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November 12, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Grove Farm Homestead – Kaua‘i

The decline of the whaling industry following the discovery of petroleum oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859 created a temporary economic vacuum in Hawai‘i.

Although sugar had a relatively slow start after the initial first successful sugar plantation at Kōloa, Kaua‘i (1835,) it soon started to prosper.

However, it wasn’t until the American Civil War, which virtually shut down Louisiana sugar production during the 1860s, that Hawai‘i was able to compete in a California market that paid elevated prices for sugar.

It was about this time (1864) that George Norton Wilcox (known as GN,) the second son of eight boys, born in Hilo August 15, 1839 to missionary parents, Abner and Lucy Wilcox, took over the lease for Grove Farm sugar operation on Kaua‘i and quickly became its sole owner.

The plantation had initially been chopped out of a large grove of kukui trees and was thereafter called the Grove Farm.

Initially schooled at Punahou, he then studied engineering on the mainland at the Sheffield Scientific School, now a part of Yale University; GN was an enterprising innovator of plantation sugar culture.

GN realized that his plantation lacked enough water, which is the key to successfully growing sugar.  His first major innovation was the engineering and digging of an extensive irrigation ditch, in which water was brought from the mountains to his thirsty sugar fields.

Many modernizing changes occurred throughout the plantation, from the construction of the innovative water irrigation system to the creation of new cultivating machinery and planting methods to the use of the first sugar cane seed planter in the islands.

His Grove Farm Homestead was the center of operations for the developing sugar plantation and involved the relationship of family life, plantation activity, household work, gardening and farming which continue as a part of the experience of visiting Grove Farm today.

Today, the 100-acre Grove Farm Homestead preserves the earliest surviving set of domestic, agricultural and sugar plantation buildings, furnishings and collections, surrounding orchards and pasturelands in Hawaiʻi.

Grove Farm Homestead is the finest example in Hawaii of a complete plantation operation still in its original form.  The estate was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Hawaii on June 25, 1974.

The original house (pre-dated 1854; exact date unknown) started as a single story, wood frame structure with a very high pitched hip roof with very wide eave overhand which is supported by square wood posts at the eave and covers a veranda which encircles the house on three sides.

To the rear of this building is a kitchen-food preparation building with access off the veranda.

During a 1915 renovation of the structure (under the direction of CW Dickey,) walls were removed and large openings placed adjoining each of the three rooms creating a feeling of openness and flow from one space to another.

The main estate house has two bedrooms, writing room, two bathrooms and a library on the first floor.  A grand staircase leads up to the second floor which has more bedrooms.  Behind the main house is a hexagonal gazebo styled after a Japanese teahouse, built in 1898.

To the south is a guest cottage divided into two living areas, built around 1890.  Another single story cottage was built in 1877 for GN Wilcox, and an office building was built in 1884.  A number of support buildings include a tool shed (dated 1870,) a garage and a number of small, single-story, wood-frame plantation workers’ houses.

The plantation buildings reflect a style adaptive to climatic conditions in the area (wide veranda, high pitched roofs), while the main house is a unique reminder of the 1850s renovated into the 20th Century.

Historically, Grove Farm Homestead is of great importance to Hawai‘i.  It was developed under the direction of George N. Wilcox, one of the most important men in Hawaiʻi from the 1860s to 1933, when he died at the age of 93.

GN Wilcox was not only a plantation owner; he was also an engineer, statesman, businessman and a world traveler. More importantly, he was also a philanthropist and humanist, who left an extensive legacy of endowments and public donations behind him.

The main house is now a private museum with tours by appointment.  Advance reservations are required for an unhurried two-hour guided tour of the buildings, gardens and grounds at Grove Farm.

Tours are given in small groups and are led by Kaua‘i residents familiar with life on the island, and are offered on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, beginning promptly at 10 am and 1 pm.  There is a $20 requested donation for adults and $10 for children 5-12 years old.

A few decades ago, I had the opportunity to have a private tour of the Grove Farm Homestead with Barnes Risnik, then manager of the Grove Farm Homestead Museum.  That was an awesome and memorable experience.

