen Perry, along with husband Al (30-year musical director of Hawaii Calls,) her brothers Allan and Walter McGuire and other family members. Together, they presided over a gracious era of Hawaiian music and hospitality during the late-1940s and 1950s. (Willows)

But after the dewatering, the historic pond was never the same, the continuing drop in the water table especially impacted the Willows Restaurant. The willow trees wilted and the restaurant lost its attractiveness and its customers.

New sinkholes developed. “People living in the vicinity made their way into the caves through holes in their yards and speared fish by the hundreds.” Several houses “lurched” and settled. Sidewalks cracked and water and gas mains ruptured. Some trees sank almost 3-feet. (Halliday)

The spring dried up and a remnant of the pond had to be lined with concrete. A manmade water feature surrounded by rock and plants has been built to recreate the ambience of the old days.

In 1998, the site was sold and restored. The Willows re-opened its doors on the threshold of a new millennium in 1999, after six years of being closed. It closed again in 2018 and is now operated as a venue and event space with catering.

September 29, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Maui No Ka Oi

Several have asked about historical information on Lahaina and West Maui. Here is a repeat of something I posted a while ago – its focus is on West Maui.

West Maui was considered a ‘window to the world’ because this area has seen the comings and goings of rival chiefs, kings, missionaries, whalers, government officials, the military, sugar and pineapple plantation owners, early labor immigrants, celebrities and travelers for centuries.

This ‘window’ is a metaphor. As a ‘window to the world,’ the stories of West Maui give a bigger perspective of the world, than we would otherwise have, and helps us to expand our view and broaden our understanding of the world.

History tells us much about a community – what it is and where it has come from. West Maui has a rich history dating back to the times of: Pre-contact Hawaiʻi; Hawaiian Monarchy; American Protestant Missionaries; Whaling industry; Sugar and Pineapple Plantations; and Evolution of the West Maui Community.

Each successive passage of an era has added to the cultural richness of the community. And through the tireless efforts of numerous organizations and individuals in the community, much has been done to preserve the historic character of West Maui town and to restore historic sites.

The island of Maui is divided into twelve moku; Kāʻanapali, Lāhainā, Wailuku, Hāmākuapoko, Hāmākualoa, Koʻolau, Hāna, Kīpahulu, Kaupō, Kahikinui, Honuaʻula and Kula. Two of these, Kāʻanapali and Lāhainā make up West Maui.

Probably there is no portion of our Valley Isle, around which gathers so much historic value as West Maui. It was the former capital and favorite residence of kings and chiefs.

After serving for centuries as Royal Center to ruling chiefs, West Maui was selected by Kamehameha III and his chiefs to be the seat of government; here the first Hawaiian constitution was drafted and the first legislature was convened.

Hawai‘i’s whaling era began in 1819 when two New England ships became the first whaling ships to arrive in the Hawaiian Islands. Over the next two decades, the Pacific whaling fleet nearly quadrupled in size and in the record year of 1846, 736-whaling ships arrived in Hawai’i.

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.

Lāhainā Roads, also called the Lāhainā Roadstead is a channel between the islands of Maui and Lānai (and to a lesser extent, Molokai and Kahoʻolawe) making it a sheltered anchorage.

The central location of the Hawaiian Islands between the continent and Japan whaling grounds brought many whaling ships to the Islands. Whalers needed food and the islands supplied this need from its fertile lands.

Between the 1820s and the 1860s, the Lāhainā Roadstead was the principal anchorage of the American Pacific whaling fleet. One reason why so many whalers preferred West Maui to other ports was that by anchoring in a roadstead from half a mile to a mile from shore they could control their crews better than when in a harbor.

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.

The great event of 1823 was the death of Keōpūolani at Lāhainā. Within an hour before “joining the Great Majority” she had been baptized as a Christian, an occurrence which proved a great stimulus to increasing the influence of the missionaries. King Kaumuali’i of Kauai, at his special request, was buried beside Keōpūolani in 1824. (NPS)

In 1831, classes at the new Mission Seminary at Lahainaluna (later known as Lahainaluna (Upper Lahaina)) began. The school was established by the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions “to instruct young men of piety and promising talents” (training preachers and teachers.) It is the oldest high school west of the Mississippi River.

