Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Māʻalaea

The name Māʻalaea may be a contraction of Maka-‘alaea, which means “ocherous earth beginning,” a reference to ‘alaea, a red clay commonly used for coloring sea salt.  Other place names found on old maps include Kalae‘ia, Palalau and Kanaio.    (Engledow)

Māʻalaea is part of the land division called Waikapū, which originates in one of four valleys created by streams known as Nā Wai Eha – The Four Waters. Those famous streams carved the steep ridges and gullies of four valleys of the West Maui mountains – Waikapū, ‘Īao, Waiehu and Waiheʻe.

The Waikapū district covers approximately half of the isthmus known as Kama‘oma‘o, reaching the south shore and including the shoreline from near Māʻalaea to Kïhei Püko‘a.  (Engledow)

After Kamehameha conquered Maui in 1795, the district of Waikapū was given to Ke‘eaumoku, one of the “four Kona Uncles” who had been his main supporters.

When Ke‘eaumoku died in 1804 it went to his son, Kahekili Ke‘eaumoku, and on his death in 1824 to Kuakini, then to Leleiōhoku in 1844. During the Great Māhele of 1848, some Land Commission Awards (LCA) were granted in Kamaʻalaea.

“On the south side of western Maui the flat coastal plain all the way from Kihei and Māʻalaea to Honokahua, in old Hawaiian times, must have supported many fishing settlements and isolated fishermen’s houses, where sweet potatoes were grown in the sandy soil or red lepo near the shore.”

“For fishing, this coast is the most favorable on Maui, and although a considerable amount of taro was grown, I think it reasonable to suppose that the large fishing population which presumably inhabited this leeward coast ate more sweet potatoes than taro with their fish.” (Handy)

One product of the area was salt. In an entry dated February 1, 1817, an early voyager describes arriving at “Mackerey (Māʻalaea) Bay; here we lay until the 6th, and took on board a great quantity of hogs, salt, and vegetables.”

“This bay is very deep and wide and nearly divides the island, there being but a narrow neck of land and very low, keeping the two parts of the island together.”

“There is good anchorage; and the only danger arises from the trade winds, which blows so strong at times as to drive ships out of the bay with two anchors down; it lies NE and SW and is well sheltered from every other wind.”

“The neck of land is so low, and the land so high on each side, that the NE trade comes through like a hurricane. On this neck of land are their principal salt-pans, where they make a most excellent salt.”  (Engledow)

During the California Gold Rush, between 1848 and 1850, Māʻalaea Bay functioned as a major port for transporting Hawaiian-grown goods, such as Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, pumpkins, oranges, coffee and molasses. Such goods were then shipped to San Francisco and elsewhere along the west coast of the continent.  (Engledow)

Much of the region of Waikapū was converted for agriculture during the mid-1800s, with sugar cane as the primary crop. Eventually the entire ahupuaʻa was sold to Henry Cornwell in 1885. Cornwell, along with his brother-in-law James Louzada, of Waimea, Hawaiʻi, began the Waikapū Plantation. The plantation fell under the control of the Wailuku Sugar Company in 1894.  (Engledow)

Two traditional sayings, or ‘ōlelo no‘eau, referred to this area, and both have to do with its famous winds. “Ka makani kokololio o Waikapū, The gusty wind of Waikapū,” is referred to in the song “Inikinikimālie” by James Kahale.

Another is “Pā kamakani o ka Moaʻe, hele ka lepo o Kaho‘olawe i Māʻalaea, When the Moa‘e wind blows, the dust of Kaho‘olawe goes toward Māʻalaea.” (Pukui)

The area of Kapoli Spring, at the western end of Māʻalaea, is traditionally said to be the site where the high chiefs landed by canoe and been a landing point for centuries.  Two large boulders are nearby; one is known as Pōhaku O Maʻalaea, situated along Kapoli Spring.

One stone is recorded as a pōhaku piko, while the other stone, known as the “Kings Table,” was used for either food preparation or adze grinding. Both stones have been moved from their original locations.

Stories tell of Kihapiʻilani landing here on his return to Maui, after he had fled Lānaʻi following a fight with his brother Lonoapiʻilani. Kihapiʻilani and his wife supposedly met people with bundles “going down makai to the shore to trade some food” at “Kamāaʻalaea,” another name for Māʻalaea.

