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6/2/2020: The statue of Kamehameha the Great stands tall in front of the Kohala Civic Center in Kapa‘au, not far from the birthplace of Hawaii’s greatest king. For over two decades, care and kuleana for this public sculpture, known as the Painted King, has fallen to Sharon Hayden, a 45-year resident of North Kohala on Hawai‘i Island, and a dedicated community volunteer. Kamehameha, born in 1758, conquered and united the Hawaiian Islands by 1810. His death in 1819 was followed by rulers in the Kamehameha dynasty, until King David Kalākaua came to power in 1874. It was during Kalākaua’s reign that the Kingdom of Hawai‘i commissioned the creation of a sculpture of Kamehameha the Great in 1878.  Created and cast in France and Italy by Boston sculptor Thomas Ridgeway Gould, the Statue was lost at sea off the Falkland Islands when the ship caught fire and sank.  A second statue was quickly commissioned, which was eventually delivered to Honolulu and still stands in front of Ali‘iōlani Hale, the Judiciary Building and home of the Hawai‘i Supreme Court. In 1882, the original Statue was salvaged from the sea and brought to Hawai‘i by Captain Jarvis, who was en route to the Islands. Having received the second statue in Honolulu, the government decided to send the original to North Kohala. The time under the sea left the statue marred and worn.  Rather than leave the statue with an unsightly and undignified appearance, community members painted the statue in vivid colors. This local practice of painting the statue continued for some 120 years. By the late 20th century, the layers of paint had accumulated and were causing damage to the substrate. The effort to assess and conserve the [...]

The F. Garcia Building has served the Paia community as a commercial enterprise since its construction in 1934. Its classic façade style and small scale are typical of family-owned shops of the plantation era that distinguish the retail district of Paia. The F. Garcia Building before rehabilitation. Originally known as Zane’s Market, The Garcia family purchased the property on Baldwin Avenue around 1960 and continued to operate it as a grocery market, adding some features to the building including façade signage, scored concrete flooring and concrete block exterior walls on the sides. When local contractor Graham Monroe purchased the building a few years ago, it had fallen into disrepair. Rather than demolishing or massively renovating the building, the new owner worked with an historic architect to restore and preserve the character-defining features of the exterior and interior, while balancing the need to meet county building code requirements. The rehabilitation retained the F. Garcia name on the facade, restored original flooring and key structural elements, while bringing the electrical and other components up to code.  Solar panels were installed to enhance the building's energy efficiency. A unique mural was also added to an exterior wall, depicting the landscape during the sugar plantation era from this viewpoint towards Upper Paia. This sensitively implemented rehabilitation restores the building’s character and use as a retail establishment, helping to preserve the historic character of the Paia community. A Preservation Project Award will be presented to F. Garcia LLC and Maui Architectural Group. The Preservation Honor Awards will be held as a livestream event on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 at 5:00 pm. Please refer to historichawaii.org for upcoming information on how to participate. By Adriane Truluck, Awards Selection Committee [...]

A STATEMENT FROM HISTORIC HAWAI‘I FOUNDATION ALU KA PULE I HAKALAU: Standing Together for Justice and Equity 6/3/2020: Since last week we are seeing a massive collective response to systemic racism, with both peaceful protests and destructive acts in cities across the country. We are profoundly disturbed by the horrific death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and that of others who have been targeted for their race. We join with those who strive to ensure that justice and equity are applied to all humankind, and that all people are treated with dignity and respect. In the face of this crisis—which compounds the health and economic damage already facing our communities—it can feel overwhelming to respond to the moment. But we need to acknowledge these events and talk about how we can collectively address these issues to foster justice and reconciliation with peace and aloha. A Hawaiian proverb states: Alu ka pule I Hakalau (Concentrate your prayers on Hakalau). “Whenever concentration and united effort are required, this saying is used. A sorcerer at Hakalau once created havoc in his own and other neighborhoods. Many attempts to counter-pray him failed until a visiting kahuna suggested that all of the others band together to concentrate on the common enemy. This time they succeeded.” [1] HHF strongly believes that the history and associated places of all people matter, and that telling the stories of those places and preserving those sites help bring understanding, acceptance, communication, and, ultimately, reconciliation and peace. Historic Hawai‘i Foundation has an enduring responsibility to do all we can to create constructive spaces where justice and peace can flourish—including in those places that reflect our history. We encourage acts of aloha to support Black communities, both [...]

