Place Names | Page 94 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 24, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waiʻoli Mission District

The first mission station on Kauai was established at Waimea on the more accessible south coast in 1820. In 1834, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions sent the Reverend William P. Alexander to investigate the north coast of Kauai for a suitable location for a second station.

He chose the Hanalei area because of its harbor, fertile soil and needs of the people. The actual site was called Waiʻoli, “Singing Waters”.

The Waiʻoli Mission District consists of the main Waiʻoli Mission Residence (1836,) the old Waiʻoli Huiʻia Church (1841,) the new Waiʻoli Huiʻia Church (1912) and related improvements.

Rev. Alexander and his wife and son moved there in 1834 and began work immediately, preaching to hundreds of islanders in a huge thatched meeting house, while living in a small grass hut.

The Alexanders carried on alone with their work until 1837 when the Board of Commissioners sent a teaching couple, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Johnson, to the mission. In the meantime, the Alexanders built a frame house for their growing family.

To help make ends meet, the mission planted crops in land donated by the Governor of Kauaʻi. The students helped cultivate the crops, and in so doing, learned agricultural techniques. Cotton was tried without much success. Sugar cane proved much more suitable.

As the center of mission activities on the Hanalei side of Kauai, Waiʻoli Church and Mission House played an important role in the history of that part of the island.

Deborah Kapule, the dowager Queen of Kauai and an earnest convert, assisted in establishing the Mission. Governor Kaikioewa of Kauai provided the land and encouraged the Mission in many ways.

The Old Waiʻoli Huiʻia Church is actually the third church built on its site. The first was a huge thatch structure built by the local populace when they heard that a permanent missionary was to be sent to them.

It was constructed in 1832, but destroyed by fire in 1834, just prior to the arrival of the Rev. William Alexander. He immediately built another similar structure, but it was destroyed by a storm in 1837.

In 1841, Rev. Alexander dedicated the present Old Waiʻoli Huiʻia Church; it is the oldest church on the Island of Kauai.

In 1843, the Alexanders were transferred to the Lāhainā station due to illness and the Rev. and Mrs. George Rowell took their place.

In 1846, Rev. Rowell and his wife were transferred to Waimea. Mr. and Mrs. Abner Wilcox and their four boys were sent from Oʻahu to take over the teaching duties. Mr. Wilcox was to “raise up teachers for the common schools of the island and to prepare those who may go from our Island to the High School”.

In 1853, the American Board finally transferred the Sandwich Islands Mission to the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, which had the status of a “home mission”. To round out the missionaries’ pensions, the American Board divided mission lands among them.

In this manner, the Waiʻoli home was deeded to the Wilcox family. They had decided to make their home in Hawaiʻi rather than return to the mainland. However, in 1869, while on a visit to relatives in New England, Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox suddenly fell ill and died.

The sons took over the Waiʻoli property, managing the farm operation and keeping the buildings in good repair. Albert Wilcox was the last to live in the frame house, moving out in 1877.

The sons went on to become some of the most prominent figures in Hawaii. George N. Wilcox became a highly successful sugar planter on Kauai and entered politics.

He was elected to the legislature. In 1887, he was elected to the House of Nobles, and after Kalākaua’s death, was appointed Minister of the Interior by Queen Liliuokalani.

After the fall of the monarchy, he served the Republic of Hawaiʻi in the constitutional convention, and later, in the Senate. All the while, he continued his sugar operations at the Grove Farm Plantation on Kauai, as well as participating in various other enterprises. The other Wilcox boys also played important parts in monarchy, Republic and Territorial commerce and politics.

In 1912, the current church building was built with donations from Sam, George and Albert Wilcox (sons of the missionary couple who were born at the station). The old 1841 church was used as the Mission Hall. The old mission bell was used in the belfry.

In 1921, Wilcox descendants funded architect Hart Wood to restore the Mission House and the Mission Hall. By 1945, it merged with the Anini Church and the Haʻena Church to become the Huiʻia Church.