Per the requests of the chiefs, the American Protestant missionaries began teaching the makaʻāinana (commoners.) Literacy levels exploded.

From 1820 to 1832, in which Hawaiian literacy grew by 91 percent, the literacy rate on the US continent grew by only 6 percent and did not exceed the 90 percent level until 1902 – three hundred years after the first settlers landed in Jamestown – overall European literacy rates in 1850 had not been much above 50 percent.

Centuries ago, the early Polynesian settlers to Hawaiʻi brought sugar cane with them and demonstrated that it could be grown successfully.

It was not until 1823 that several members of the West Maui Mission Station began to process sugar from native sugarcanes for their tables. By the 1840s, efforts were underway in West Maui to develop a means for making sugar as a commodity.

Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” a section of which provided the legal basis for a contract-labor system, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

It is not likely anyone then foresaw the impact this would have on the cultural and social structure of the islands. The sugar industry is at the center of Hawaiʻi’s modern diversity of races and ethnic cultures. Of the nearly 385,000-workers that came, many thousands stayed to become a part of Hawai‘i’s unique ethnic mix. Hawai‘i continues to be one of the most culturally-diverse and racially-integrated places.

Pioneer Mill Company was one of the earliest plantations to use a steam tramway for transporting harvested cane from the fields to the mill. Cane from about 1000‐acres was flumed directly to the mill cane carrier with the rest coming to the mill by rail. (The Sugar Cane Train is a remnant of that system.)

In 1859, an oil well was discovered and developed in Titusville, Pennsylvania; within a few years this new type of oil replaced whale oil for lamps and many other uses – spelling the end of the whaling industry.

By 1862, the whaling industry was in a definite and permanent decline. The effect of West Maui was striking. Prosperity ended, prices fell, cattle and crops were a drag on the market, and ship chandleries and retail stores began to wither.

Historically Maui’s second largest industry, pineapple cultivation has 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.

One of the first hotels in West Maui was the Pioneer Hotel – founded in 1901. George Freeland arrived in the Lāhainā roadstead on a ship that had just come from a long voyage through the south seas; he noted a need for a hotel.

It remained the only place for visitors to stay on Maui’s west side until the early-1960s. Tourism exploded; West Maui is a full-fledged tourist destination second only to Waikīkī.

Lāhainā’s Front Street, offering an incredible oceanfront setting, people of diverse cultures, architecture and incredible stories of Hawaiʻi’s past, was recognized as one of the American Planning Association’s 2011 “Great Streets in America.”

The following link is to a larger discussion on West Maui – it was prepared a few years ago, before the fires.

Click HERE to view/download for more information on West Maui’s place in the Islands and world.

To see and read about the many structures that were lost in the Lahaina fire, I encourage you to download an App developed by the Lahaina Restoration Foundation that was put together as a ‘Walking Tour’ through Lahaina (you will see images and information on the pre-fire structures):

https://lahainarestoration.org/lahaina-historic-trail/

The tragic fire in Lahaina destroyed many of the physical structures of the community. Some of the historic buildings may be rebuilt; something else will take the place of others.

But the fires did not take away the memory we share of this area. Do what you can to help those that have been impacted and share your memories of West Maui and Lahaina. Maui No Ka Oi (Maui is the best).

Humpback_Whale-Maui-(Stan_Butler-NOAA)-WC

Olowalu-Petroglyphs

Bathing scene, Lahaina, Maui, watercolor, by James Gay Sawkins-1855

Port-of-Lahaina-Maui-1848

Whale-ships at Lahaina-(vintagehawaii)-1848

Edward_T._Perkins,_Rear_View_of_Lahaina,_1854

Whales from McGregor Point-(cphamrah)

Pioneer Mill

McGregor_Point-Norwegian-Monument

Lahaina_from_offshore_in-1885

Lahaina_Boat_Landing

Lahaina,_West_Maui,_Sandwich_Islands2,_watercolor_and_pencil,_by_James_Gay_Sawkins-1855

Lahaina,_Maui,_c._1831

Lahaina, Front Street 1942

Lahaina Tunnel Dedication (1951)

Lahaina Roads

Lahaina Harbor before harbor perimeter retaining wall built-ca 1940

Lahaina Courthouse-fronting beach-(now Lahaina Small Boat Harbor)

Banyan Tree located in courthouse square in the center of Lahaina

Baldwin Packers Cannery (kapalua)

1837 Map of the Islands; made by students at Lahainaluna School (Mission Houses)

September 27, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Name’s the Same

A toponym is a place name derived from topographical features. I recently read an article by Andrew Crowe who notes that there are several place names in New Zealand (NZ) that are shared in the Hawaiian Archipelago. The following is from that article.

