Mokuaikaua | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

June 8, 2025 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

‘The Lion of North Kona’

George Washington Pilipo was born February 22, 1828 in Holualoa North Kona on the Island of Hawaiʻi, one of eleven children (only two of whom however lived to majority.)

He attended the District School for several years, and in 1852 went to the Hilo Boarding School where he remained only a few months, entering Lahaina Seminary in 1853.

“He took the full course there graduating in 1857 with honor having won the affection and respect of both teachers and fellow pupils.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 29, 1887)

Returning to Kona he opened an independent school which was maintained for a number of years. During this time however he acted as the efficient assistant pastor in the Kailua church of Reverend Asa Thurston.

In 1864, at the Evangelical Association for Hawaiʻi Island meeting in Waimea, Pilipo received his license. The next year he was ordained a minister.

“He was installed at Kailua over the old church where Father Thurston had labored from the landing of the missionaries in 1820 … Here Pilipo labored and preached acceptably and honored by all for six years, until he was called to, and accepted, the pastorate of Kaumakapili in Honolulu.” (Paris)

“(V)ery few know of the actual facts connected with the financial transactions there which left a stain upon his good name, fewer still are aware of his honorable attempt to make good any loss suffered through him. It is a fact however that he settled the whole matter with the church borne years ago. (Hawaiian Gazette, March 29, 1887)

“(H)e was unfortunate in entrusting church funds to persons who were unreliable. I believe he meant to be honest and has been greatly slandered.”

“He was noble and independent, a true Patriot and Christian … a fearless champion for temperance and unmoved by the threats, bribes or flattery of the Roman and Anglican churches, both of which sought to win him over to their faiths.” (Paris)

“Mr Pilipo’s reputation however rests mostly upon his political career. He was early elected a member of the Legislative Assembly and served continuously and with honor for sixteen years. He was a powerful and effective speaker.”

“Among a nation of born orators he excelled. He rarely failed to carry the hearts as well as the heads of his audiences in his utterances. From the first he has stood consistently on the side of what he considered Hawaiʻi’s best good.”

“He earned for himself the name of The Lion of North Kona.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 29, 1887)

“He was the persistent foe of corruption and peculation in office. His voice was ever raised against measures calculated to injure Hawaii. His clear sight of the true character of measures proposed arrayed him against them whenever in his judgment they would tend to injure the people as a nation.”

On February 12, 1874, nine days after the death of King Lunalilo, an election was held between the repeat candidate David Kalākaua and Queen Emma, widow of King Kamehameha IV. Pilipo supported Emma – she lost.

However, in the legislature, “the last of the Emmaites” were reelected, including Pilipo (as well as Joseph Nawahi from Hilo and J Kauai from Kauai.) (Kanahele)

On July 11, 1882, a bill before the legislature called for conveyance of Crown Lands to Claus Spreckels in satisfaction of claims he may have. Pilipo declared that this was a “step toward destroying the independence” of Hawaiʻi. (Hawkins)

Pilipo opposed the bill and in a speech in the legislature he said, (1) “this is not a matter that will please the Hawaiian People,” (2) this issue “really has no business before this Assembly … (and) should be considered in the courts’ and …”

(3) “I think that taking crown lands away from the crown and giving them to another person is a step in destroying the independence of the country.” (The bill was later approved and signed into law by Kalakaua.) (Van Dyke)

King Kalakaua became so incensed by Pilipo’s critique of his government’s dealings with Spreckels that he personally intervened in the 1886 general election campaign to ensure that Pilipo was not reelected.

Kalakaua “received hundreds of cases of cheap gin, which he sent to every voting precinct to secure the election of his candidates to the Legislature. He went personally to one country district, with a company of soldiers (to campaign against) Kalakaua’s staunchest opponent in the Legislature.” (William Brewster Oleson; Congressional Record)

“In order to prevent Pilipo’s election, the King proceeded to his district of North Kona (and) took an active part in the canvass …. The King’s interference with the election nearly provoked a riot, which was averted by Pilipo’s strenuous exertions.” (US State Department)

“(Kalakaua) stationed soldiers with side arms in double rows at polling places, thus intimidating voters and pushing men out of line who were suspected of opposition to his schemes, thus forcibly preventing their voting.” (William Brewster Oleson; Congressional Record)

Pilipo was defeated by JK Nahale by 19-votes; Pilipo died March 25, 1887. (Hawkins) The image shows George Washington Pilipo.

