Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Puʻu ʻOhau

Fishers generally refer to it as ‘Red Hill;’ its volcanic cinder, partially collapsed and exposed on the seaward side, gives it an easy name.  It’s not just a marker; fishers troll offshore with great success.

Nearshore is a marine fisheries management area; you can catch fish for personal consumption, but there is no aquarium fish collection permitted.

The hill is actually named Puʻu ʻOhau (hill of dew) and is the most conspicuous coastal landmark on the low coastal cliffs between Keauhou Bay (to the north) and Kealakekua (on the south;) it marks the boundary between North and South Kona.

Although the entire landform may be the “puʻu,” according to McCoy … the archaeological evidence tends to indicate that the area was used for general habitation purposes and was not reserved for only burial or other ritual uses that might be considered exclusionary.

This archaeological evidence suggests that there may have been a land use distinction between the flat bench and the steeper slopes of the puʻu although they are part of the same landform.

The matter of a burial on the puʻu helps us remember some others.

With the construction and extension of the Ane Keohokālole Highway from Palani road to Hina Lani, many in West Hawaii (although they generally reference the road as “Ane K”) are becoming more familiar with the name Keohokālole.

Analeʻa, Ane or Annie Keohokālole was a Hawaiian chiefess; she was born at Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi in 1816.  Through her father, she was descended from Kameʻeiamoku and Keaweaheulu, two of the four Kona Uncles that supported Kamehameha I.

Her first marriage was to John Adams Kuakini; they had no children.  Kuakini (brother of Ka’ahumanu) was an important adviser to Kamehameha I in the early stages of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i.

When the Kingdom’s central government moved to Lāhainā in 1820, Kuakini’s influence expanded on Hawaiʻi Island, with his appointment as the Royal Governor of Hawaiʻi Island, serving from 1820 until his death in 1844.

During his tenure, Kuakini built some of the historical sites that dominate Kailua today.  The Great Wall of Kuakini, probably a major enhancement of an earlier wall, was one of these.

The Great Wall of Kuakini extends in a north-south direction for approximately 6 miles from Kailua to near Keauhou, and is generally 4 to 6-feet high and 4-feet wide;’ the Great Wall of Kuakini separated the coastal lands from the inland pasture lands.

Speculation has ranged from military/defense to the confinement of grazing animals; however, most seem to agree it served as a cattle wall, keeping the troublesome cattle from wandering through the fields and houses of Kailua.

Kuakini also built Huliheʻe Palace; it was completed in 1838, a year after the completion of Mokuʻaikaua Church (Lit., section won (during) war,) the first stone church on the Island of Hawaiʻi.

In 1833, Analeʻa married Caesar Kapaʻakea, a chief of lesser rank and her first cousin. Caesar’s father, Kamanawa II was no ‘ordinary’ ranking chief; he was the grandson of Kameʻeiamoku, one of the ‘royal twins.’

He was named after his famous grand uncle, the other royal twin.  (The twins are on Hawaiʻi’s Royal Coat of Arms; Kameʻeiamoku is on the right holding a kahili and Kamanawa on the left holding a spear.)

Caesar’s father has one other notable distinction; he was found guilty of poisoning his wife (Caesar’s mother) and was the first to be hanged for murder under the newly formed constitution and penal laws (1840.)

OK, back to Caesar and Analeʻa – they had several children.  Most notable were a son, who on February 13, 1874 became King Kalākaua, and a daughter, who on January 29, 1891 became Queen Liliʻuokalani – the Kalākaua Dynasty that ruled Hawaiʻi from 1874 to 1893.

Oh, the burial at Puʻu ʻOhau?  Ane Keohokālole’s mother, Kamaeokalani (Kamae) is buried at its top.

When I was at DLNR, the matter of dealing with the burial came up within the first few days of my term (in 2003.)  Back in 1999, members of the ʻOhana Keohokālole requested that protective measures be put in place on the puʻu.