Crowe states that the origin, or origins, of New Zealand Māori are currently thought to lie in the ‘central East Polynesian interaction sphere’ – primarily in the Society and Southern Cook Islands.

This conclusion is supported by studies of the mtDNA variation in local populations of the humanly-transported Pacific rat, and by affinities in language and archaeology.

A survey of place names shared between New Zealand and East Polynesia found by far the majority in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Given that the immediate origin of Māori is generally thought to lie in the ‘central East Polynesian interaction sphere.’

Crowe notes that a substantial number of place names shared between New Zealand and Hawai‘i are not shared with the Society Islands. This suggests a possibility that the high number of names shared between these two regions reflects a degree of contact between them.

Polynesian toponyms – like those worldwide – are either descriptive or commemorative of people, events or other places. To evaluate them in terms of geographical links, we should ideally know why each name was conferred.

Descriptive names, such as ‘one loa’ = ‘one roa’ (‘long beach’), may be independently coined in different places for similar topographic features, but this does not preclude other associations. For example, when the name ‘Long Beach’ is subsequently conferred on a long beach outside California, one may still be able to infer who might have named it.

Here’s another example of the names being the same – Hawai‘i Island – Hawaiki (ancestral homeland of NZ Māori). Or, a place on that island, Hilo – Whiro (NI) & Te Whiro (NI). Or, another place on the other side (also found in other places throughout Hawai‘i), Kailua – Tairua (NI & SI).

Here are some similarly-named Hawai‘i streams: Wailoa – Wairoa; Wailua – Wairua; Waimanu – Waimanu; Waimea – Waimea; Waipi‘o – Waipiko.

Heading to O‘ahu, we find Honolulu (Whangaruru is a harbor on the NZ North Island). On O‘ahu’s windward side has Kailua, He‘eia and Kahana (New Zealand has Te Rua (SI), Hekia (SI) and Tahanga (NI).

O‘ahu’s north shore has Waimea (NZ has Waimea), Laniākea (in NZ there is Rangiātea) and Kawela (Te Wera is a place in NZ). Wai‘anae is across the way, Waikanae is in NZ.

On Maui you will find Mākena (there’s a Mātenga in NZ), Nāpili (Ngāpiri is on NI), Wai‘ānapanapa (NZ has Waikanapanapa), Waiehu and Waine‘e (NZ has Waiehu and Waiheke).

Crowe’s article notes 518 Hawaiian place names that are similar to New Zealand. For the most part, the lists comprise only those landscape features and locations that were of general interest: harbors, channels, reefs, cliffs, beaches, bays, points, islets, caves, peaks, hills, craters, ranges, valleys, plains, rivers, streams, springs, falls, swamps, lakes, districts, villages and marae/heiau.

The islands of Hawai‘i and O‘ahu stand out with higher numbers of similarly-named Māori place names; when compared by land area, the density of shared names on Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Ni‘ihau was found to be comparable with that on the island of Tahiti.

Crowe concludes, for this and other reasons, Hawai‘i deserves to be considered as a potential source of (or to otherwise have been in contact with) New Zealand Māori – despite its immense distance from New Zealand and isolation at European contact.

September 23, 2023 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

ʻĀina Haina (ʻIli of Wailupe)

Waikīkī (“water spurting from many sources”) ahupuaʻa lies between Honolulu (from the west side of Makiki Valley) and Maunalua (the east side of Wailupe) – essentially from Piʻikoi Street to the ʻĀina Haina/Niu Valley boundary.

It included several ʻili, subdivisions/portions of ahupuaʻa. Wailupe is one of these ʻili; it is actually an ʻili lele (jumping ʻili) that includes the area we now call ʻĀina Haina and kalo (taro loʻi) lands in nearby Pālolo Valley.