In 1736, Kapoli in Māʻalaea was the landing place to take the remains of Kekaulike, the ruling chief of Maui, by land to Wailuku in the ʻĪao Valley.  “Then, fearing the arrival of Alapaʻi bent on war, the chiefs cut the flesh from the bones of Kekaulike in order to lighten the load in carrying the body to ʻĪao [for burial].”  (Kamakau)

In the early-1790s, Captain George Vancouver visited Maui and brought the first cattle and root vegetables to the island.  A memorial, with Canadian totem poles, to Vancouver was erected by Canadian J Gordon Gibson near the initial landing site, across the bay at Kihei.

The main mauka/makai trail followed Kealaloloa Ridge.  Because of the steep terrain in the area, there was no coastal trail between Olowalu and Māʻalaea, so “from ‘Olowalu travelers were ferried by canoe to Māʻalaea, thence to Makena”.  (Rechtman)

One of the places they passed along that route was a promontory that has a modern name of McGregor Point.  Here, the wind was so strong at times, that it would shred the sails of vessels trying to traverse the coastline by sea (as noted in Nūpepa Kūʻokoʻa, 1868:)

Ke holo nei ka moku a kūpono i Ukumehame, nānā aku i ka makani wili ko‘okai i ka moana, kahea mai ‘ia ke Kāpena i nā sela a pū‘ā i nā pe‘a, e hao mai ana ka makani pau nā pe‘a i ka nahaehae.

(The ship sailed on until reaching just outside of Ukumehame, watching the strong whirling winds whipping the seas, the captain called out to the sailors to furl the sails, the wind was gusting and the sails were torn.) (Rechtman)

McGregor ordered the anchor dropped for the night.  With the light of the morning, McGregor awoke to find that he had discovered an excellent cove with a protecting point.  The point, just over a mile southwest of Māʻalaea Bay, continues to bear his name.

In 1877, Wilder Steamship Company initiated passenger and freight service between the Hawaiian Islands.  At that time, there were few navigational aids, so the steamship company was forced to erect lighted beacons for the safety of its own vessels.

One of these private aids was placed at Māʻalaea Bay in the 1880s and was an ordinary lantern, fitted with red glass and displayed from a post.  In 1903, land was acquired on McGregor Point and a light was placed on the point to replace the one at Māʻalaea.  This was later upgraded in 1915.

The area is known for another famous landing.  On February 18, 1881, The “Beta” under the command of Captain Christian L’Orange, an early plantation owner who, under a commissioned from King Kalākaua, landed 600-Scandinavian immigrants who had signed on to work in the booming sugar plantations.

Sometime before 1825, a hand-built trail for horseback and foot travel connected Wailuku and Lāhainā (the alignment is referred to as the Lāhainā Pali Trail;) it served as the most direct route across the steep southern slopes of West Maui Mountain.

Laura Fish Judd, in 1841, described it as, “A new road had been made around the foot of the mountain, the crookedest, rockiest, ever traveled by mortals. Our party consisted of five adults and five children. We had but two horses. One of these was in a decline on starting; it gave out in a few miles.”

Around 1900, the Lāhainā Pali Trail fell out of use when prison laborers built a one-way dirt road along the base of the pali. In 1911, a three-ton truck was the first vehicle to negotiate this road, having a difficult time making some of the sharp, narrow turns.

Over the years, the road was widened and straightened until 1951, when the modern Honoapiʻilani Highway cut out many of the 115-hairpin curves in the old pali road and a tunnel cleared the way through a portion of the route.

This was the first tunnel ever constructed on a public highway in Hawaiʻi – built on the Olowalu-Pali section of the Lāhainā-Wailuku Road (now Honoapiʻilani Highway,) completed on October 10, 1951. The tunnel is 286-feet long, 32-feet wide, and more than 22 feet high.  (Schmidt)

Today, a remnant of the old trail is a recreational hike – five-miles long (from Māʻalaea to Ukumehame (the ahupuaʻa adjoining Waikapū)) and climbs to over 1,600-feet above sea level.