The matter was on the Hawaiʻi Island Burial Council’s agenda; the family’s suggested means of protection is the construction of a six (6) foot rock wall around Puʻu ʻOhau.  I had several conversations with family members, it was decided to order the wall to be placed where they recommended, on the 120-foot contour.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sereno Edwards Bishop

Sereno Edwards Bishop was born at Kaʻawaloa on February 7, 1827; he was son of Rev. Artemas and Elizabeth (Edwards) Bishop (part of the Second Company of missionaries to Hawaiʻi (arriving April 27, 1823) and first stationed at Kailua, on the Big Island.)

Mrs Bishop had been a girlhood friend of Mrs Lucy G Thurston, who had preceded her to Hawaii as a missionary, some four years earlier. Mrs Bishop died February 28, 1828 at Kailua, the first death in the mission.

Mr. Bishop, Sr subsequently married Delia Stone, who was a member of the Third Company of missionaries (December 1, 1828.)

The missionaries’ house was usually in a thickly inhabited village, so the missionary and his wife could be close to their work among the people; the missionary children were typically cooped up in their home.

With hundreds of children all about them, missionary children had no playmates except the children of other missionaries, most of whom were scattered over the Islands, meeting only a few times a year.  (Thurston)

“In the early-(1830s,) Kailua was a large native village, of about 4,000 inhabitants rather closely packed along one hundred rods of shore (about 1,650-feet,) and averaging twenty rods inland (about 330-feet.)”

“Near by stood a better stone house occupied by the doughty Governor Kuakiui. All other buildings in Kailua were thatched, until Rev. Artemas Bishop built his two-story stone dwelling in 1831 and Rev. Asa Thurston in 1833 built his wooden two-story house at Laniākea, a quarter of a mile inland.”

“The people had ample cultivable land in the moist upland from two to four miles inland at altitudes of one thousand to twenty-five hundred feet. It is a peculiarity of that Kona coast that while the shore may be absolutely rainless for months gentle showers fall daily upon the mountain slope.”  (Bishop)

Sereno Bishop was sent to the continent at age 12 for education (he graduated from Amherst College in 1846 and Auburn Theological Seminary in 1851,) he married Cornelia A Session on May 31, 1852 and returned to Hawaiʻi on January 16, 1853.

His observation of Honolulu at the time noted, “The settled portion of the city was then substantially limited by the present
Alapaʻi and River streets and mauka at School street. There was hardly anything outside of those limits and the remainder was practically an open plain.”

“Above Beretania street, on the slopes and beyond Alapaʻi street, there was hardly a building of any nature whatever.”

“At that time there was a small boarding school for the children of the missions at Punahou, under direction of Father Dole. This little structure alone intervened between the city and Mōʻiliʻili, where about the church there were a few houses.”  (Bishop)

Bishop assumed the position of Seaman’s Chaplain in Lāhainā.  The Bishops remained nine years at Lahaina, where five children were born to them (two of the boys died at a young age.)

After 10-years in Lāhainā, he moved to Hāna and later returned to Lāhainā and served from 1865 to 1877 as principal of Lahainaluna. Mr. Bishop considered the work which he did among the native students at Lahainaluna was among the most fruitful of his life.

He left his mark at Lahainaluna, physically, in the shape of the grand avenue of monkey pods on the road to Lahaina, which he personally planted.  (Thurston)

Bishop had a reputation as an amateur scientist with interests particularly in geology.  Bishop’s contributions as an atmospheric scientist were sufficiently prominent to be mentioned in the Monthly Weather Review.  (SOEST)

Rev. Sereno Bishop, a missionary in Hawaiʻi, was the first to provide detailed observations of a phenomenon not previously reported – he noted his observation on September 5, 1883.  It was later named for him – Bishop’s Ring (a halo around the sun, typically observed after large volcanic eruptions.)

Bishop’s observations followed the eruption at Krakatoa (August 23, 1883.)  His findings suggested the existence of the ‘Jet Stream’ (this used to be referred to as the ‘Krakatoa Easterlies.’)