Having survived two previous hurricanes, Hurricane Dot and Hurricane Iwa, both the Waiʻoli Huiʻia Church Sanctuary and the Waiʻoli Mission Hall were restored after sustaining significant damage from Hurricane Iniki in 1992. Both buildings are listed on the state and national registers of historic places.

The Waiʻoli Huiʻia Church has had a continuous record of service since 1834, first as a Congregational Church and since 1957 as a United Church of Christ.

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Old Waioli Church
Old Waioli Church
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August 23, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Hiʻilawe

Under natural conditions, Lālākea Stream, its tributary and Hakalaoa Stream flow over the pali above Waipiʻo Valley as the famous Hiʻilawe Twin Falls. The twin falls are Hiʻilawe Falls to the west and Hakalaoa Falls to the east.

The twin falls converge in a huge plunge pool at the bottom of the pali to form Hiʻilawe Stream, one of two primary waterways that flow through Waipiʻo Valley to the ocean.

Hiʻilawe Stream supports loʻi kalo, native stream life, productivity in nearshore waters, fishing, gathering and other traditional and customary Hawaiian practices.

Hiʻilawe Waterfall is one of the tallest waterfalls in Hawaiʻi dropping about 1,450-feet, with a main drop of 1,201-feet into Waipiʻo Valley on Lālākea Stream.

In the early-1900s, the streams feeding the falls were diverted so the water could be used for irrigation of sugar cane plantations, like many other streams in Hawaiʻi.

A concrete barrier, or “diversion”, had been built at the 2,000-foot elevation, high above the valley. With the reduction of water, there were no longer two waterfalls at Hiʻilawe, typically only one waterfall had water flowing.

The diverted water was last used by the Hāmākua Sugar Company in 1989.

In 1994, Kamehameha Schools (KS) obtained the Lālākea Ditch when it acquired Hāmākua Sugar Company land. The ditch continued to divert an average of 2.5-million gallons of water a day from the streams to the Lālākea Reservoir, where the unused water flowed into a dry gully.

In lieu of a hefty fine for failing to provide evidence of long-term use of water diverted by the Lālākea Ditch, KS was required to fund studies or other stream-related projects of comparable value.

When I served as Chair of the State Commission on Water Resource Management (Water Commission,) KS submitted and we approved a plan to fully restore flows to three streams that feed the famous Hiʻilawe Twin Falls.

The restoration of Lālākea and Hakalaoa streams and a tributary of Lālākea Stream was only the second stream restoration in the history of the State Water Code, which was enacted in 1987. (The first stream restoration under the code was the partial restoration of Waiāhole, Waianu and Waikāne streams in Windward O`ahu.)

Not only was there less water flowing, but it flowed slower and was warmer which affected the plants and animals that live in the stream. Abandoning the Lālākea Ditch and restoring the streams is necessary to support native stream life and the traditional and customary practices that rely on Hiʻilawe Stream.

In addition, KS prepared the Waipiʻo Valley Stream Restoration Study, the first-ever study of completely restoring a Hawaiian stream to natural flow conditions.

Stream restoration effects studied by KS include: water quality, stream flow, habitats and biota. This study was conducted by scientists from Bishop Museum and other institutions, with student scientists from the Island of Hawaiʻi collaborating and contributing to data collection and analysis.

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Hiilawe Postcard
Hiilawe Falls, Waipio Valley 1880
Hiilawe
Hiilawe
Hiilawe 2005
Hiilawe 2006
Ahupuaa-Waipio Valley-William Ellis-1826-400

August 19, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Gifts for the Young King

French sea captain Auguste Dehaut-Cilly made round-the world travels between 1826 and 1829; all of the following is from his account of the Islands following his trip from California to Hawai‘i, in 1828.

“The crossing was uneventful; on the seventeenth day we came in sight of the island of Oahu and we then sailed along the southeast shore past Koko Head. All this coast appears quite arid at first, but on coming closer one soon perceives greenery and human habitations.”

