Kailua-Kona | Page 5 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

March 8, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

‘Umi in Kona

Pa o ʻUmi is the small point of land in Kailua Bay between Kamakahonu (King Kamehameha Hotel) and Huliheʻe Palace, near the middle of the Kailua Seawall in Kona on the Big Island.

It marks the location of the Royal Center of the ruler ʻUmi-a-Līloa (ʻUmi) (ca. AD 1490-1525) and where famed King ʻUmi landed when he first came to Kailua by canoe from his ancestral court at Waipiʻo.

On this point of rock, King ʻUmi ordered his attendant to dry his treasured feather cloak (ʻahuʻula) (so this promontory is sometimes referred to as Ka Lae o ʻAhuʻula.)

Over the years of widening Aliʻi Drive and adding on to the seawall, this point has been almost completely covered.

ʻUmi from Waipiʻo, son of Līloa, defeated Kona chief Ehunuikaimalino and united the island of Hawai‘i. He then moved his Royal Center from Waipi‘o to Kailua.

ʻUmi’s residence was near the place called Pa-o-ʻUmi.

At about the time of ʻUmi, a significant new form of agriculture was developed in Kona; he is credited with starting this in Kona.

Today, archaeologists call the unique method of farming in this area the “Kona Field System.”

This intensive agricultural activity changed farming and agricultural production on the western side of Hawai’i Island; the Kona field system was quite large, extending from Kailua to south of Honaunau.

In lower elevations all the way to the shore, informal clearings, mounds and terraces were used to plant sweet potatoes; and on the forest fringe above the walled fields there were clearings, mounds and terraces which were primarily planted in bananas.

In the lower reaches of the tillable land, at elevations about 500-feet to 1,000-feet above sea level, a grove of breadfruit half mile wide and 20 miles long grew.

Sweet potatoes grew among the breadfruit. Above the breadfruit grove, at elevations where the rainfall reached 60-70 inches or more, were fields of dry land taro.

The field system took up all the tillable land and cropping cycles were frequent. Agriculture supported the thriving and growing population of Kona.

The Kona Field System (identified as Site: 10-27-6601 and including multiple locations) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 28, 1977.

When it was nominated to the National Register, the Kona Field System was described as “the most monumental work of the ancient Hawaiians.”

The challenge of farming in Kona is to produce a flourishing agricultural economy in an area subject to frequent droughts, with no lakes or streams for irrigation.

The Kona Field System was planted in long, narrow fields that ran across the contours, along the slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualālai.

As rainfall increases rapidly as you go up the side of Hualālai, the long fields allowed farmers to plant different crops according to the rainfall gradients.

This traditional farming system disappeared by the mid-19th century and now coffee farms cover much of the land that once comprised the Kona Field System (we now call this mauka region the “Coffee Belt.”)

The photo shows Pa o ‘Umi, taken in 1928 from the area of the Kailua Pier – Huliheʻe Palace and Mokuaikaua Church in background. The little girl sitting on the left is my mother; the woman sitting in the middle (wearing a hat) is my grandmother.

Pa O ‘Umi was included as a Point of Interest in the Royal Footsteps Along The Kona Coast Scenic Byway. We prepared the Corridor Management Plan for the scenic byway for the Kailua Village BID.

We are honored that the project was awarded the 2011 “Environment / Preservation” award from the American Planning Association – Hawaii Chapter; “Historic Preservation Commendation” from the Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation and the 2011 “Pualu Award for Culture & Heritage” from the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce.

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January 24, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Lanihau

“I started looking for property in Kona in 1921 when I graduated from Yale [University] and I think between then and 1932, why, I must have seen every beach property from Milolii to Kawaihae, no matter how you got to it–by air or by sea or by boat or by donkey or by mule or on foot.”

“And I finally decided on [William] Doc Hill’s place down at Keauhou as being the ideal spot that I wanted to live in but through a long combination of funny circumstances, why, I didn’t get it.”

