Caretaking a Historic Cottage in Waimea

By Camie Foster Klum

Our family has the privilege of serving as the current caretakers of an 8- by 10-foot board-and-batten cottage in the uplands of Waimea on the Big Island on what once was Parker Ranch land. We are not quite sure how old it is, but we believe it already has hit the century mark.

Lifelong Waimea residents tell us that it used to be a bunkhouse or living quarters for one of the Parker Ranch paniolo. It has weathered storms and hurricanes with little apparent impact. Fortunately, although it has been fitted as a workshop, very little has been added to the structure other than layers of paint.

I fell in love with it at first glance, and my respect for all that it represents has only deepened over the years. Someone carefully crafted the structure and oriented the two walls with windows to catch a healthy breeze without bearing the brunt of high trades.

The windows, thankfully, appear original, as do the layers of glazing and paint. As a matter of fact, the only noticeable impacts of time are one cracked light — and the fact that at some point, someone removed one of the windows and put it back inside-out.

I brought photos and measurements to the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation Trades Training Workshop on Historic Wood Window Repair in September, simply hoping for suggestions on where to find replacement glass and to see if I could learn how to proceed with a repair. Through the kindness of the hosts and instructors, I came home with a carefully cut piece of antique glass and the knowledge of proper procedures. Once my vintage Fletcher-Terry No. 5 point driver — the exact model that the professionals at Kalaupapa taught us to use — arrives from an eBay seller in Wisconsin, I’ll be ready to prep the frame and secure and glaze the glass. A month after that, it will be time to paint. Old-school quality takes time, after all. And this little slice of history deserves no less.