Kailua-Kona | Page 5 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

March 31, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Seeking A Vision of Hale Hālāwai as Piko of Historic Kailua Village

Over the past few months, I have been helping the Kailua Village Business Improvement District in a process for a Revitalized Vision for Hale Hālāwai.

After some individual and small focus discussions, last week we held two public meetings at Hale Hālāwai to get further input.

Dave Corrigan from Big Island Video News stopped by at one and did some interviews; you may see that here:

Hale Hālāwai translates to meeting house or gathering place.

We are seeking input to develop a community vision. “A revitalized vision of Hale Hālāwai as the piko of Historic Kailua Village will celebrate our heritage, encourage interaction between residents and promote a deeper sense of community.”

Where are we now?

Where are we going?

Where do we want to be?

How do we get there?

Hale Hālāwai has long been a community gathering place, but it had a shaky start …

The people of Kailua-Kona almost lost the only remaining public land fronting the ocean in 1938 when a resolution was passed asking “the land commissioner to consummate an exchange with the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co., Ltd., by which an area of approximately 39 acres of land at Keauhou belonging to Inter-Island, would be traded to the county for the courthouse tract on the beach next to the Kona Inn.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, July 9, 1938)

Effective March 20, 1943, Governor’s Executive Order 1013 set aside the property for the Kona Court House, under the control and management of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Hawai‘i. (EO 1949) Then in the 1950s, “The alert Kona Outdoor Circle has issued a protest and a warning. It protests increased use of the old Kona courthouse site as a parking lot. And it warns that unless action is taken soon, the public may lose access to Kona beaches. There is a connection between the two.” (Honolulu Star Bulletin, March 3, 1956)

The matter was formally resolved when Governor Samuel Wilder King “ended a long controversy over future use of the 3.2-acre waterfront site with a statement at a press conference that the Territory has decided against sale or lease of the grounds.” (Honolulu Advertiser, August 25, 1955)

County Sought Site for Park Purposes

Then, the Hawai‘i County Board of Supervisors, by Resolution 255, dated November 4, 1959, requested that the area be set aside for park and recreational purposes. On May 3, 1961, Governor William F Quinn cancelled Executive Order 1013 and issued Executive Order 1949 and set aside the property “for a public purpose, namely as a Civic Center, under the control and management of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Hawai‘i.” (EO1949)

Initial thoughts for its use noted that the “conversion of the old courthouse site into a cultural center consisting of a library, auditorium and amphitheatre.” (Honolulu Star Bulletin, November 25, 1958) It was initially referred to as the “Kona Cultural Center” (sometimes Kailua Cultural Center). In 1961, the facility was well under construction and groups were already using it, even prior to its completion.

The Naming of “Hale Hālāwai”

The Kona Torch noted that in July 1962, the Kona Outdoor Circle had a “contest for naming the new Kona Cultural Center. Mrs. Grace Napaepae, the naming winner, received $25 for the name, Hale Hālāwai.”

Hale Hālāwai continues to be a community gathering place …

It was sometimes referenced as “Hale Hālāwai, a meeting house next to the Kona Inn” (Honolulu Advertiser, March 20, 1963), as well as “Hale Hālāwai, Kona’s civic center.” (Star Bulletin & Advertiser, April 21, 1963) and “Hale Hālāwai, Kona’s community center.” (Honolulu Advertiser, October 11, 1963)

It became Kona’s gathering place … “we had get-together, you see, down the Hale Hālāwai. So, they pick up the old-timers in [coffee] farming. … Everybody meet at the Hale Hālāwai.” (Katherine ‘Nina’ Kālaiwa‘a, 70, farmer; A Social History of Kona, 1981)

Others note, today, “currently there are only two areas (Hale Hālāwai and Maka‘eo [Old Airport]) in North Kona that can host large family gatherings.” (Malia Kipapa)

In thinking of the Vision for Hale Hālāwai – Think About the Future:

What do you value about Hale Hālāwai that you do not want to see changed?
What changes would you most like to see Hale Hālāwai in the future? (near-term and long-term)
What do you want Hale Hālāwai to be like in 5, 10, 20 years?

What about the existing site & facilities? Keep them? Change them (to what?) Make it all open space?

What about the existing programs and uses: Keep them? Change them (to what?) Add more (what?)