“It now seems probable that the enormous projections of gaseous and other matter from Krakatoa (Krakatau) have been borne by the upper currents and diffused throughout a belt of half the earth’s circumference, and not improbably, as careful observation may yet establish, even entirely around the globe.”  (Sereno Bishop)

Bishop made other volcanic observations; a hundred years ago, he noted Diamond Head was made in less than a hour’s time and is “composed not of lava, like the main mountain mass inland, but of this soft brown rock called tuff.” (Bishop, Commercial Advertiser, July 15, 1901)

In 1887, he moved to Honolulu and became editor of “The Friend,” a monthly journal, founded in Honolulu in 1843, “the oldest publication west of the Rocky Mountains.”

Bishop was identified as “the well-known mouthpiece of the annexation party” and criticized by royalists for his comments.  He remained in Honolulu and died there March 23, 1909.

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kaunaʻoa

Areas where fishponds existed and potable water could be easily obtained were the primary areas of settlement – ie, on the South Kohala Coast (south to north) ʻAnaehoʻomalu, Kalāhuipua‘a, Puakō, Hāpuna, Kauna‘oa, Waiʻulaʻula, Mauʻumae, Waikuʻi, ‘Ōhai‘ula, Kikiakoʻi and Pelekāne.

In general, permanent residences were taken up in the coastal region of South Kohala by ca. 600. Between 900 and 1500, there was a gradual increase in population, with steady trends in residency through AD 1778.  By 1800, many of the remote area residences were abandoned, a few residents at ʻAnaehoʻomalu, several families at Puakō, and the strongest population at Kawaihae.  (Maly)

The primary traditional narratives which describe events and the occurrence of place names throughout the region of South Kohala date from around the middle-1600s.

Then, Lonoikamakahiki (Lono) was the Mōʻi (Chief) of Hawai‘i.  He was a descendant of Pili (a high chief from Tahiti from the 13th century.)  Lono was son of Keawenuiaumi and grandson of ʻUmi (and great grandson of Līloa.)

During Lono’s reign, his elder brother Kanaloakua‘ana attempted to rebel and take control of Hawai‘i. The rebel forces were situated at: “the land called ʻAnaehoʻomalu, near the boundaries of Kohala and Kona. … The next day Lono marched down and met the rebels at the place called Wailea … Lono won the battle, and the rebel chiefs fled northward (to Kaunaʻoa.)”

The rebels said, “Let the (next) battle be at Kaunooa (Kaunaʻoa) where there is plenty of sand, and let it be fought there, so that when Lonoikamakahiki reaches the spot we would be in possession of the sand, so that whilst rubbing their eyes the rocks will fly and victory will be ours.”  (Fornander; Maly)

After Lonoikamakahiki became victorious at the battle of Kaunaʻoa he consulted his kahuna (priests) as to what steps best to take in order to lead to later victory. The priests noted “Pay no heed to Kohala ….” (Fornander)

Fast forward a few centuries … the beach at Kaunaʻoa still has plenty of sand and a 1960 helicopter tour, with Governor Bill Quinn and RockResorts head Laurence Rockefeller on board, was scouting for beachfront sites for a possible resort use to help turn around the fledgling State’s troubled sugar-based economy.

From the air, Rockefeller saw a crescent-shaped beach at the edge of an arid moonscape of lava (Lindsey; NY Times) – he liked what he saw, and noted “Every great beach deserves a great hotel.”  (Blair, PBN)

They stopped at Kaunaʻoa; Rockefeller asked if he could go in for a swim. From the water, he looked upslope at the towering summit of Mauna Kea and was inspired to create a great hotel that reflected the spirit of the place.

Laurance Spelman Rockefeller (May 26, 1910 – July 11, 2004) was fourth child of John Davison Rockefeller, Jr and Abigail Greene “Abby” Aldrich. His siblings were Abby, John III, Nelson, Winthrop and David.  He was grandson of John D Rockefeller Sr and heir along with them to the fortune of Standard Oil.