“I’d inquired about this place from Mr. Childs who was then local head of American Factors. He said, ‘Oh hell, that property’s so tied up with owners you never could clear title.’”

“‘Well,’ I said, ‘you live here’ – and he was a big shot of the community at the time. ‘Tell you what I’ll do. If you can clear the titles, I’ll put up the money and we’ll subdivide the thing into large pieces and go fifty-fifty on it.’ And he said, ‘Well, that’s fair enough. That doesn’t cost me anything.’”

“So I waited seven years and nothing happened. Then I happened to meet an old-timer from up here who’d been in the tax office and knew land problems–who my father helped to keep out of jail–and he was very fond of the Thurstons.”

“So I said, ‘Who owns that property next to Factors?’ ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘that belongs to so-and-so and so-and-so. You want to buy it?’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t know whether I can afford it or not.’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘the girl right at this moment needs money badly, I know, and I’m quite sure she would sell.’”

“So, this was four in the afternoon and at 9:30 the next morning I got a call and he said, ‘If you’ll have so much money available by eleven o’clock, I can buy her half-interest in thirty-eight acres.’”

“So I said, ‘Well, I don’t know where I’m going to get the money but I’ll have it.’ I did. Five years later, for five times as much, I bought the other half. So that brings us up to about 1938 and going into 1939.”

“An old kahuna who lived down at Kahaluu – I can’t remember his name at the moment but it’ll come to me – through his grandson who worked for [Theo. H.] Davies and Company, said that his grandfather wanted to come see me.”

“His grandfather had known my great-grandfather as a little boy and his great-grandfather was, at that time, in his late nineties and Asa [Thurston] died when he was well along in the eighties, so there is quite a span there. So I said I’d be delighted.”

“So the old man came over and his grandfather … he was ashamed to speak English so he spoke in Hawaiian and I spoke English. I could understand him and he could understand me. So he said, ‘I would like to know what Mr. Thurston’s plans are for the development of this property,’ which was translated duly.”

“And I replied and gave him a general idea of what I was trying to accomplish here. We’d planted quite a few trees at that time.
So the old man sat here for quite a long time and just nodded his head; and then he started in talking Hawaiian very rapidly and he talked for about ten minutes without taking a breath.”

“So the old man thanked me with tears in his eyes and we talked a little bit about his remembering my grandfather. He was a young man at the time. And he died, oh, within two or three months after that down at Kailua.”

“The name of this place is Lanihau. L-A-N-I-H-A-U. There’s Lanihau-nui which is next door and this is Lanihau-iki, meaning little Lanihau, and Lanihau-nui is back of it [and means large or great Lanihau]. That belongs to the Greenwells.”

“The name puzzled me. Lani means heavenly; beauty. Hau–H-A-U–is normally the tree from which they make the Hawaiian outriggers or the amas [float for canoe outrigger] or ‘iako [canoe outrigger]. H-A-0 is iron or steel or very strong.”

“So I submitted this to John Lane, who was then alive, and Mary Pukui, who’s still alive, and Reverend Henry Judd and two others … and asked them what this name meant, because many times Hawaiian meanings were hidden.”

“They asked a great many questions about the place. Was it on a point? Yes. You had a beautiful view up and down the coast? Yes. You had a beautiful view of the ocean? Yes. And the surf? Yes.”

“And out on the point at times it’s enormous; and is there a current that comes past that you can see sometimes? Yes, you can see it coming down the coast, coming around the point. And you have a beautiful view of the sunrise and of the sunset?”

“They finally came up with this hidden meaning which I think is very interesting; Lanihau is the place where the forces of the heavens and of the earth meet and all is quiet and peaceful. The moonlight and the sunshine, the waves, the grand weather, the storms, and so on, which is rather interesting, I think.”

“I would say that you are really in a very blessed spot.”

“I started to work here on the 28th of December of 1939. It was all just lava, nothing else. And this place evolved as a result of exposure and watching the surf and studying and seeing what one could do.”