“This point projects prominently to the southeast coast turning sharply to the west, forms a shallow bay two Ieagues around and terminated by Diamond Head.”

“This low mountain is all the more remarkable in that it stands Isolated alongside the sea, rising out of a low terrain a league from the first high ground of the interior.”

“Its shape, quite round and truncated horizontally, is that of a volcanic crater; it doubtless owes its origin to one of those fire-belching eruptions. At the summit there is a small lake of fresh water filled with excellent fish.”

“West of Koko Head the island takes on a more pleasant aspect; the mountains, cut by deep valleys, are covered with forests of densely growing trees.”

“As soon as we had passed the Diamond we found ourselves opposite a magnificent grove of coconut palms whose broad leaves cast shade on the pretty village of Witite or rather Waitite., where ships used ordinarily to moor before the establishment of port of Anaroura (Honolulu), one league farther west.”

“At a distance of one mile and in a depth of eight or nine fathoms we coasted along the line of reefs that borders the shore and came to cast anchor at eleven fathoms in front of the harbor, where we could see a number of ships.”

“Seldom can one enter the harbor of Honolulu in the middle of the day. The narrow channel leading in is a tortuous opening in the reef, two miles long. If there is not a favorable wind, which there rarely is, on must await the calm of early morning and let the ship be towed in by small boats.”

“This difficulty has created in Honolulu a tradition dear to the fraternal alliance of all seamen among ourselves. On the day a ship is to enter the port, boats from all the other ships arrive before sunrise ready to perform this service.”

“A captain who refuses this touching ceremony would cover himself with shame in the eyes of all others.”

“The harbor of Honolulu Itself is a twisting channel where twenty-five ships can be moored in safety over a mud bottom from three to six fathoms.”

“When the ship was settled in its mooring berth we shot off a salute of thirteen guns, which was returned immediately from the fort in the same number.”

“I then called on the young king Kauikeaouli or Kamehameha III. He was at the house of the regent Boki, seated with no special marks of honor in an armchair similar to the one offered me.”

“He was dressed quite simply in white with a yellow neck-piece of pandanus seeds. Even this was not, as I thought at first, a sign of distinction since many other people, both men and women, wore similar ones.”

“This young prince, then seventeen years old, wore a melancholy air. His features were interesting, his face bearing several marks left by the smallpox, and his color was a dark chestnut brown.”

“He spoke little and looked at me closely for a long time. I had on board portraits of the king, his brother, and of the queen, who had both died in London in 1824, and I offered them to him through the interpreter.”

“He accepted with little show of feeling at first; it was only several days later, when they had been delivered to him, that he was struck by the perfect resemblance and fine execution.”

“For several days these two pictures excited great emotion among all his people; by shedding real tears they demonstrated the great attachment that they felt for their sovereigns.”

“Almost all the women had broken off the two incisors of the upper jaw, a sign of mourning in these islands for the death of the monarch.”

“The house where I found the young king was, as I have said, that of the regent Boki. In exterior appearance it is quite the same as all other houses in the town of Honolulu.”

“The Interior, carpeted with mats like the others, differed only in its European furniture, standing in every corner and mixed with the native furniture.”

“Nothing could have been more strange than to see a magnificent porcelain vase of French manufacture paired with a calabash, a work of nature…”

“… two splendid twin beds with curtains of embroidered stuff and of eiderdown; two hanging mirrors with glided frames meant to display beauties in their most elegant toilette but reflecting instead dark skin half covered with dirty tapa cloth.”

“However that may be, this dwelling would have been clean and decent if it had not been crowded with officials and servants stretched out on the mats and so close to each other that you could scarcely take a step without putting a foot on someone.”

“There was barely free space for four or five people. Since the king was no more than a child, the regent Boki was the most considerable person in the realm; he was always surrounded by the principal chiefs of the archipelago, some of whom lived at his expense.”

“One might think, to observe them, that positions of authority derive directly from size; the highest in rank are also the fattest, and as they are generally tall, we appeared to be pygmies beside them.”