Started in the mid-1950s, Rockefeller’s RockResorts opened resort hotels in zones of comparative wilderness that catered to the new traveling upper middle class seeking to reconnect with nature in gracious and controlled surroundings.  (Skidmore, Owing & Merrill)

A pioneering venture capitalist who used his family’s oil fortune to underwrite aviation start-ups and other bold enterprises, Rockefeller’s primary motivation as a resort developer in the 1950s and 60s was the preservation of one-of-a-kind sites.  (McCallen)

Rockefeller negotiated a 99-year lease from Parker Ranch land from the cattle ranch owner Richard Smart.  Smart reportedly noted, “It’s on land the cows don’t like but the tourists love – hot and barren.”  (Andersen) (Eventually, exclusive development rights and later fee simple acquisition of 1,800-acres were made.)

Following his business strategy of “experting” (hiring the best person for the job,) he contracted Belt Collins, site planners and engineers; Skidmore Owings Merrill, building architects’ Davis Allen, interior designer; and Robert Trent Jones, golf course architect.

He called his resort the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel; when it opened on July 24, 1965, the Mauna Kea was the most expensive hotel ever built at the time, at $15-million.  It initially had 154 guestrooms; in 1968, the Beachfront wing was added, giving the resort a total of 310-guest rooms.

The Mauna Kea Golf Course debuted with a televised “Big 3” match between Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player.  The course’s 3rd hole over the water remains in the top lists of memorable golf holes.

Rockefeller added a 1,600-piece collection of museum-quality Asian and Oceanic art and artifacts throughout the hotel and grounds. Among them are 18th-century gilt bronze Thai Buddhist disciples, ancient Japanese tonsu chests and New Guinea and Solomon Islands drums.

A 17th-century pink-granite Indian Buddha rests on a platform at the top of a long flight of stairs, his folded hands invariably holding a flower, the traditional offering.  (Porter)

In each guestroom, there is a book detailing the collection. According to Don Aanavi, art history professor at the University of Hawaii, “Rarely does one find such a large collection of significant art works in a resort hotel.”

Back then, the “exorbitant” room rates started at $43, including breakfast and dinner in the Pavilion, which featured rotating menus of international cuisines.

True to Rockefeller’s initial remarks that a “great beach deserves a great hotel,” when it opened, the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel was praised by travel writers and critics worldwide.  The luxury resort hotel was named one of the “three greatest hotels in the world” by Esquire magazine (the other two were the Plaza in New York and the Gritti Palace in Venice.)

There were also enthusiastic reviews from House & Garden, Time and Fortune (Fortune called it one of “10 best buildings of 1966;) In 1967, it was presented with an honors award by the American Institute of Architects (AIA.)

A decade later, AIA placed the Mauna Kea in the top 150 of its America’s Favorite Architecture list. Twelve years after opening, it was still described as “the best resort hotel in America.”  The accolades continue today.  (Lots of information from Prince Resorts.)

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Kaunaoa Bay-Before Hotel-MKBH
Rockefeller and his wife walk the beach at Kaunaoa Bay (robbreport)
MKBH-early site plan-SOW
MKBH-early site plan
Kaunaoa Bay-Hotel Under Construction-MKBH
Robert Trent Jones and Laurance Rockefeller at Dorado Beach in the 1950s
MKBH-Etched_Mondavi_Reserve_(Magnums)-1979
MKBH Logo
Mauna Kea Beach Hotel-3rd Hole Golf Course
Mauna Kea Beach Hotel Sign
Mauna Kea Beach Hotel (SOW)
Mauna Kea Beach (SOW)
Kaunaoa-MKBH-Mauna_Kea
Kaunaoa-MKB-Barela
Kaunaoa_Beach-MBKH (SOW)
Kaunaoa
Kaunaoa

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waiwelawela

Paʻu o keahi o Waiwelawela o ka lua e
Aloha na poʻe la o

The pit of Waiwelawela is encircled by fire
Greetings to the people of the upland pit

(From the chant “A popoʻi haki kaikoʻo” – it describes how Pele got established in Puna; it compares the movement of the lava to the movement of water.)