From ancient times, we learn Wailupe is part of the tradition of Kamapuaʻa, a multi-formed deity.

The Hawaiian deity Kamapuaʻa, is a part of the Lono god-force, and possessed many body forms (kinolau), representing both human and various facets of nature. He was born in pig-form to Hina (mother) and Kahiki‘ula (father) at Kaluanui in the Koʻolauloa District of O‘ahu. (Maly)

ʻOlopana, an Oʻahu Chief (and younger brother of Kahiki’ula,) was an adversary of Kamapuaʻa. After several skirmishes and confrontations between them, Kamapuaʻa finally killed ʻOlopana and conquered Oʻahu.

When Kamapuaʻa started to divide the land, one of the notable aspects of the tradition of Kamapuaʻa is that, Lonoawohi, his priest, asked for and received the lands whose names begin with the word “wai” (i.e. Waikiki, Waianae, Waiawa … and Wailupe. Thus, the priests of the Lono class received the “wai” lands. (Maly)

In Hawai‘i and essentially in all cultures – water meant life and growth. In Hawai‘i – “Wai” – fresh water – is a life force – it meant abundance and wealth and was a consistent theme in native traditions, practices, land use and historical accounts.

Wailupe (literally, “kite water”) suggests this was one of the prescribed places to fly kites, some suggesting the land was named “for a kite-flying woman (he wāhine hoʻolele lupe.)”

Another name for the area was Kekaha (“the place”) and is noted in the names of the winds the canoes could expect while sailing along the southeast coast of Oʻahu:

Puuokona is of Kuliʻouʻou
Ma-ua is the wind of Niu
Holouhā is of Kekaha (Wailupe)
Māunuunu is of Wai‘alae
The wind of Lēʻahi turns here and there …

There are three gulches forming the valley; the main Wailupe Gulch follows the lower Wailupe Stream and a branch to the northwest. The northeast branch follows Laulaupoe Gulch, which is named for a round (poe) type of leaf package (laulau) used for food and for presentations.

Above, there is a third gulch called Kuluʻī, which is named for a type of tree/shrub. On early maps, a second small stream is shown on the western side called Waialiʻi (probably “water of the chiefs.”) (Cultural Surveys)

What we know today as Wailupe Peninsula is the former Wailupe Fishpond. The Hawaiian term for the pond was Loko Nui o Wailupe, “big pond of Wailupe.”

Just mauka of the fishpond (makai of the main coastal trail, now covered by Kalanianaʻole Highway) was a spring called Puhikani. There was a second spring, which fed a fishpond of the same name, on the west side of Wailupe Pond called Punakou, which means “kou tree spring.”

Kawaikuʻi Beach Park is named after a freshwater spring in this area that was the only source of drinking water for the coastal residents. Kawaikuʻi means “the united water” (named either because of the salt and fresh water “united” at the spring or because Wailupe residents once came to wash their clothes on flat rocks near the spring and to gather limu – thus the population congregated or “united” at this spot.)

In 1826, the missionary Levi Chamberlain took a tour of the island of O‘ahu, traveling through the southern coast of O‘ahu westward from Makapuʻu. He recorded a settlement of eighteen houses at Maunalua, with three additional settlements between Maunalua and Wai‘alae. These settlements were probably at Kuliʻouʻou, Niu and Wailupe. At Wai‘alae he stopped at a settlement with a schoolhouse. (Cultural Surveys)

The land of Wailupe was reportedly distributed to the father of Kamaha by Kamehameha the Great following the Battle of Nuʻuanu in 1795.

At the Māhele, Kamaha, konohiki (land manager) of the land, received Wailupe, retaining half and returning half. (The King accepted “the large Fish pond (Wailupe Pond) and one acre of Kula land in the Ili of ‘Wailupe’ Oʻahu;” Kamaha received the remainder of the land and all of the smaller fishponds.) (Cultural Surveys)

In Wailupe, 57 claims were made and 37 were awarded, indicating that there was substantial settlement in the area. The claims were mainly for kula lands with sweet potato, coconut, orange, hala, ipu and pili grass with no mention of taro being grown. Lots averaged 1.5-acres with two kula patches. The majority of lots were adjacent to major streams within the valley.