“I always wanted a harbor for a boat to go fishing and to go swimming. And so, this gradually evolved and then I began to find out things about it.”

“Kamehameha the Great lived right here for some time – seven years – prior to his death. This is where he slept and over there was where he ate and over where the guest house is, is where his servants lived; and over at the far end there, beyond the entrance to the pond – going into the King Kamehameha [Hotel] lot – was the old heiau.”

“So he was self -contained and nobody was allowed on this place in the old days. You had to go around it. It was tabu. … Sacred.”

Back to the old man and his grandfather … “His grandson laughed when the old man ran down and said, ‘Well, my grandfather has said quite a few things. I will try to translate.’”

“In essence, what he said was this, that he will now die happy and he now understands why the good Lord never let anybody buy this over all the years.”

“He said, ‘He was waiting till you could come – till you had the money to come – and till you could develop this place, which certainly is even farther than Kamehameha would have been able to had he chosen to do it, and it will become a place of great beauty.’”

“‘I will now die happy because this property is in the hands of the man the Lord intended it to go to.’” (Lorrin P Thurston; Watumull Oral History)

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November 25, 2018 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Early Recollections of Missionary Life in Kailua, Hawaii

“As a settlement of some 4000 people crowded along one third mile of sea-shore, Kailua was the only place in Hawaii worthy the name of town, except perhaps the one at Hilo Bay.”

“Kailua consisted of native houses thatched either with pili or lauhala, the majority in various stages of decay. The aspect of the people was sordid, evincing ignorance, degredation, poverty and much ill health.”

“Here and there were dwellings of petty chiefs in whose yards were, cocoanut and kou trees of great luxuriance, as well as an occasional puhala.”

“When the pioneer missionaries in 1820 made their first landing at Kailua, it had recently been the chief residence of the aged Kamehameha, and was still in some degree the capital city of the group.”

“It was the permanent residence of Kuakini, the imperious Governor of the island, whose stone house stood at the north end beyond the little bay, which has always been the principal landing.”

“Beyond the Governor’s house, was Kamehameha’s old habitation where he died. Seaward still was a platform upon which stood five gigantic and hideous wooden idols, elaborately carved.”

“(These) had ceased to be worshipped but for some reason, probably respect for the deceased monarch, had escaped the general destruction of the idols in 1819.”

“I recall few names or faces of the native people. Very distinct in memory is the benevable face of a line old Christian lady Kekupuohi.”

“She had been a young wife of King Kalaniopuu, and had personally witnessed the death of the unfortunate Capt. James Cook, on the 4th of February, 1779, when he rashly attempted to force the King on board of his ship as a hostage.”

“I also well remember the immense and portly form of Governor Kuakini, who used to make a periodical foreonn visitation at our home, some times sitting at our table.”

“This royal chief was estimated to weigh not less than 500 pounds. The Governess Keoua, somewhat less ponderous, also of royal lineage frequently visited us.”

“Kuakini used to occupy my father’s large arm-chair into which he could hardly squeeze.”

“Missionary Work – I remember the Thurstons and Bishops as very busy in labors among the people. The two ministers held meetings twice on Sabbath in the immense thatched tabernacle at Kailua as well as every Wednesday afternoon.”

“The congregations in Kailua church were large, often over a thousand present. Sunday school was held after morning service, the natives having many copies of portions of scripture which they commit to memory quite diligently.”

“Much time was spent by Messrs. Thurston and Bishop in school work. They occupied many hours a week in personally teaching, and many more in superintending the work of the very incompetent native teachers whom they had trained and located in various districts.”