“I often inquired about the extreme obesity of the chiefs, and this was always attributed to the lack of exercise and the abundance of food.”

“These must have something to do with the matter of weight, but why are they taller than the others? There is reason to believe that their origin is different from that of the lesser people …”

“… and that they are descended from the conquerors of these islands as the feudal seigneurs of medieval France descended from the Frankish chieftains who invaded the conquest the privileged nobles of England.”

“The tradition mingled with fale, on which is based the history of the Sandwich Islands, seems to indicate that they were conquered in some remote time by strangers of a race different from that of the first inhabitants.”

“That they do not now have the same facial structure is support from this conjecture. The profiles of most of the chiefs, instead of being straight or even pointed like most of the native people, are concave in form; if you put a straight rule to forehead and chin, it would hardly touch the nose.”

“I do not wish, however, to state as fact a matter so little attested. As for Kauikeaouli, he had purely indigenous features, and he was afflicted by being thin so that the embonpoint of the others was a continued source of jealousy to him.”

“Among the chiefs and courtiers who surrounded the king and regent and who overfilled the house, some were dressed in the European style, that is, in pantaloons and white shirts, while others had wrapped themselves in tapa, a piece of cloth made in this country from the bark of the paper mulberry.”

“But most of them go naked, wearing around the waist only a malo, a band of cloth so narrow that it is nearly always insufficient for the use intended.”

“Some of the women wore dresses and had combs in their hair as our ladies do, but the most usual garment of the sex is a large and billowing white chemise – I speak only of its color.”

“Princess Boki, having accompanied her husband to London when he went there with King Liholiho, had a greater taste for European style than the others and was thus better attired than they.”

“All of them retained one feature of their national costume, a band of feathers, usually red, green, and yellow and worn sometimes around the neck and sometimes on the head like a crown. The lattr manner becomes them marvelously.” (Duhaut-Cilly, 1828) (I am not sure what images were given; the images here are from when Liholiho and Kamamalu were in Europe.)

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August 14, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hōlua

Certain pastimes were restricted to the chiefs, the most spectacular being hōlua sledding. A track of rock, layered with earth and made slippery with grass, was made for tobogganing on a narrow sled.

Hōlua sledding was the most dangerous sport practiced in Hawai‘i. The rider lies prone on a sled the width of a ski and slides down a chute made of lava rock.

The sled or papa consisted of two narrow and highly polished runners (three inches apart,) from 7- to 18-feet in length, and from two to three inches deep. The papa hōlua (canoe sled) is a reflection of the double-hulled canoe.

The two runners were fastened together by a number of short pieces of woods varying in length from two to five inches, laid horizontally across the runners.

“Coasting down slopes… Sliding on specially constructed sleds was practiced only in Hawaii and New Zealand,” wrote historian Kenneth Emory. “The Maori sled, however, was quite different from the Hawaiian… One of the Hawaiian sleds, to be seen in [the] Bishop Museum, is the only complete ancient sled in existence.”

“The narrowness and the convergence of the runners toward the front should be noticed. Coasting on these sleds was a pastime confined to the chiefs and chieftesses.”

The Reverend Hiram Bingham provides a descriptive account of this sport: “In the presence of the multitude, the player takes in both hands, his long, very narrow and light built sled, made for this purpose alone, the curved ends of the runners being upward and forward, as he holds it, to begin the race.”

“Standing erect, at first, a little back from the head of the prepared slippery path, he runs a few rods to it, to acquire the greatest momentum, carrying his sled, then pitches himself, head foremost, down the declivity, dexterously throwing his body, full length, upon his vehicle, as on a surf board.”

“The sled, keeping its rail or grassway, courses with velocity down the steep, and passes off into the plain, bearing its proud, but prone and headlong rider, who scarcely values his neck more than the prize at stake.”

The primary archaeological feature of Keauhou was its monumental Holua Slide, a stone ramp nearly one mile in length that culminated at He‘eia Bay.