Māʻalaea was the site of Maui’s first commercial airport. “In late 1929, Interisland Airways (which later became Hawaiian Airlines,) Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar, and the Kahului Railroad cooperated in building a paved airstrip near Māʻalaea,” but the airport closed in 1938-39. It was troubled by high winds, was too close to the West Maui Mountains and was inadequate for the larger airplanes that had come into use.   (Engledow)

In May 1944, training for the assault on Saipan were held at Māʻalaea Bay and Kaho‘olawe.   The Fourth and Fifth Marine Divisions also used the area for joint ship-to-shore training and amphibious landing practice before the 1945 battle of Iwo Jima.  The Māʻalaea Bay area furnished an antitank moving-target range, a close-combat range, and a 20-point rifle range. The beach at Māʻalaea Bay was fortified with pillboxes and emplacements modeled after the Tarawa Beach.

Today, Māʻalaea remains as a boat landing area.  The present Small Boat Harbor facilities were first developed by the Territory in 1952 and improved in 1955 and 1959.  The harbor, under the control of DLNR-DOBOR, has approximately 30-berths, 61-moorings, boat ramp, a harbor office, a dry dock, a restaurant and a boat club.

Within the Harbor is the Māʻalaea Ebisu Kotohira Jinsha (completed in 1999, it is a replica of the original shrine built in 1914.)  Ebisu is one of the seven lucky deities and the guardian god of fisherman and merchants; kotohira means ‘fishermen’; and jinsha means ‘shrine.’ This traditional Shinto fishing shrine on the shore of Māʻalaea Small Boat Harbor was originally located on the site of the Maui Ocean Center.

McGregor Point Lookout is a popular vantage point for seeing humpback whales from land. From this vantage point you have a sweeping view of the ocean.  Humpback whales arrive in Hawaiʻi over a six-month period, with the best viewing months from mid-December through mid-April.

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

 

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

John Ena

Shortly after the arrival of Captain James Cook and his crews in 1778, the Chinese found their way to Hawaiʻi.  Some suggest Cook’s crew gave information about the “Sandwich Islands” when they stopped in Macao in December 1779, near the end of the third voyage.

As more ships came, crewmen from China were employed as cooks, carpenters and artisans; and Chinese businessmen sailed as passengers to America. Some of these men disembarked in Hawaiʻi and remained as new settlers.

The growth of the Sandalwood trade with the Chinese market (where mainland merchants brought cotton, cloth and other goods for trade with the Hawaiians for their sandalwood – who would then trade the sandalwood in China) opened the eyes and doors to Hawaiʻi.  The sandalwood trade lasted for nearly half a century – 1792 to 1843.  (Nordyke & Lee)

The Chinese pioneered another Hawaiʻi industry – sugar.  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 contract-labor system, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

Among the Chinese in the Hawaiian Islands before the importation of sugar labor in 1852, there was a group who settled in Hilo. They were all sugar manufacturers or “sugar masters”; they all married Hawaiian women.

The Chinese names of the men in this group were Hawaiianized; one of them, Zane (or Tseng) Shang Hsien (pronounced In) became known as John Ena.  (Chinese ‘Shang’ sounds like John; the last name Ena is pronounced as a long e; he also went by Keoni Ina and a couple other variations of the name.)

John Ena was one of the group of Chinese men who had a sugar plantation and mill on Ponahawai hill; he may have been in Kohala before coming to Hilo.

This early sugar mill was started in 1839 by Lau Fai (AL Hapai,) Zane Shang Hsien (John Ena Sr) and Tang Chow (Akau) along Alenaio stream by today’s Hilo Central Fire Station. Zane Moi (Amoi) had the plantation producing 20,000-lbs of sugar by 1851. But the mill burned down in 1855 and they abandoned the property.  (Narimatsu)

In addition to John Ena’s association with the other Chinese in the Ponahawai sugar plantation, he was also associated at various times with Chinese groups in the plantations at Paukaʻa, Pāpaʻikou and Amauʻulu. (Kai)

It is not known how much influence these early sugar plantations had upon the later development of the sugar industry in Hawaiʻi, but it is known that they were the pioneers, struggling with the problems of labor, droughts, fluctuating prices, water supplies, and probably insects, rats and other difficulties that plague the commercial growing of sugar.  (Kai)

Sometime before 1842, Ena married Kaikilani “Aliʻi Wahine O Puna;” she is said to be part of the Kamehameha line, going back to Lonoikamakahiki.  The Enas had three children: daughters, Amoe Ululani Kapukalakala, born in 1842 (later married to High Chief Levi Haʻalelea and Laura Amoy Kekukapuokekuaokalani, born in 1844 or 1845 (later, Laura Coney.)