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BEDROOM, LOWER LEVEL, LOOKING NORTHEAST-LOC
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19991001 - George N. Wilcox. 1880? Press release photo.
19991001 – George N. Wilcox. 1880? Press release photo.
BEDROOM, SECOND FLOOR, NORTHEAST CORNER0LOC
BEDROOM, UPSTAIRS, NORTHWEST CORNER LOOKING SOUTHWEST-LOC
DINING ROOM, LOOKING SOUTHEAST, DOOR IN CENTER GOES TO LANAI AND COOK HOUSE-LOC
DRAWING ROOM, LIBRARY ON LEFT, LOOKING SOUTHWEST-LOC
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LANAI AND ORIGINAL STRUCTURE, LOOKING SOUTHEAST-LOC
LIBRARY LOOKING NORTH TOWARD DRAWING ROOM (NOTE-THREE ENTRIES TO LIBRARY FROM OUTSIDE; LEFT, RIGHT, AND BEHIND PHOTOGRAPHER-LOC
LIVING ROOM, HIP ROOF BUILDING, LOOKING SOUTH THROUGH DINING, DRAWING ROOM-LOC
SEWING ROOM, SECOND FLOOR, SOUTHWEST CORNER-LOC
UPSTAIRS BEDROOM, SOUTHEAST CORNER, LOOKING NORTHEAST, ROOF OF LAUNDRY HOUSE CAN BE SEEN OUT WINDOW-LOC
VIEW FROM SOUTHEAST-LOC
VIEW FROM SOUTHWEST-LOC
WILCOX'S OFFICE, LOOKING NORTHWEST FROM DOOR TO LIVING ROOM-LOC
Grove_Farm-Plans-Cover-LOC
Grove_Farm-Plans-1st_Floor_Plan-LOC
Grove_Farm-Plans-2nd_Floor_Plan-LOC
Grove_Farm-Plans-N_Elevation-LOC
Grove_Farm-Plans-W_Elevation-Section-LOC
Grove_Farm-Homestead-Location-Map

Filed Under: Buildings, Prominent People, Economy Tagged With: Hawaii, Kauai, GN Wilcox, Wilcox, Grove Farm

October 15, 2014 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Papaʻāpoho

Papaʻāpoho describes a flat area with a depression or hollow, which is how the island of Papaʻāpoho is shaped.  It’s over 1,000-miles from Honolulu.

This 23.4-million-year-old island is over 1.2-miles across and has a land area of approximately 400-acres, making it the third largest island within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (to the northwest of the Main Hawaiian Islands.)

Like its name, the island has an elevated rim (its highest point is a 40-foot-high sand dune) surrounding a broad central depression; its lowest point is a depression to the south that runs as a channel toward the ocean.

“This is a low, sandy island, elevated from 20 to 40 feet above the sea. It is about 1 1/4 miles long, and the northern part one mile wide; the surface is covered with green coarse grass.”

“There is what has been a lagoon near the southern part of the island, in the centre of which fresh water was found by digging 5-feet. Birds, fish, seal and turtle abound here, but not so plentiful as at Laysan Island.”  (Paty, Polynesian, June 6, 1857)

At 10 pm, October 15, 1805, Urey Lisiansky (Yuri Fyodorovich Lisyansky,) an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy and commanding officer of the exploratory sloop-of-war Neva, ran aground on the island.  Captain Lisiansky jettisoned some of the ship’s cargo to free themselves from the shallow waters.