In 1913, H.W. Kinney published a visitor’s guide to the island of Hawai‘i, including descriptions of the land at the time, historical accounts of events, and descriptions of sites and practices that might be observed by the visitor.

At Keauhou, he notes, “Mauka of the village is seen the most famous papa hōlua in the Islands, a wide road-like stretch, which was laid with grass steeped in kukui-nut oil so as to allow the prince and his friends to coast down in their sleighs constructed for the purpose.”

The Keauhou hōlua is one of the largest and best-preserved hōlua course. The remains are about 1290 feet long of the original that was over 4000 feet long. When in use, it was covered in dirt and wet grass to make it slippery.

Contestants reached treacherous speeds on their narrow sleds by adding thatching and mats to make the holua slippery. When the waves were large, crowds would gather on a stone platform at He‘eia Bay to watch as hōlua contestants raced against surfers to a shoreline finish.

A portion of the hōlua is visible on Alii Drive, directly mauka (inland) of the golf clubhouse entrance.

Kekahuna, who mapped and studied the Keauhou Hōlua notes, “The starting point is a narrow platform paved level, succeeded by a slightly declined crosswise platform 36-feet long by 29-feet wide, and is followed by a series of steep descents that gave high speed to the holua sleds.”

“Great care seems to have been exercised in the building of this huge relic of the ancients. Practically the whole slide is constructed of fairly large ‘a‘a rocks, filled in with rocks of medium and small-sized ‘a‘a. The base walls on the north and south vary in height according to the contour of the land. The width of the runway varies considerably.”

“The length of the slide, measured through the middle from the present lower end, is 3,682-feet. It may have extended about 3,000-feet farther, as it is said that in ancient days the now missing lower part extended along the point north of Keauhou Bay nearly to the Protestant open chapel by beautiful He`eia Bay.”

“On completion of their slides the chiefs would have their close attendants (kahus) transport them and their surfboards by canoe to a point about a mile offshore and a little to the north, from where they would ride in He‘eia on the great waves of the noted surf of Kaulu.”

Kauikeauoli, born at Keauhou and later to become ruler of the entire island chain (as Kamehameha III,) was reportedly a great athlete and especially enjoyed hōlua sliding.

As Baker, in the 1916 Hawaiian Annual, wrote, “At Keauhou, on a pretty little bay part way between the other bays, is a well-preserved papa holua, a broad, well-built, undulating toboggan-like slide, built before his reign for Kamehameha III to slide down on sleds, with his friends, over the grass-covered slide made slippery with kukui-nut oil.”

“The slide used to pass out behind the chapel on the north arm of the bay. There the prince and his friends would take surf-boards and return by water to the head of the bay.”

“After the prince had started the sport, others might slide as well. Originally, the slide was over a mile long, about three-quarters of a mile still being in good condition. It is fifty feet wide for the entire distance, and across one it is raised ten feet.”

There are other hōlua in the islands. One, on Kaua‘i, has two slides crossing each other on a pu‘u, northwest of Kōloa; another is a well-preserved 400- to 500-foot long hōlua near Kapua, South Kona.

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Keauhou-Holua_Slide-(KeauhouResort)
Holua_at_Keauhou_Shopping_Village-(KeauhouResort)
Holua_Sled-(BishopMuseum)
Holua_Slide-(HerbKane)
Detail_of_Holua_Sled-(National Library of Medicine (NLM))

August 8, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Hawai‘i State Library

The earliest libraries in Hawaiʻi appear to have been reading rooms provided for ships officers and crews. In Lāhainā, the Seamen’s Chapel and Reading Room was built in 1834 following an appeal by William Richards and Ephriam Spaulding (it was built two years later.)

In Honolulu, the Sandwich Islands Institute, organized in November 1837, fitted up a room at the Seamen’s Bethel in downtown Honolulu as a library and a museum of natural history and Pacific artifacts.