An interesting insight into John Ena’s attitude toward the education of his children is noted in a letter written by the Reverend Titus Coan to Dr Charles H Wetmore in 1850, when Dr Wetmore was away from Hilo: “Keoni Ina is anxious to get a strip of land 8 fathoms wide on the makai side of your makai field running from Punahoa Street (formerly Church Street, now Haili) to More’s fence. He says he only wishes to put a dwelling house … (so) that his children may be nearer school.”  (Kai)

Dr. Wetmore was apparently not interested in selling this land, but John Ena did get land near to the school. In 1851, he leased almost an acre from a Hawaiian man named Kalakuaioha for twenty years. This was on the Puna side of the present Haili Street, between Kinoʻole and Kilauea Streets.  (Kai)

These Chinese settlers were written about by the editor of the Polynesian in 1858 (possibly referring to Amoe Ululani Ena):  “In Hilo, I was told, over and over again, the girls of half-Chinese and half-Hawaiian origin were the best educated, the most fluent in the English language, the neatest housewives, and the most likely young ladies. …”

“One young lady of such origin … was married just before I arrived to a chief of considerable wealth, and if all that is said about her is true, he ought to be looking upon himself as one of the happiest and luckiest of men, for besides being possessed of the usual attractions, the bride, they say, is sensible.”

“The gossip in the village Hilo … was that she laid down some most excellent conditions, and only upon receiving a promise that they would be observed, did she consent to renounce her parents care. …”

“But fancy a young country girl, whose world had been the village of Hilo, with an ardent, not to say remarkably well-off lover at her feet, dictating the terms upon which she would consent to become rich, dress handsomely and live in a large house in the metropolis! Ah, John Chinaman, your pains were not thrown away.” (Kai)

A son to John Ena Sr and Kaikilani, John Ena Jr, was born November 18 1845 in Hilo.  He is the subject of the rest of this summary.

John Ena Jr worked at various trades until at the age of thirty-four he became a clerk for TR Foster & Co of Honolulu.

This firm owned a fleet of seven schooners plying among the islands and soon acquired its first steamer in 1883 as the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co, and Ena invested heavily in the stock.  He became president of Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co in 1899.

Inter-Island’s ships traveled to Kauai and the Kona and Kaʻū Coasts of the island of Hawai‘i.  The Wilder Company served the island of Maui and the windward port of Hilo.

In 1905, Ena merged Inter-Island with the Wilder Company, under the Inter-Island name.  (Later, Inter-Island became Inter-Island Airways (1941,) then Hawaiian Airlines (1947.))

Ena was a member of the House of Nobles and the Privy Council under the Kalākaua and Liliʻuokalani and was decorated in 1888 by King Kalākaua.

He served with the Board of Health under the Provisional Government and was a member of the constitutional convention that set up the Republic of Hawaiʻi.  He reportedly circulated and published the newspaper Ka Naʻi Aupuni in 1905.

Ena died on December 12, 1906 in Long Beach, California.

When Henry J Kaiser planned and developed his Waikīkī resort in 1954, he and his partner purchased 7.7-acres of Waikīkī beachfront property from the John Ena Estate and several adjoining properties.

In mid-1955 the first increment of what is now the Hilton Hawaiian Village opened for business; the first self-contained visitor resort in Waikīkī.  A nearby road, Ena Road, was named after John Ena (Jr.) Image shows John Ena Jr.

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

It all happened in about a year …

A lot went on in other parts of the world:

February 17, 1818 – Henry ‘Ōpukaha‘ia died at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall CT

October 20, 1818 – the 49th parallel was established as the border between US & Canada

November 21, 1818 – Russia’s Czar Alexander I petitioned for a Jewish state in Palestine

December 24, 1818 – ‘Silent Night’ composed by Franz Joseph Gruber and first sung the next day (Austria)

December 25, 1818 – Handel’s Messiah, premiered in the US in Boston

January 2, 1819 – The Panic of 1819 began, the first major financial crisis in the US

January 25, 1819 – Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia

February 6, 1819 – Sir Stamford Raffles entered into a treaty with the deposed Sultan of the area which gave Britain authority over the island of Singapore in return for a pension and recognition of that Sultan’s status as legitimate ruler.  (The event which founded modern Singapore.)