George Washington Pilipo

December 19, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sarona Road

Mai ka Lani mai nei ka leo kahea,
Pio mai la kona nani i ka lua kupapau.
A o oe la e, e Opukahaia, Hauoli avanei,
ke ike aku oe, O kou aina hanau, ke pua mai nei;
Opuu ae la na rose, aala mai hoi,
Nani loa o Sarona, hiehie moana.

The call came from Heaven,
His glory faded from the grave.
And you, Opukahaia, be happy now,
when you see, Your native land is blooming;
The roses bloomed and smelled,
Sharon is very beautiful, the sea is beautiful.
(Ka Moolelo o Heneri Opukahaia; Chris Cook)

ʻIsaia 65:10, A e lilo nō ʻo Sārona i pā no nā hipa, A ʻo ke kahawai ʻo ʻAkora i wahi moe no nā bipi, No koʻu poʻe kānaka i ʻimi mai ai iaʻu.

Isaiah 65:10, Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me.

Song of Solomon 2:1, “ʻO wau nō ka rose o Sārona, A me ka līlia o nā awāwa.“ “I am the rose of Sharon, And the lily of the valleys.” (Hawaiian Baibala)

“The Rose of Sharon is a flower that grows on mountaintops, and that’s why the Lord referred to Himself as The Rose of Sharon. His mountaintop was Golgotha, and the Lord let me know that people can only find this Rose on Mount Calvary.”

“Roses are noted for their fragrances, and the fragrance from this great Rose travels down from the mount of God and into the valley for us.” (Ernest Angley Ministries)

Sharon is the Mediterranean coastal plain between Joppa and Caesarea. In the time of Solomon, it was a place of great fertility. It is in North Palestine, between Mount Tabor and Lake Tiberias. (Bible-org)

Sarona is the name of a road in Kailua-Kona in the immediate vicinity of Moku‘aikaua Church. As noted in the translations above, Sarona is the Hawaiian word for Sharon.

Moku‘aikaua Church started in 1820 with the arrival of the first American Protestant missionaries. With the permission of Liholiho (Kamehameha II), the missionaries built a grass house for worship in 1823.

It soon was found that the church was incapable of holding the growing following of the missionaries. The Kona District had by the mid-1820s, an estimated population of 20,000 and congregations became so large that a considerable number had to be excluded from services.

Governor Kuakini immediately agreed to help in the erection of a new structure. Every male in the district was sent into the mountains to help cut and haul timber. On September 27, 1826, the church was dedicated. (NPS)

It was destroyed by fire in 1835; the present lava rock and coral mortared church, capped with a gable roof, was dedicated on February 4, 1837. It is the oldest intact Western structure on the Island of Hawai‘i.

Moku‘aikaua Church is on a small level lot near the center of Kailua-Kona. Its high steeple stands out conspicuously and has become a landmark from both land and sea.

Some believe Sarona Road was the path people took to/from Mokuaikaua Church that takes an idyllic biblical name (reminiscent of the Rose of Sharon and other Sharon references in the Bible) that was named by Asa Thurston.

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.

The Thurstons made their home in Kailua Village, in a house 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”: “In the early [1830s,] Kailua was a large native village, of about 4,000 inhabitants rather closely packed along one hundred rods [1650-feet] of shore, and averaging twenty rods [330-feet] 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 second company [of missionaries] consisted of six married couples and two single persons. They sailed from New Haven, Conn., Nov. 19, 1822, and arrived at Honolulu, April 27, 1823, in 158 days. Among the second company was Rey. Artemas Bishop, a native of Pompey, NY …”

“He was married in November, 1822, to Elizabeth Edwards, who was born at Marlborough, Mass., June 17, 1796. 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.”

Missionaries that served at the Kailua-Kona Mission Station, whose principal church was Moku‘aikaua, included, Asa Thurston, Thomas Holman, Artemas Bishop, James Ely, Delia Stone and Seth L Andrews.