“This island promises nothing to the adventurous voyager but certain danger in the first instance, and almost unavoidable destruction in the event. It stands in the middle of a very perilous coral bank, and, exclusive of a small eminence on the eastern part, lies almost on a level with the sea.”  (A Voyage Round the World, Lisiansky, 1805)

 “As there is no water, so neither are any trees to be seen on this island. We found, however, several large trunks of trees on the beach, which, no doubt, had been thrown up by the sea. … They were like the red-wood tree, that grows on the banks of the river Columbia in America. I am at a loss what conclusion to draw from the appearance of these trunks of trees in so remote a place.”  (A Voyage Round the World, Lisiansky, 1805)

“I also found on the beach a small callabash, which had a round hole cut on one side of it. This could not have been drifted from a great distance, as it was fresh and in good preservation.”  (A Voyage Round the World, Lisiansky, 1805)

Before leaving, Lisiansky named the island and shoal; “To the south-east point of the bank where the vessel grounded, I gave the name of Neva; while the island itself, in compliance with the unanimous wishes of my ship’s company, received the appellation of Lisiansky.”  (A Voyage Round the World, Lisiansky, 1805)

The spelling Lisianski (not Lisyansky) was officially adopted by the US Geographic Board, October 1, 1924. Other names by which the island has been called include: Lisiansky, Lysianski, Lassion and Pell.  (Thrum)

In 1857, King Kamehameha IV asked Captain John Paty to make a voyage of exploration to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.  In part, he was sent to investigate the possibility of guano deposits on islands there (for fertilizer for the growing agricultural economy back on the Main Hawaiian Islands.

In addition, he confirmed or corrected the existence (or not) of many islands noted on old charts; “A considerable portion of the time absent has been consumed in looking after islands and banks which do not exist, or are erroneously marked on Blunt’s charts.”  (Paty, Polynesian, June 6, 1857)

In the course of his voyage on the schooner “Manuokawai,” on May 11, 1857, Paty took possession of Lisianski Island for the Hawaiian Kingdom (he had previously annexed Laysan, its nearest neighbor, on May 1, 1857.)

In 1890, George D Freeth, an Englishman who had visited the area as early as 1864, and George N Wilcox, who had previously managed a guano operation on Jarvis Island, formed the North Pacific Phosphate and Fertilizer Company.

March 31, 1893, the Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Islands adopted Act 22, confirming the contract between the Minister of Interior and North Pacific for a license for the removal of guano and phosphates from Lisianski (and Laysan.)

Guano mining (1890s,) the release of rabbits (1903) and mice caused ecological damage to Lisianski, as well as the loss of a breeding population of land birds (the Laysan duck was first reported on Lisianski Island in 1828.)

Feather collecting began on Lisianski about 1904. In response to public outcry about the feather trade, Theodore Roosevelt established the Hawaiian Island Bird Reservation, which included Lisianski, in 1909.

An armed party landed on the island in 1910. They arrested feather poachers and confiscated and destroyed about 1.4 tons of feathers, representing 140,400 birds.  (NOAA)

Today, with poaching at an end, the rabbits exterminated, and the vegetation again spreading over its low sandy surface, Lisianski once more is becoming a populous bird sanctuary.  (janeresture)

It is home to a large Bonin petrel colony (over three-quarters of the Bonin Petrels that nest in Hawaii nest here) and sooty tern colony, as well as a variety of other seabirds.

Lisianski has the only grove of Pisonia grandis trees in the entire Hawaiian Archipelago; this tree is dispersed by seabirds and is favored as a nesting site for many tree-nesting seabird species.

The reefs of Lisianski and surrounding Neva Shoals are called “coral gardens” by some scientists because of their abundance of coral and the variety of growth forms assumed by their colonies, including structures resembling spires, castles, and a variety of other shapes.

Hawaiian monk seals and green sea turtles are common visitors to Lisianski’s sandy white beaches. Migratory shorebirds seen on the island include the kolea (golden plover,) ulili (wandering tattler,) and kioea (bristle-thighed curlew.) The volcanic island is undergoing the slow process of erosion.  (NOAA)

Click HERE for a link to a ‘street view’ of Lisianski.

The image shows Papaʻāpoho (Lisianski) (Google Street View.)  In addition, I have added others similar images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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© 2014 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: Place Names Tagged With: Hawaii, Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Kamehameha V, NWHI, Yuri Fyodorovich Lisyansky, GN Wilcox, John Paty, Papaapoho, Lisianski

Images of Old Hawaiʻi

People, places, and events in Hawaiʻi’s past come alive through text and media in “Images of Old Hawaiʻi.” These posts are informal historic summaries presented for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes.

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