February 15, 1819 – The US House of Representatives agrees to the Tallmadge Amendment barring slaves from the new state of Missouri (the opening vote that led to the Missouri Compromise)

February 22, 1819 – Spain cedes Florida to the US

March 2, 1819 – Arkansas Territory is created

May 22 – June 20, 1819 – The SS Savannah became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean (Savannah, Georgia to Liverpool, England

July 4, 1819 – Arkansas Territory is effective

August 6, 1819 – Norwich University is founded by Captain Alden Partridge in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States.

August 7, 1819 – Battle of Boyacá: Simón Bolívar was victorious over the Royalist Army in Colombia. Colombia acquired its definitive independence from Spanish monarchy.

August 24, 1819 – Samuel Seymour sketches a Kansa lodge and war dance at the present location of Manhattan, Kansas, while part of Stephen Harriman Long’s exploring party. This work is now the oldest drawing known to be made in the state of Kansas.

October 23, 1819 – led by Hiram Bingham, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.)  The Mission Prudential Committee in giving instructions to the pioneers of 1819 said:

“Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is to be wholly a labor of love. … Your views are not to be limited to a low, narrow scale, but you are to open your hearts wide, and set your marks high. You are to aim at nothing short of covering these islands with fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings and schools and churches, and of Christian civilization.”  (The Friend)

December 14, 1819 – Alabama is admitted as the 22nd US state

A lot went on in the Islands:

To set a foundation, we are reminded that in 1782 Kamehameha I began a war of conquest, and, by 1795, with his superior use of modern weapons and western advisors, he subdued all other chiefdoms, with the exception of Kauai.  King Kamehameha I launched two invasion attempts on Kauai (1796 and 1804;) both failed.

In 1804, King Kamehameha I moved his capital from Lāhainā, Maui to Honolulu, O‘ahu.  In the face of the threat of a further invasion, in 1810, Kaumuali‘i decided to peacefully unite with Kamehameha and ceded Kauai and Ni‘ihau to Kamehameha and the Hawaiian Islands were unified under a single leader. The agreement with Kaumuali‘i marked the end of war and thoughts of war across the archipelago.  Later, Kamehameha returned to his home, Kamakahonu, in Kailua-Kona on the Island of Hawaiʻi.

Here is some of what happened in Hawaiʻi in that fateful time:

September 11, 1818, Argentine corsair Hipólito (Hypolite) Bouchard (1783–1843,) signed and Kamehameha placed his mark on a Treaty of Commerce, Peace and Friendship with Hipólito Bouchard, that, reputedly, made Hawaiʻi the first country to recognize United Provinces of Rio de la Plata (Argentina) as an independent state.  In recognition of the reported ‘treaty’, there is a street in Buenos Aires, Argentina named Hawai (a bit misspelled.)

April of 1819, Don Francisco de Paula Marin was summoned to Kailua-Kona the Big Island of Hawai‘i to assist Kamehameha, who had become ill.  Although he had no formal medical training, Marin had some basic medical knowledge, but was not able to improve the condition of Kamehameha.

May 8, 1819, King Kamehameha I died.

“Kamehameha was a planner, so he talked to brothers Hoapili and Hoʻolulu about where his iwi (bones) should be hidden,” noting Kamehameha wanted his bones protected from desecration not only from rival chiefs, but from westerners who were sailing into the islands and sacking sacred sites. (Maiʻoho)

Their father, High Chief Kameʻeiamoku, was one of the “royal twins” who helped Kamehameha I come to power – the twins are on the Islands’ coat of arms – Kameʻeiamoku is on the right (bearing a kahili,) his brother, Kamanawa is on the left, holding a spear.