Back to the naming of the road … Hawaiian Place Names notes the reference to the Land Commission Award Book and Tax Map, apparently, all references are linked to the Land Commission decisions.

Early references to ‘Sarona’ are found in the Land Commission Awards (LCA) Book 3 related to awards to Leleiōhoku. Leleiōhoku was son of Kalanimōku; Leleiōhoku married Princess Ruth (Keʻelikōlani).

On August 30, 1851, the Land Commission records note LCA 1028 and LCA 9971 Apana 46 and 47 (as well as many other parcels) were in a partial list of lands agreed upon by the Mahele to belong to the more important Aliis and Chiefs and confirmed to Leleiōhoku by Award of the Commission to Quiet Land Titles.

Mapping for LCA 1028 noted ‘Ala Ololi Sarona’ (Narrow Sharon Path) as a boundary and mauka of the parcel the trail/road is noted as ‘Ala Ololi Pii Sarona’ (Narrow Sharon Path going up).

Mapping for the LCA 9971 Apana parcels 46 and 47 note “Alanui Sarona” (Sharon Road/Trail) as a boundary. The ‘Alanui’ reference suggests larger trails/road.

LCA 9971 Apana 47 also notes Alanui Tatina (now spelled Kakina) as a boundary – Tatina was the Hawaiian name for Thurston. Alanui Tatina is likely the trail used by the Thurstons that lead from their home, ‘Laniakea’, down into Kailua-Kona).

Given its location, the early reference of the name (1851), the biblical nature of the name, the religious passion of Asa Thurston, Artemas Bishop and the other missionaries and their families, it is plausible (probable) that Sarona Road was named by the missionaries and was a trail used by the Hawaiians from the surrounding area to get to Moku‘aikaua Church.

By Resolution 288, dated January 19, 1956, the Hawai‘i County Board of Supervisors approved the ‘Naming of Streets in Kailua Keahou [sic] Area, Kona’; the list of ten streets included Sarona Road.

August 15, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mokuʻaikaua Church

This stone and mortar building, completed in 1837, is the oldest surviving Christian church in the state of Hawaiʻi, started by the first Protestant missionaries to land in Hawaiʻi.

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-Kona. Its massive size indicates the large Hawaiian population living in or near Kailua at that time.

Mokuʻaikaua, with its 112-foot-tall steeple, is a reminder of the enthusiasm and energy of the first American missionaries and their Hawaiian converts.

Built of stones taken from a nearby heiau and lime made of burned coral, it represents the new western architecture of early 19th-century Hawaiʻi and became an example that other missionaries would imitate.

The original thatch church which was built in 1823 but was destroyed by fire in 1835, the present structure was completed in 1837. Mokuʻaikaua takes its name from a forest area above Kailua from which timbers were cut and dragged by hand to construct the ceiling and interior.

Mokuʻaikaua Church is centered in a small level lot near the center of Kailua. Its high steeple stands out conspicuously and has become a landmark from both land and sea.

Huge corner stones, said to have been hewn by order of King ʻUmi in the 16th century for a heiau, were set in place and offers evidence of the heavy labor which contributed to the Church’s construction.

The central core of the steeple is polygonal with alternating sections of wide and narrow clapboard. The wider sections are articulated with louvered arches. The 48 by 120 feet lava rock and coral mortared church is capped with a gable roof.

Construction beams are made from ʻōhiʻa wood. Pieces of the wooden structure were joined with ʻōhiʻa pins. The spanning beams are fifty feet long and are made from ʻōhiʻa timbers. Corner stones were set in place 20 to 30 feet above the ground.

Mokuʻaikaua Church is the first and one of the largest stone churches in Hawaiʻi, outstanding for its simple, well-proportioned mass and construction.

The interior open timber structure with high galleries is a fine architectural and engineering design. The architectural interest is further enhanced by the church’s historical significance (it is on the Register of Historic Places.)

In 1910, a memorial arch was erected at the entrance to the church grounds to commemorate the arrival of the first missionaries.

Congregationalist missionaries from Boston crossed the Atlantic Ocean, rounded Cape Horn, aboard the Brig Thaddeus. A replica of the Thaddeus is in Mokuʻaikaua Church.