“Very great occasions indeed were the quarterly hoikes or school exhibitions, when, the schools and teachers assembled from the districts and displayed their proficiency in the presence of the Governor and the missionaries.” (Sereno Bishop; Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 23, 1897)

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View of Kailua-Thurston

August 4, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Longnose

Peter Fithian first came to Hawai‘i in 1948 as a midshipman on a US Navy cruiser; he later studied hotel management at Cornell University. (Kelley)

In 1954, Fithian was hired to manage the Augusta National Golf Club. A year later, he was back in the Islands, having been hired to manage the Kona Inn. However, Augusta’s Masters Golf Tournament was an inspiration for a tournament of another type he would start in Hawaii. (WHT)

Fithian and five others, Porter Dickenson, Dudley Lewis, Richard MacMillan, Desmond Stanley, Edward Sultan, Sr and Charlie Cooke, joined together to operate a big-game fishing tournament in Kona.

In 1959, just two days after the Territory of Hawai‘i became the 50th state, the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament (HIBT) launched its first sportsfishing tournament in Kona on the Island of Hawai‘i.

It is the second oldest big game sport fishing event in the world. (On May 26, 1950 the Ernest Hemingway International Billfish Tournament started at Havana, Cuba.)

In the tournament that continues today, points will be awarded for each billfish weighing 300 or more pounds. The allowed species are black marlin, broadbill swordfish, Pacific blue marlin and striped marlin. Tuna are judged in a different category, with points given for each fish weighing at least 100 pounds.

It’s not just sport, it later became evident that there was little or no knowledge about the life cycle of the marlin. Due to John C. Marr’s urging, the HIBA Board founded a 501C3 Scientific Corporation and called it the Pacific Ocean Research Foundation (PORF).

Over a period of 15 years, more than 65 scientific papers were written by scientists with credit to PORF. PORF dominated the study of science for the Pacific Blue Marlin working with Stanford University and the IGFA to further the understanding of the life of this marlin which has had so much to do with the rise in interest for game fishing worldwide. (HIBT)

Points are also given for marlin that are tagged and released. Rules note, “To be counted as a tagged and released fish, the leader must be taken in hand and the fish tagged with a NMFS Tag and Released.”

“The hook or hooks must be disengaged from the fish or the leader cut as close to the hook/s as possible. The fish must be alive and capable of survival when released.” (HIBT)

The Kona Inn was also instrumental in developing the Kona Coast as one of the world’s greatest fishing areas. With the Inn as unofficial billfish tournament headquarters, the place has attracted marlin fishermen from all over the globe.

“Tournament entries include charter fees for each team to fish aboard one of Kona’s leading charter boats … Each day the teams switch to a different boat”. (BlueWater)

7:30 am, at the first of five days of fishing, ‘Longnose’ broadcasts over the tournament radio, “Billfishers, Billfishers, Billfishers, Start Fishing, Start Fishing, Start Fishing,” starting the tournament and the ‘and they’re off’ race to respective fishing areas.

Longnose is the radio call name to Tournament Control; longtime Longnose, manning the radio, was Phil Parker. He and his brother (and subsequent sons) were iconic Kona marlin fishers.

“Teams that have been coming to this tournament for a long time know what it takes to win. Our new teams sense the importance of Kona’s waters and they are here to fish and win.” (Fithian; HIBT)

“The first year we had 23 teams and probably 21 were from Honolulu and Kona, but it grew. … This was such a little town when we started.”

“Probably for the first three or four years, we were weighing the fish at the Kona Inn. Later on, we moved to the pier with the thought that this was something people should be seeing.” (Fithian; WHT)

The 59th Annual Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament will be held Saturday August 4th, 2018 – Sunday August 12th, 2018; again, in Kona, as it has been since the beginning.

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August 22, 2017 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Kauakaiakaola Heiau

“Leaving Kairua, we passed through villages thickly scattered along the shore to the southward. The country looked unusually green and cheerful, owing to the frequent rains, which for some months have fallen on this side of the island.”

“Even the barren lava, over which we have traveled, seemed to veil its sterility beneath frequent tufts of tan waving grass, or spreading shrubs and flowers.”

“The sides of the hills, laid out for a considerable extent in gardens and fields, and generally cultivated with potatoes, and other vegetables, were beautiful. The number of heiaus, and depositories of the dead, which we passed, convinced us that this part of the island must formerly have been populous.”