September 19, 1819, Edmond Gardner, captain of the New Bedford whaler Balaena (also called Balena,) and Elisha Folger, captain of the Nantucket whaler Equator, became the first American whalers to visit the Hawaiian Islands

November 1819, Kamehameha I, his son, Liholiho (King Kamehameha II) declared an end to the kapu system.   “An extraordinary event marked the period of Liholiho’s rule, in the breaking down of the ancient tabus (kapu), the doing away with the power of the kahunas to declare tabus and to offer sacrifices, and the abolition of the tabu which forbade eating with women (ʻai noa, or free eating.)”  (Kamakau)

“The custom of the tabu upon free eating was kept up because in old days it was believed that the ruler who did not proclaim the tabu had not long to rule…. The tabu eating was a fixed law for chiefs and commoners, not because they would die by eating tabu things, but in order to keep a distinction between things permissible to all people and those dedicated to the gods”. (Kamakau)

Kekuaokalani, Liholiho’s cousin, opposed the abolition of the kapu system and assumed the responsibility of leading those who opposed its abolition.  Kekuaokalani (who was given Kūkaʻilimoku (the war god) before his death) demanded that Liholiho withdraw his edict on abolition of the kapu system.  (If the kapu fell, the war god would lose its potency.)  (Daws)

The two powerful cousins engaged at the final Hawaiian battle of Kuamoʻo; Liholiho’s forces defeated Kekuaokalani.

December 1819, just seven months after the death of Kamehameha I, the allies of his two opposing heirs met in battle on the jagged lava fields south of Keauhou Bay.  Kekuaokalani (wanting restoration of the kapu) marched up the Kona Coast from Kaʻawaloa and met the warriors under Liholiho (Kamehameha II) at Kuamo‘o, just south of Keauhou.  Liholiho’s forces won.

April 4, 1820 (after 164-days at sea) the Thaddeus arrived and anchored at Kailua-Kona with the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”,) about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in the Hawaiian Islands.)

At the time,

“This village (Honolulu,) which contains about two hundred houses, is situated upon a level plain extending some distance back from the bay part of which forms the harbour, to the foot of the high hills which abound throughout the Island. The little straw-huts clusters of them in the midst of cocoanut groves, look like bee-hives, and the inhabitants swarming about them like bees.”

“In passing through the midst, in our way to the open plain, it was very pleasant to hear their friendly salutation, Alloah (Aloha,) some saying, e-ho-ah, (where going?) We answered, mar-oo, up yonder. Then, as usual, they were pleased that we could num-me-num-me Owhyhee (talk Hawaiian.)”  (Sybil Bingham)

“Passing through the irregular village of some thousands of inhabitants, whose grass thatched habitations were mostly small and mean, while some were more spacious, we walked about a mile northwardly to the opening of the valley of Pauoa, then turning south-easterly, ascended to the top of Punchbowl Hill an extinguished crater, whose base bounds the north-east part of the village or town.”  (Hiram Bingham)

“Below us (below Punchbowl,) on the south and west, spread the plain of Honolulu, having its fish-pond and salt making pools along the sea-shore, the village and fort between us and the harbor, and the valley stretching a few miles north into the interior, which presented its scattered habitation and numerous beds of kalo (taro) in it various stages of growth, with its large green leaves, beautifully embossed on the silvery water, in which it flourishes.”  (Hiram Bingham)

“The soil is of the best kind, producing cocoanuts, bananas, and plantains, bread fruit, papia, ohia, oranges, lemons, limes, grapes, tamarinds, sweet potatoes, taro, yams, watermelons, muskmelons, cucumbers and pineapples, and I doubt not would yield fine grain of any kind.”  (Ruggles, The Friend)

“We were sheltered in three native-built houses, kindly offered us by Messrs. Winship, Lewis and Navarro, somewhat scattered in the midst of an irregular village or town of thatched huts, of 3,000 or 4,000 inhabitants.”  (Hiram Bingham)  “(O)ur little cottage built chiefly of poles, dried grass and mats, being so peculiarly exposed to fire, beside being sufficiently filled with three couples and things for immediate use, consisting only of one room with a little partition and one door.”  (Sybil Bingham)

“In addition to their homes, the missionaries had grass meeting places, and later, churches.  One of the first was on the same site as the present Kawaiahaʻo Church.  On April 28, 1820, the Protestant missionaries held a church service for chiefs, the general population, ship’s officers and sailors in the larger room in Reverend Hiram Bingham’s house.  This room was used as a school room during the weekdays and on Sunday the room was Honolulu’s first church auditorium.”  (Damon)

The image shows Liholiho eating with women (Mark Twain-Roughing It.) 