A newspaper article in October 1840 referred to this as a “Public Library, three to four hundred volumes” and also listed a “Reading Room for Seamen,” presumably at a different location.

A decade later, in 1850, residents of Honolulu organized the Atheneum Society, which for a year or two maintained a reading room and library. The Atheneum was succeeded in 1853 by the Honolulu Circulating Library Association.

In 1879, a group of men founded the Honolulu Library and Reading Room Association. In the local newspaper, the Commercial Pacific Advertiser, editor JH Black wrote, “The library is not intended to be run for the benefit of any class, party, nationality, or sect.”

Some of the founders wanted to exclude women from membership, but Alexander Cartwright disagreed, writing to his brother Alfred: “The idea keeps the blessed ladies out and the children. What makes us old geezers think we are the only ones to be spiritually and morally uplifted by a public library in this city?”

It wasn’t long before the committee changed the wording of the constitution to make women eligible for membership.

Early in its history, the organization had established a solid economic foundation, and over time it was able to obtain the moral and financial support of both the Hawaiian government and wealthy citizens.

King Kalākaua, Queen Kapiʻolani, Queen Emma, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Regent Lili‘uokalani, Minister of the Interior F. W. Hutchinson and Charles R. Bishop were just a few of its notable and highly influential supporters.

From 1879 to 1912, library service was provided by the Honolulu Library and Reading-Room Association.

In 1909, Governor Frear helped pass the “Act to Provide for the Establishment of the Public Library of Hawaii”. On May 15, 1909 the Honolulu Library and Reading Room and the Library of Hawaiʻi signed an agreement by which the former agreed to turn over all books, furnishings and remaining funds to the latter.

A few months later, the Honolulu Library and Reading Room, Library of Hawaiʻi and the Historical Society jointly signed and submitted a letter to Andrew Carnegie requesting a grant for the construction of the Library of Hawaiʻi.

The request to Carnegie was for funds to build the new Library; Carnegie responded that the sum of $100,000 would be made ready as soon as a site was selected and plans drawn up.

The building’s final location, though, was not immediately settled. Several possible sites were considered. Ultimately, Governor Frear made a lot available on the corner of King and Punchbowl streets.

He picked a site that in 1872 had been purchased by the Government of Prince Lunalilo and transferred its control to the Board of Education.

The site was the location of Hāliʻimaile, the residence of Boki and Liliha and later Victoria Kamāmalu and her father and brothers before they ascended Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V.

In 1874, the government-supported Pohukaina School for Girls was started. Just up the street was the Royal School for Boys.

In order to accommodate the new Library of Hawaiʻi, after 36-years at King and Punchbowl, Pohukaina School was moved to Kakaʻako; the new school opened in 1913.

Ultimately, the Library of Hawaiʻi was completed at a cost of $127,000, with the local legislative funding providing the difference.

The building opened its doors on February 11, 1913, and Hawaiʻi at last joined those states of America that offered free library services to their communities. The library, now known as the Hawaiʻi State Library, still stands today.

Greco-Romanesque columns in front mark it as a Carnegie library, and within its lobby, a bust of Andrew Carnegie, the man who made it possible is on the grounds.

In 1921, the County Library Law established separate libraries on the islands of Kauaʻi, Maui and Hawaiʻi, under minimal supervision by the Library of Hawaiʻi, which restricted its services to Oʻahu. Even so, the latter quickly outgrew its quarters.

In 1927, the Territorial legislature approved funding to expand and renovate the building. Construction was completed in 1930. Architect CW Dickey tripled its size by adding new wings to create an open-air courtyard in the center.

After statehood in 1959, the Hawaiʻi State Legislature created the Hawaiʻi State Public Library System, the only statewide system in the United States, with the Hawaiʻi State Library building as its flagship branch.

My grandmother worked at the State Library, from 1920 to 1948; she retired after serving as Assistant Head Librarian and Director of the Extension Department. Part of her duties included the expansion of the Library to the Neighbor Islands in 1921. My mother received a degree in Library Science and was archivist at Punahou School.

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