“The latter were built with fragments of lava, laid up evenly on the outside, generally about eight feet long, from four to six broad, and about four feet high. Some appeared very ancient, others had evidently been standing but a few years.”

“At Ruapua (Puapua‘a) we examined an interesting heiau, called Kauaikaharoa, built of immense blocks of lava and found its dimensions to be 150 feet by 70.”

“At the north end was a smaller enclosure, sixty feet long and ten feet wide, partitioned off by a high wall, with but one narrow entrance. The places were the idols formerly stood were apparent, though the idols had been removed.”

“The spot where the altar had been erected could be distinctly traced; it was a mound of earth, paved with smooth stones, and surrounded by a firm curb of lava. The adjacent ground was strewed with bones of the ancient offerings.”

“The natives informed us that four principal idols were formerly worshipped there, one of stone, two of wood, and one covered with red feathers.” (Ellis, 1823)

Kauakaiakaola (Ka-ua-kai-aka-ola – also known as Kauaikahaola (Ka-ua-i-kaha-ola)) Heiau was a temple for increase of food and fish (Heiau Ho‘oulu ‘Ai, Ho‘oulu I‘a.) (Kekahuna) (It translates to ‘the rain which gives life to all living things.’)

“It is related that when King Kamehameha I, on the advice of a kahuna of the island of Kauai, decided to restore the old heiau in his day, he approached it by canoe”.

“From a distance he saw several people about the place, but when he drew near not a single person was to be seen.”

“The reason, he learned later, was because there is at the shore, near the southwest corner of the heiau, the submerged entrance of a cave leading upland, through which the people had fled.”

Today a large boulder, known as the Queen Emma Rock, as it is said to have been cast up by the sea during a severe storm at the time of Queen Emma’s death April 2, 1885 – has its lower end held fast in a hole just east of the cave entrance.”

“There were four principal idols worshipped in this heiau, one of which was said to have been brought from a foreign land. These were Kāne-nui-akea (Great Kāne whose Power Extends Far and Wide (akea,)) from the island oif Kauai …”

“… Kāne-lūl̄u-moku (Kāne who sows (lūlū) – or creates – islands, Lola-maka-Èha (Lola with Eyes in the Four Cardinal Points, probably foreigh,) and Ke-kua-ài-manu (The God that Eats Birds (or overcomes human victims by its power,)) which was covered with red feathers.”

“Above the heiau lies the present road and the Plain of Kāhelo (Ke Kula o Kāhelo,) upon which, in the 1880s, races were held between horses of the Parker Ranch, in Waimea, Kohala and those of Kona ranches, as well as other sports, which were patronized by King Kalākaua and members of his court.” (Kekahuna)

It is believed the heiau was built during the time of ‘Umi (about the same time of Christopher Columbus crossing the Atlantic to America.)

It was later restored by Kamehameha. It sat abandoned, then Curtis V Crellin purchased the property with ‘a pile of rocks.” (Hawaiian Holiday) He later learned it was a heiau and in 1947, with guidance from Kenneth Emory at Bishop Museum, restored it.

“The old stonework had fallen victim to earthquakes and to the roots of plants and vines. That was the first and heaviest task, to rebuild the walls with the original lava stone, and then repave the interior platform with smaller rocks and pebbles.”

“The Kahuna’s house was framed in the traditional manner, and thatched with pili grass. The proper site of the oracle tower was located, and a new wooden structure put up in the manner described and sketched by the earliest explorers.” (Hawaiian Holiday)

“The workmen who loyally participated in the restoration included: Clement Kanuha, Joseph Kanuha, J Timothy Makuakane, Moses Makuakane, John Kunewa, George Moike and George H Laioha.” (Crellin) By 1962, the site was reported to “becoming quite overgrown.” (HTH) It is again in disrepair. (In today’s context, the heiau is just north of the Casa de Emdeko condominiums, just outside of Kailua-Kona.)

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