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kawaiaha‘o Church

Prior to the missionaries arriving in the islands, the flat plain just south of the village of Honolulu was a barren, windswept dust bowl – little more than a desert.  However, in the midst of this sun-parched land there was an oasis, a spring whose waters were reserved exclusively for the land’s high chiefs and chiefesses.
 
One such noble who frequented this pool was the chiefess Ha‘o. Eventually these waters, and the surrounding land, came to be known as Ka Wai a Ha‘o – the freshwater pool of Ha‘o.
 
In 1820, the first missionaries arrived in Hawai‘i, and found themselves well-accepted by royalty as well as the general populace.  They were granted land at Kawaiaha‘o for the purpose of establishing their residence and church.
 
The missionaries, less the group left on the Big Island, landed at Honolulu on April 19, 1820.  Four days later, Hiram Bingham, the leader of the group, preached the first formal Protestant sermon in the islands.  Initial services were in thatched structures.  Later, a more permanent church was built.
 
The church, constructed between 1836 and 1842, was in the New England style of the Hawaiian missionary and has been restored and altered several times since first erected.  The “Kauikeaouli clock,” donated by King Kamehameha III in 1850, still tolls the hours to this day.
 
Revered as the Protestant “mother church” and often called “the Westminster Abbey of Hawai‘i” this structure is an outgrowth of the original Mission Church founded in Boston and is the first foreign church on O‘ahu (1820).
 
Within its walls the kingdom’s royalty prayed, sang hymns, were married, christened their children and finally laid in state.  As the state church, it was the scene of many celebrated events associated with the Hawaiian Kingdom – inaugurations, funerals, weddings, thanksgiving ceremonies.
 
The “Stone Church,” as it came to be known, is in fact not built of stone, but of giant slabs of coral hewn from ocean reefs.  These slabs had to be quarried from under water; each weighed more than 1,000 pounds.  Natives dove 10 to 20 feet to hand-chisel these pieces from the reef, then raised them to the surface, loaded some 14,000 of the slabs into canoes and ferried them to shore.
 
Following five years of construction, The Stone Church was ready for dedication ceremonies on July 21, 1842.  The grounds of Kawaiaha‘o overflowed with 4,000 to 5,000 faithful worshippers.  King Kamehameha III, who contributed generously to the fund to build the church, attended the service.
 
Kawaiaha‘o Church was designed and founded by its first pastor, Hiram Bingham, my great-great-great grandfather.  Hiram left the islands on August 3, 1840 and never saw the completed church.  Kawaiaha‘o Church is listed on the state and national registers of historic sites.
 
Fast forward to 1925 … the church building was completely reconstructed from 1925-27, when all structural wood was replaced with reinforced concrete and steel and interior redesigned. (The original interior of the church did not have the concrete you see today, it was wood.)
 
All interior wood was termite infested. All wood was removed leaving only the coral walls standing and the building was rebuilt from the basement up. The auditorium was restored to its full length, the galleries were widened and extended.
 
Concrete pillars provided an aisle effect within. The reconstruction attempted to return the building to its original New England simplicity.
 
The pulpit, with furniture made from salvaged ohia slabs and kauila logs, was designed with wide steps leading up to it and a simple cross on the wall behind.
 
The original arched windows on either side of the pulpit and the crescent opening above the cross were retained. New, insect-proof redwood seats were installed, and the old royal pews were closed to visitors.
 
The roof was covered with imported slates, put on with copper nails. The outer walls were spray-coated with a cement plaster to preserve the coral blocks from damage by birds pecking at them.
 
Inside, a new organ, funded in part by C. Brewer and Co. to commemorate their 100th anniversary, replaced the 1901 instrument.
 
To complete the new setting, the grounds were replanted – little had been done since Lunalilo’s time, except in 1899 when A. S. Cleghorn pulled down the high wall, dug an artesian well, planted a lawn, and set out the line of royal palms mauka of the building as memorial to his daughter, Princess Kaiulani.
 
A fountain pool was built with some coral block to commemorate the old spring at King and South Streets which had given the land, and the church, its name: Ka wai a Hao – the water of Hao.

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Paul Emmert Artist/Traveler

Born near Bern, Switzerland, in 1826, Paul Emmert (1826‒1867) immigrated to the United States at the age of 19, landing first in New York and then heading west with the discovery of gold in California.