There are indications that the ancient Hawaiians made use of natural hot springs for recreation and therapy. Oral history relates that the ancient chieftain, Kumukahi, frequented hot springs in Puna to relieve his aches and pains.  (Woodruff/Takahashi)

“The fame of the waters of the warm springs of the Puna districts has been great during many years. In fact, it is a legend … that when the ailments of the body overcame the aliʻi of old they betook themselves to the spring known as Waiwelawela … and there they were healed of rheumatic affections through bathing, and their systemic ills cured by drinking of the waters.”

“This legend has come down to the Hawaiians of today and even now there is a fame attached to the waters of the springs, which draws to the side of the stream scores of the native residents of nearby districts.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 28, 1902)

Waiwelawela “is a warm spring, crescent shaped, and of a vivid ultramarine in color …. The spring, named the Blue Lake, is 90-deg in temperature and 900-feet above the level of the sea.  The water is wonderfully clear and, strange to relate, at this elevation, it has a regular rise and fall which is said to correspond to the tide of the ocean.”  (Daily Bulletin, August 28, 1882)

The Kapoho Warm Springs was formed when the downthrown block of the Kapoho fault slipped below the water table and exposed the warm waters, probably heated by a magmatic body intruded in 1840.  (USGS)

“At present no practical use is made of them, but were there a proper access a small hotel would be built and many invalids would be able to make use of these springs.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, September 17, 1889)

“The famous warm spring is to be found near the residence of Mr RA Lyman (Kapoho’s largest landowner) and is one of the finest bathing places on the islands.  Natives formerly flocked to the place from all over the islands believing that it was possessed of great healing powers.”

“The water is a pleasant temperature for bathing and is clear as crystal, small objects can be readily distinguished twenty feet below the surface. There is a mineral taste to the water.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, March 22, 1892)

“The railway now goes so close to them that it is believed if a few cottages were built, and attendance provided, many afflicted people would be glad to go there and be healed.  Even those who need no physician would find at these springs a place for rest and contemplation, far from the maddening crowd.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 12, 1908)

“It is the most marvelously beautiful place in all these beautiful islands. There is not a doubt of it. The pool, at the base of a small peak that is like what Diamond Head would be if that had sugar cane growing to its very summit, lies shaded by a dense growth of ʻōhiʻa and koa and lehua trees and guava bushes, the sun glistening upon it through the leaves of these.”

“The waters, not steaming, but of perceptibly higher temperature than the air, by some strange law of refraction are shot through with dazzling gleams of a blue that is like the blue depths of the sky. Yet the rocks in the pool are not blue. They are of rather reddish cast.”  (Mid-Pacific Magazine, 1912)

“The exposed basin where the spring comes to the surface is something like five by six yards, and the water rises from no one knows where and departs no one sees how.  The water is warm and is very full of mineral salts.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 28, 1902)

“This spot is unquestionably one of the loveliest in all Hawaiʻi, and its charm is typical of Hawaiʻi.  It is close against the face of a volcanic cliff.  Here there is a shady grotto, and in this grotto a pool almost as it hewed out of the rocks for the bathing place of some giant of the forest.”

“The water is in spots 20-feet deep, but so translucent that it seems much less than 10.  It holds many lights and shadows, many hues and colors, varying from the deep indigo blue to a transparent jade-green and in spots a golden brown.  There are seats here and the shade is grateful.”  (Honolulu Star-bulletin, September 6, 1916)

At Warm Springs, where portions of ‘Bird of Paradise’ (1951) and other motion pictures had been filmed, stone steps led to a spring-fed, naturally heated pool fringed by ferns, cattleya orchids and lau hala trees.