If you have ideas, we want your input. Please e-mail me at PeterYoung@Hookuleana.com

March 28, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Laniākea

Reverend Asa and Lucy Thurston were in the Pioneer company of American Protestant Missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands, arriving in Kailua-Kona on the Thaddeus in 1820.

They made their home in Kailua Village, in a home the Hawaiians named Laniākea. Thurston received Laniākea, a 5.26 acre homestead parcel as a gift from Governor Kuakini.

As noted by Rev. Sereno Edwards Bishop, in his book “Reminiscences Of Old Hawaii” (1916:) “In the early (1830s,) Kailua was a large native village, of about 4,000 inhabitants rather closely packed along one hundred rods of shore, and averaging twenty rods inland.”

“It had been the chief residence of King Kamehameha, who in 1819 died there in a rudely built stone house whose walls are probably still standing on the west shore of the little bay. Nearby stood a better stone house occupied by the doughty Governor Kuakini.”

“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 Laniakea, a quarter of a mile inland.”

“Most of the native huts were thatched with the stiff pili grass. The better ones were thatched with lau-hala (pandanus leaf) or with la-i.”

The following are excerpts from letters Lucy Thurston during her time in Hawaii, from “Life and Times of Mrs. Lucy G. Thurston” (1882;) her own words best describe the property (including its cave and pond:)

“Back of the village on that arid slope, a third of a mile from the shore, was an unoccupied, eligible site for a house and grounds. There we set about making such a home as circumstances would allow, and as the double responsibilities required, of molding heathen society, and of forming the characters of our children.”

“Five acres were enclosed with a stone wall three feet wide and six feet high, with simply the front gate for entrance. A large thatched house was erected. Space was allowed for a yard twenty-five feet in breadth. Two close partition walls were built six feet high, running from the outer wall each side of the front gate, close up against the side of the house, each side of the front door.”

“At the back side of the house is a hall which leads both from the dining room and study to a door, the only entrance into a retired yard of three acres. There stands another thatched house, built after the custom of the country. The frame is tied together with the very strong bark of a certain tree.”

“Then from the ridge-pole to the ground, the frame is entirely covered with long slender poles, tied within a few inches of each other, over which the long lauhala leaves are laid, leaving the two ends to hang down on the outside.”

“That house is the home of our children. There is our family sitting room, eighteen feet square, and there are our sleeping apartments. And inasmuch as I often wish to invite my native friends to that sitting room, we enclosed the further bed room in a yard sixty feet square, with a wall six feet high, coming up close to the house on both sides.”

“In our kitchen yard, directly opposite and within a few feet of each other, are the two mouths of a large cave of volcanic formation.”

“The larger opening gives us the novelty of a subterraneous walk one-fourth of a mile toward the sea, where we reach a pond of brackish water. Some of the rooms of this cave are quite spacious. The natives made it a place of concealment in times of war.”

“The smaller mouth of the cave leads into a low cave which extends three miles up the mountain, where there is an opening, and when obliged to hide in the lower cave, the natives stole through the upper one to procure their food.”

“The name of the cave is Laniakea, signifying the broad heavens. As it is enclosed in our premises, the natives were quick to give the name to our establishment, so that it has become universally known as Laniākea.”

“Thatched houses are not durable, therefore, in the course of years, we had a succession of dwellings, but this was the general arrangement. In the 12th year of the Mission, a two-storied wooden house was erected in the children’s yard, and the wall for their special enclosure removed, as the times no longer required such an accommodation.”

Hawaii Register of Historic Places, September 24, 2005 notes: Laniākea: the Asa and Lucy Thurston House site is significant for its associations with Asa and Lucy Thurston and their profound involvement with the Protestant Missionary movement in Hawaii from 1820 to 1861.

With the permission of Liholiho (Kamehameha II), the missionaries built a grass house for worship in 1823 and, later, a large thatched meeting house.

Missionary Asa Thurston directed the construction of the present Mokuʻaikaua Church, then the largest building in Kailua. Its massive size indicates the large Hawaiian population living in or near Kailua at that time.

The image shows my Grandparents and my Mother in the Laniākea house ruins (in 1928) – (Great grandson and Great-great grand-daughter of Hiram Bingham, leader of missionaries to Hawai‘i, who came to Hawai‘i with Asa Thurston)

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Asa Thurston and Lucy Goodale Thurston

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View of Kailua from Laniakea-1836

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