In 1924, Robert Hind purchased 2,090-acres and established the Hind-Clarke Dairy. The Hind-Clarke Dairy was a favored stop along the road, as noted in a 1930 visitor’s guide: “The Hind-Clarke Dairy, a short way ahead and to our left with a large sign over the entrance, is not to be passed unnoticed. The dairy is a model of its kind and well affords an opportunity to see dairying in its most scientific form. The cottage cheese on sale is, perhaps, the most delicious you have ever tasted.” (Cultural Surveys)

In 1946, Hind sold his dairy operation to Creameries of America, and soon after that began to develop the remainder of his land for residential use. The former cattle pasture was subdivided into lots to form a new residential community called ‘Āina Haina (which means, “Hind’s land.”)

Soon after this the Hawaiian Dredging Company filled in the old Wailupe Fishpond, forming the Wailupe Circle subdivision. A deep channel (depth of approximately 12 to 20 feet) was dredged around the pond, as well as a channel through the reef to the open ocean) and dredge material filled in the pond.

The ‘Āina Haina Shopping Center was built in 1950 (Hawaiʻi’s first McDonald’s opened there on November 2, 1968.) (The Hind Clark Dairy operation occupied the area now used as ʻĀina Haina Shopping Center and ʻĀina Haina Elementary School.) (Lots of information here from Maly and Cultural Surveys)

September 20, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

This Was a Place of Peace

Puʻuhonua is a Hawaiian designation for a land of refuge or sanctuary, stemming from early Polynesian cultural traditions. Each Hawaiian island had several puʻuhonua. Christian missionaries to the Sandwich Islands noted the similarity of puʻuhonua to ancient Hebrew “cities of refuge,” a function assigned to church buildings in western religion.

A decree by Queen Kaʻahumanu, before her death in 1832, re-established Maui puʻuhonua grounds which had existed from prehistoric times, one of which was Olowalu Valley.

Between 1-million and almost 2-million years ago, lava from Puʻu Kukui formed the fifteen-mile long West Maui mountain ridge. It was named Puʻu Laina in Lāhainā and called Kahalawai in Wailuku.

Olowalu Ahupuaʻa begins atop Pu’u Kukui at the 4,457-foot elevation; it is directly behind the head of ʻIao Valley in Wailuku. From this narrow point its boundaries trace downhill through Olowalu upper valley.

In the fourteenth century, King Hua of Maui sent his men into the mountains of Olowalu to trap nesting ʻuaʻu birds; the mountains were thick with ʻiliahi, koa, kou and ʻōhiʻa and cloud drip was captured as the moist tradewinds blew through. When the hills were cleared of sandalwood and other hardwoods in the early-1800s, Olowalu Valley is drier today than it was in the past.

Trails extended from the coast to the mountains; a trail known as the alanui or “King’s trail” built by Kihapiʻilani, extended along the coast passing through all the major communities between Lāhainā and Makena.

A trail to Wailuku once ran near the top of Puʻu Kukui and continued back over the northeast wall into the head of ʻIao Valley; it was a land route between Wailuku and Olowalu, with the upper valley serving as a rest stop before attempting the crossing of the Olowalu mountains to ʻIao Valley.

In 1790, when Kamehameha conquered Maui at the Battle of Kepaniwai, defeated Maui ali’i escaped through Olowalu Pass and Olowalu Valley and fled by sea to Moloka’i and O’ahu.

At lower elevations, Olowalu valley opens up to a gently sloped, fanned alluvial plain. Near the stream was wetland kalo (taro) cultivation, which incorporated pond fields and irrigation canals. In areas where water was not as abundant, food crops such as sugar cane, banana, and sweet potato and material crops like kukui, wauke, ʻolona, pili and naio. were grown. Olowalu was known for dry-land taro and breadfruit groves. Agriculture in this area of the island was believed to have started in about 1200-1400 AD.

Inshore lowlands of Olowalu and Ukumehame ahupua’a were once salt marsh habitats for nesting sea birds, shore birds, fish and mollusks. These wetlands supported native grasses and shrubs.

The name “Olowalu” translates to “a cluster of hills;” multiple cinder cones are common features of southwest rift zones on Hawaiian Islands. Early Hawaiian planters and modem sugar growers quarried or leveled some of these in the process of farming. (In modem times, “split hill” in northern Olowalu was completely removed to Kāʻanapali Beach for the construction of their executive golf course; only the tip of the hill makai of the highway remains.)