The grounds and a half-mile drive were landscaped with plumeria, thousands of ti plants, crotons and ginger. Picnic tables and barbecue pits dotted a smooth lawn shaded by mango trees.  Slim Holt, who leased the property from Lyman, had labored for years to create this beauty, assisted by interested individuals and organizations.  (Flanders)

Then, “Something was amiss.”  An eruption at Kilauea had ended on December 21, 1959.

“(B)ut the shallow reservoir beneath the summit of Kilauea volcano was gorged with magma, far more than before the eruption started. Rather than removing pressure, the eruption had, for all intents and purposes, created more.”

“The uncertainty ended at 1935 January 13, (1960,) when red glow in the night sky above Kapoho announced the 1960 eruption.”  (USGS)

Bulldozers erected a quarter-mile line of dikes designed to prevent the lava from reaching Warm Springs.  Despite this effort, toward midnight the flow surmounted the embankments.

Barbecue pits exploded; trees, shrubbery, tables and benches burst into flame. Lava poured down stone steps in a cherry-red stream.  Still water, reflecting the infernal scene, disappeared under the flow. The new cinder cone was dubbed Puʻu Laimanu.  … Today, buried beneath this primeval landscape, under 50-feet of lava, lays Warm Springs.  (Flanders)

“Estimates of damage from the six-day eruption of Kilauea volcano rose into the millions today.  State Senator Richard F Lyman estimated damage to his land, blanketed by the lava as $2,000,000.”

“He owns 80-acres of sugar land and the Warm Springs resort area, now buried by the flow on Hawaiʻi Island.  Other landowners reported 3,500-acres of farmland destroyed.”  (The Spokesman, January 20, 1960)

“Waiwelawela (meaning ‘warm water’) was a warm spring pool near Kapoho which was covered in the 1960 eruption. … It is said by people of the area that Pele covered the springs because people were charging others, namely Hawaiians, for use of the warm springs. In former days these warm springs were available to everyone.”  (Pukui; DOE)

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by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Deaths at Huliheʻe

It became a favorite retreat for members of the Hawaiian royal family.

Huliheʻe Palace was constructed in 1838 by foreign seamen using lava rock, coral, koa and ōhi‘a timbers. It was initially the private residence of John Adams Kuakini (brother of Kaʻahumanu.)

Kuakini oversaw the construction of both Mokuaikaua Church and Hulihe‘e Palace and these landmarks once shared a similar architectural style with exposed stone – both are still standing, across the street from each other in Kailua-Kona.

After Kuakini’s death in 1844, the Palace passed to his adopted son, William Pitt Leleiohoku. Leleiohoku died a few months later, leaving Hulihe‘e to his wife, Princess Ruth Luka Ke‘elikōlani.

Princess Ruth also inherited all of the substantial landholdings of the Kamehameha dynasty from her brother, Lot Kapuāiwa; she became the largest landowner in the islands.

She was godmother to Princess Kaʻiulani. At Kaʻiulani’s baptism, Ruth gifted 10-acres of her land in Waikīkī where Kaʻiulani’s father Archibald Cleghorn built the ʻĀinahau Estate.

Kamehameha IV (Ruth’s half-brother, who had visited Huliheʻe as a student at the Royal School) and Queen Emma particularly enjoyed their time vacationing at Huliheʻe, and visited the palace many times with their son, Prince Albert.

Kamehameha IV signed a lease with Princess Ruth for Huliheʻe at $200 per year, with the agreement that additions and repairs made would be deducted from the rental. (Daughters of Hawaiʻi)

The King and Queen purchased the ahupuaʻa of Waiaha; in 1858 they moved to Kona for a 4-month stay. “On Tuesday afternoon last, at half-past 4 o’clock, their Majesties and Suit embarked on board of the schooner Maria, Capt F. Multeno, for Kona, Hawaiʻi …”

“… where they intend to reside for a few months; the dryness of the atmosphere and the salubrity of the climate in that district being unrivalled in the Pacific, and temptingly inviting as a contrast to the damp and chilly air pouring over Honolulu and vicinity, through the gorge of Nuʻuanu valley during the winter season.”