In 1853, he became one of the many artist-travelers to come to Hawai‘i to satisfy the thriving market for images of the islands’ dramatic topography and singular culture.

In Honolulu, he opened a print shop, where he made prints after his own drawings of local landmarks. Eventually, he moved to Kailua-Kona and farmed the sugar plantation where he lived out the remainder of his life.

In his 14 years in Hawai‘i, Emmert made drawings of the mountains, coastlines, vegetation, and geophysical phenomena in and around O‘ahu, Maui and the Island of Hawai‘i.

While Emmert was in Honolulu he made a series of sketches of Honolulu, one from the harbor and five from the bell-deck of the Catholic Cathedral.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, located at the north end of Fort Street (and Beretania) in downtown Honolulu, is said to be the oldest Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States and one of the oldest existing buildings in the downtown area.

The Cathedral stands on land which was given to the Catholic missionaries by King Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli) when the mission was established in 1827.

Here is a summary of the images in the six sketches of Honolulu:

No. 1. View of Honolulu from the Harbor (1854)

Center image is view looking mauka at Honolulu Harbor from the water.
Smaller images, circling the center image, include various buildings: (clockwise from top left) the Royal School, Custom House, interior of the Fort, market house, charity school, stone church, “Bethel” (Bethel Church?), armory, court house, palace of King Kamehameha III, Honolulu House, the steamer Akamai, the native church and the Catholic church.

No. 2. View of Honolulu from the Catholic Church (1854)

Central image is view looking toward Diamond Head.
Smaller images, circling the center image, include various residences and consulates: (clockwise from top left) John Yung; Mr. Angel, U.S. Consul; General Miller, H.B.M. Consul General; Mr. Perrin, French Consul; Prince Alexander and Lot; Mr. Armstrong; L. Anthon, Danish Consul; U.S. Consulate; King’s summer house; Mr. Hackfield, Swedish Consul; Mr. Montgomery; Mr. Gregg, U.S. Commissioner; Mr. Wyllie; Mr. Davis, Peruvian Consul; Mr. Hall; Mr. Reynolds, Bremen Consul.

No. 3. View of Honolulu from the Catholic Church (1854)

Center image is view looking toward Kakaʻako.
Smaller images, circling the center image, include various businesses and buildings: (clockwise from top left) Dentist, MacFarlane Hotel, National Hotel & Billiard Saloon, French Hotel, F. Spencer, Lafrenz & Fisher Cabinet Makers, Tailoring by Chas. Nicholson, Stuart & Rahe Cabinetmakers and Turners, Dr. Lathrop Drug Store, Hudsons Bay Company, Globe Hotel, Chas. Vincent, Reynolds, French Store, Ruggles and H Hackfeld & Co.

No. 4. View of Honolulu from the Catholic Church (1854)

Center image is view looking makai toward Honolulu Harbor.
Smaller images, circling the center image, include various businesses and buildings: (clockwise from top left) T. Spencer Ship Chandler, Rice & Co., Makee & Anthon’s Building, C. Brewer, DN Flitner Watch Maker, Dr Hoffman – Spalding, Honolulu Iron Works, H Sea – R Coady, Holt & Heuck, Melchers & Co., Mitchell & Fales – Wells Fargo & Co., BF Snow, Porter & Ogden, Allen & Co., Polynesian Office and Hawaiian Steam Navigation Office.

No. 5. View of Honolulu from the Catholic Church (1854)

Center image is view looking toward Central Oʻahu.
Smaller images, circling the center image, include various residences: (clockwise from top left) Boullion, Dubois, Capt. Snow, Cartwright, Spencer, Spalding, Ford, Capt. Crab, Sea, Newcomb, Bungalow, Dr. Wood, Sommner, Macfarlane, Porter & Ogden and Dowsett.

No. 6. View of Honolulu from the Catholic Church (1854)

Center image is view looking mauka toward Nuʻuanu Valley.
Smaller images, circling the center image, include various residences: (clockwise from top left) Dr, Lathrop, Paki, Washington Place, John Ji, Judge Andrews, Bishop, Capt. Luce, Rev. Damon, Dr. Hildebrand, Dr. Judd, Capt. Makee, Bates, Nuʻuanu Valley Waterfall, Wood, Wood and Ladd.
© 2022 Ho‘okuleana LLC