On the morning of April 4, 1820, 163 days from Boston, the Congregational Protestant missionaries, led by Hiram Bingham, aboard the Thaddeus, came to anchor off the village of Kailua.

They came ashore at the “Plymouth Rock” of Hawaiʻi, where Kailua Pier now stands. Christian worship has taken place near this site since 1820. Mokuʻaikaua is known as the “First Christian Church of Hawaiʻi.”

Inspired by the dream of Hawaiian Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia, seven couples were sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity.

Two Ordained Preachers Hiram Bingham and his wife Sybil and Asa Thurston and his wife Lucy; Two Teachers, Mr. Samuel Whitney and his wife Mercy and Samuel Ruggles and his wife Mary; A Doctor, Thomas Holman and his wife Lucia; A Printer, Elisha Loomis and his wife Maria; A Farmer, Daniel Chamberlain, his wife and five children.

The Thurstons remained in Kailua, while their fellow missionaries went to establish stations on other Hawaiian islands.

May 29, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ka Pā Nui o Kuakini

Captain George Vancouver gave a few cattle to Kamehameha I in 1793; Vancouver strongly encouraged Kamehameha to place a kapu on them to allow the herd to grow.

In the decades that followed, cattle flourished and turned into a dangerous nuisance. By 1846, 25,000 wild cattle roamed at will and an additional 10,000 semi‐domesticated cattle lived alongside humans.

John Adams Kuakini 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 Lāhaina 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 many 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.

Built between 1830 and 1840, the Great Wall of Kuakini separated the coastal lands from Kailua to Keauhou from the inland pasture lands.

The mortar-less lava-rock wall has had varying opinions regarding the purpose of its construction.

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.

It is likely that the function of the wall changed over time, as the economic importance of cattle grew and the kinds and density of land use and settlement changed.

Kuakini was responsible for other changes and buildings in the Kona District during this era.

He gave land to Asa Thurston to build Moku‘aikaua Church.

He built Huliheʻe Palace in the American style out of native lava, coral lime mortar, koa and ‘ōhi‘a timbers. Completed in 1838, he used the palace to entertain visiting Americans and Europeans with great feasts.

Hulihe‘e Palace is now a museum run the Daughters of Hawaiʻi, including some of his artifacts.

He made official visits to all ships that arrived on the island, offering them tours of sites, such as the Kīlauea volcano.

He was born about 1789 with the name Kaluaikonahale. With the introduction of Christianity, Hawaiians were encouraged to take British or American names.

He chose the name John Adams after John Quincy Adams, the US president in office at the time. He adopted the name, as well as other customs of the US and Europe.

Kuakini was the youngest of four important siblings: sisters Queen Kaʻahumanu, Kamehameha’s favorite wife who later became the powerful Kuhina nui, Kalākua Kaheiheimālie and Namahana-o-Piʻia (also queens of Kamehameha) and brother George Cox Kahekili Keʻeaumoku.

He married Analeʻa (Ane or Annie) Keohokālole; they had no children. (She later married Caesar Kapaʻakea. That union produced several children (including the future King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani.)

A highway is named “Kuakini Highway,” which runs from the Hawaii Belt Road through the town of Kailua-Kona, to the Old Kona Airport Recreation Area.

He is also the namesake of Kuakini Street in Honolulu, which is in turn the namesake of the Kuakini Medical Center on it.

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Great_Wall_of_Kuakini-WC

‘John Adams’ Kuakini, royal governor or the island of Hawai’i, circa 1823

Great_Wall_of_Kuakini-vicinity_of_Lowes-Kailua-Kona-(GoogleEarth)

Great-Wall_of_Kuakini

‘John Adams’ Kuakini, royal governor or the island of Hawai’i, circa 1823

Great-Wall_of_Kuakini

Kahului-Kuamoo-USGS_Quadrangle-1924-(note_alignment_of_Great_Wall_of_Kuakini)

Kailua_Town_and_Vicinity-Map-Kanakanui-Reg1676 (1892)-(note_Great_Wall_of_Kuakini)

Kailua_Town_and_Vicinity_Map-Kanakanui-Reg1676 (1892)-(note_Great_Wall_of_Kuakini)

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.”

“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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