“Their Majesties were accompanied by the Prince of Hawaiʻi, the Princess Victoria, H. Ex. Gov. Kekuanaoa, Mesdames Rooke, Beckley; Dr. Rooke, Messrs. Hopkins, Webster and Nielson.”

“As the vessel cast off from the wharf, a royal salute was fired from the battery on Punch-bowl bill, and as she passed H. I. M’s ship Eurdice another Royal salute was fired and yards manned.” (Polynesian, September 18, 1858)

That visit was cut short with the untimely death of Queen Emma’s hānai father, Dr Rooke. “Our late townsman TCB Rooke Esq, died of apoplexy (unconsciousness or incapacity resulting from a cerebral hemorrhage or stroke,) at Kailua, Hawaiiʻ, on Sunday the 28th Nov. ult, at 1 o’clock pm.”

“He was attacked in the first instance at about 6 o’clock in the morning of the time day, when a messenger was instantly despatched for Dr. Herrick of South Kona, who arrived without loss of time and perceived at once that the patient was beyond recovery, and approved entirely of what had been done previous to his coming.” (Polynesian December 11, 1858)

Thomas Charles Byde Rooke, MD, died November 28, 1858, six months after the Prince of Hawaiʻi was born to Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma. (Evening Bulletin, October 7, 1897)

In August 1873, shortly after being elected King, it became apparent that King Lunalilo was ill. At the urging of Princess Ruth and Queen Emma he went to Huliheʻe to recover.

Georges Phillipe Trousseau accompanied the King and stayed with Lunalilo at Huliheʻe Palace, from mid-November to the middle of January 1874. (Though not an official title, Trousseau served as royal physician.)

Lunalilo brought Henry Berger and the Royal Hawaiian Band to the palace throughout Christmas and the New Year to entertain the royalty during the holiday season.

After it became apparent that Lunalilo was not going to recover, and the royal party returned to Honolulu where Lunalilo died on February 3. (Greenwell)

Despite owning Huliheʻe Palace, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani chose to live in a large hale pili (traditional grass home) on the same oceanfront property.

For a home in Honolulu, she built Keōua Hale, a large, Victorian-style mansion, and the most expansive residence of the time; it was larger than ʻIolani Palace. (It was situated on what is now Central Middle School.)

Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani never lived in the palace. She became ill immediately after the house warming and birthday luau. Her doctors recommended that she return to Huliheʻe, where they believed she would more quickly regain her health.

She received medical attention, but did not recover. On May 24, 1883, Keʻelikōlani died at the age of fifty-seven at Haleʻōlelo, her hale pili. Per her will, Huliheʻe Palace went to Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop (who died within a year of inheriting the palace.)

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Hulihee_Palace,_before 1884
Hulihee_Palace,_before 1884
Hulihee Palace(left)-Mokuaikaua Church(right)
Hulihee Palace(left)-Mokuaikaua Church(right)
Visit to Hulihee Palace, Kona, Hawaii by Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole (1871-1922) and party-(HSA)-PP-97-1-012
Visit to Hulihee Palace, Kona, Hawaii by Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole (1871-1922) and party-(HSA)-PP-97-1-012
Hulihee_Palace_with_Princess_Ruth_Keelikolani's_grass_house,_ca._1885,_by_C._J._Hedemann
Hulihee_Palace_with_Princess_Ruth_Keelikolani’s_grass_house,_ca._1885,_by_C._J._Hedemann
Princess Keelikōlani's hale pili (grass house) in Kailua, Kona, Hawai‘i. ca 1883_Hulihee_Palace-WC
Princess Keelikōlani’s hale pili (grass house) in Kailua, Kona, Hawai‘i. ca 1883_Hulihee_Palace-WC