The image shows my mother and grandmother in 1928 (my mother is the little girl sitting to the left, her mother is sitting nearby, wearing a hat.)
The scene is at Kailua-Kona at a site known as Pa O ʻUmi; over the years, most of this outcrop of land has been covered over with Aliʻi Drive – a small remnant remains extending beyond today’s seawall.
Here is where Chief ʻUmi-a-Liloa (who reigned about the same time Christopher Columbus was crossing the Atlantic) landed when he first came to Kailua by canoe, moving the Island’s Royal Center from Waipiʻo to Kailua.
On this point of rock ʻUmi ordered his attendant to dry his precious feather cloak (ʻahuʻula.) (The site is also referred to as Ka Lae O ʻAhuʻula.)
My mother was the great-great grand-daughter of Hiram Bingham, leader of first missionaries to Hawaiʻi who first landed in the Islands, here at Kailua-Kona in 1820. (Mokuʻaikaua Church, built by Bingham’s fellow missionary, Asa Thurston, is in the background, as well as Huliheʻe Palace (to the right.))
Check out the album of my mother’s 1928 trip around the Island of Hawaiʻi.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Bowman Olds says
Hau`oli La Makuahine
Bill Coke says
Very nice, thanks for sharing Mr. Young.
Stafford says
Thank you for sharing your story and these wonderful photos. Some places never change. Thankfully.
William C. Bergin says
The bottom right photo…is that Laupahoehoe Point taken from above? The photo of someone feeding a black calf…who and where is that?
Peter T Young says
Unfortunately, I do not have the labels for all the images. My guess is that it is Laupahoehoe from about. I have no clue as to where the black calf was.