“Olowalu” is also a Hawaiian verb/adjective, used to describe a number of sounds occurring at once, or a din, such as drums beating, dogs barking, or chickens crowing at the sun. La’amaikahiki, who is credited with bringing the drum to Hawai’i from Tahiti in the eleventh century, is called, “O ke ali’i ke olowalu a ka pahu a Hawai’i.” “The ali’i is the rumble of Hawai’i’s drums.” Both definitions apply at Olowalu Valley.

Kaʻiwaloa Heiau (“the great ‘ʻiwa” – 100 by 150-feet) served entire region from Ukumehame (to the south) to Kekaʻa on the north.) The ʻiwa bird frequented Olowalu, it is an aid to Polynesian navigators and is often pictured at the center of the navigators’ sky compass. Kaʻiwaloa heiau faces south-southwest toward Kahoʻolawe and Ke Ala i Kahiki navigation lane to Tahiti.

Petroglyphs were inscribed and are still visible on the bare stone sides of a hill about a mile in from the highway past the present Olowalu Store. The figures are of several types and timeframes, including those of dogs, women, children and letters from the English alphabet.

In 1789, Simon Metcalf (captaining the Eleanora) and his son Thomas Metcalf (captaining the Fair American) were traders; their plan was to meet and spend winter in the Hawaiian Islands. The Eleanora arrived in the islands first at Kohala on the island of Hawaiʻi. After a confrontation with a local chief, Metcalf then sailed to the neighboring island of Maui to trade along the coast.

Captain Simon Metcalf anchored his trading ship the Eleanora off shore, probably at Makena Bay, to barter for necessary provisions. Someone stole one of Metcalfe’s small boats and killed a watchman. Captain Metcalfe fired his cannons into the village, and captured a few Hawaiians who told him the boat was taken by people from the village of Olowalu.

He sailed to Olowalu but found that boat had been broken up for its nails. (Nails were treasured like gems in ancient Hawaiʻi; they were used for fishhooks, adzes, drills, daggers and spear points.) An enraged Metcalfe invited the villagers to meet the ship, indicating he wanted to trade with them.

However, he had all the cannons loaded and ready on the side where he directed the canoes to approach. When they opened fire, about one hundred Hawaiians were killed, and many others wounded. Hawaiians referred to the slaughter as Kalolopahu, or spilled brains.

This tragedy, termed the Olowalu Massacre, set into motion a series of events which left two Western seamen and a ship (the Fair American) in the hands of Big Island chief Kamehameha. John Young (off the Eleanora) and Isaac Davis (off the Fair American) befriended Kamehameha I and became respected translators and his close and trusted advisors. They were instrumental in Kamehameha’s military ventures and his ultimate triumph in the race to unite the Hawaiian Islands.

Kalola ruled the puʻuhonua of Olowalu and presided over Kaʻiwaloa Heiau. Kahekili, ruler of Maui, lived at Halekiʻi Heiau around 1765. This indicates the important spiritual, political and economic connection between ʻIao and Olowalu. Kalola was still ruling at Olowalu in 1790 when Simon Metcalf fired cannon on Honua’ula and Olowalu.

Several months after the massacre at Olowalu, Kalola watched the great Battle of Kepaniwai from a panoramic flat area in the back of ʻIao Valley. Kamehameha stormed Maui with over twenty thousand men, and after several battles Maui troops retreated to ʻIao Valley. Kalola, her family and seven high chiefs of Maui escaped through the pass to Olowalu, where they boarded canoes for Molokaʻi and Oʻahu.

Commercial sugar is said to have started here by King Kamehameha V, who reigned from 1863 to 1872. The mill was probably constructed in the 1870s. Included with the mill was a 2-foot gauge railroad, a manager’s house and 3 other plantation houses.

The plantation was incorporated as the Olowalu Sugar Company in May 1881 and eventually was sold to Pioneer Mill Company, Ltd. in 1931. Lands in Olowalu eventually became a part of the former Pioneer Mill lands until the closure of the mill in the late-1990s. Since then, much of the former sugar lands have laid fallow. (Lots of information here from Olowalu Cultural Reserve.)