By Johanna Fuller, Resource Specialist, Pacific Historic Parks  A monumental 3-year-pilot program began in March 2018 when 4 divers were brought to Hawaii for the Pearl Harbor Wounded Veterans in the Park (WVIP) Program with injuries ranging from paraplegia to severe post-traumatic stress disorder. The WVIP program is a nationwide program supported jointly by National Park Service - Submerged Resources Center (NPS-SRC) and non-profit partner, Pacific Historic Parks. Pearl Harbor Wounded Veteran in the Park diver Tom Fjerstad Fjerstad USS Arizona 2019, WVIP Diver Tom Fjerstad. Photo Credit Dave Conlin NPS-Submerged Resource Center The Pearl Harbor WVIP program addresses two areas of need. The first is contributing towards NPS’ scientific research and resource protection objectives for the USS Arizona—work designed to study the long-term processes of degradation and preservation on a warship that was bombed and sunk more than 75 years ago.  The second is that the program engages wounded veterans in a mission-based, team accountability framework that provides therapeutic and rehabilitative benefit contributing to their physical and emotional health. When the U.S. was launched into World War II immediately following the Japanese surprise attack on the island of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi on 7 December 1941 the USS Arizona was fully stocked with ammunition and 1.5 million gallons of “Bunker C” oil. It has been estimated that more than 500,000 gallons of oil remained within the hull of the Arizona after she exploded and burned. The oil, commonly called “Black Tears”, continues to leak to this day at a rate of 2-9 gallons per day. In order to assist Pearl Harbor National Memorial with the stewardship of the USS Arizona and protect the delicate ecosystem of Pearl Harbor, the National Park Service [...]

Since the mid-1980s, Nanette Napoleon has led an effort to preserve Hawai‘i’s historic burial grounds. Her family's appreciation of their native Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Tahitian, and European roots drew her to the last vestiges of people of the 19th and early 20th centuries and the stories their final resting places tell. Through study and practice, Nanette focuses on educating the community and policy makers on the importance of saving Hawai‘i’s historic burial sites and ways to preserve them. She has broadly shared what she has learned -- through books, journals, newspaper and magazine articles, television news and public interest appearances, walking tours, dramatic programs, and one-on-one advice. Bestowing her with the moniker "Hawai‘i’s Cemetery Lady," folks in the community frequently seek her out to help locate and preserve grave sites of family ancestors. She is also consulted on the appropriate means of conserving markers and burial sites and the information they contain. Beginning in the early 1980s, Nanette organized the Hawai‘i Cemetery Research Project to research, inventory, document and restore historic burial grounds and provide educational outreach. To date, the project has documented historic cemeteries on O‘ahu, Maui, Moloka‘i, and Lāna‘i, including O‘ahu Cemetery, Mō‘ili‘ili Japanese Cemetery, Pauoa Hawaiian Cemetery, Sunset Memorial Park, Kalaupapa and several others. With volunteer researchers and fieldworkers, and in collaboration with specific project partners, Nanette has continued work to repair damaged headstones and cemetery sites, and to assist concerned family relatives to organize and advocate for preservation of the cemeteries where their ancestors are laid to rest. O‘ahu, Maui, Moloka‘i and Lana‘i Cemetery Directories Through the project, Nanette collaborated with the Hawai‘i Civil War Roundtable to preserve the memory of men from Hawai‘i who served in the U.S. [...]

Pacific Hall reached its Quasquicentennial (125th) Anniversary last year and we are delighted to share a summary of how it came to be. The first effort to launch a public museum devoted to Hawaiʻi can be traced to the Hawaiian National Museum, authorized by Kamehameha V in 1875 with exhibits arranged in an upstairs room of the new Aliʻiōlani Hale. As President of the Board of Education, Charles Reed Bishop was the museum’s initial supervisor. The original Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum building shortly after completion, summer 1890. Mr. Bishop held greater ambitions for a facility that offered a more complete history of Hawaiʻi.  That goal moved forward after the 1884 death of his wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, who bequeathed her personal property, including Hawaiian artifacts, to Mr. Bishop. The idea advanced further in 1885 with the death of Queen Emma, who also bequeathed her collection of antiquities to Mr. Bishop, leading him to combine the two collections in a new institution. Construction began on The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in 1888 on a parcel of land adjacent to the new Kamehameha School in Kalihi-Palāma and was completed two years later. During construction, Mr. Bishop successfully negotiated the purchase of additional collections, including the Hawaiian and Pacific antiquities of the Boston Museum of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. As the new museum’s team was cataloging and arranging items for display, it became apparent that there would not be enough space for all of the exhibits. The solution was to design and begin construction of a new three-story building at the back of the original museum and it was named Polynesian Hall. In 1891, a local newspaper, Daily Bulletin, reported, “Mr. [...]

Guest contributor Gary Coover encounters a highly unusual building and unravels its intriguing history. So what’s your favorite historical building in Hawai‘i? And why? My personal favorite is two stories tall, and about two feet wide. Huh?!? It’s located on Merchant Street, the original “work” street in Honolulu, ironically built along the largest ‘ulu maika “play” field frequented by none other than King Kamehameha himself. The buildings along Merchant Street are where many of Honolulu’s most important businesses began, and many of these buildings are still extant today, dating all the way back to the Melcher & Reiners Building built in 1853.  Neighboring buildings include the Old Post Office (1871), J.T. Waterhouse Building (1870s), Bishop Bank (1878), Royal Saloon (1890), Bishop Estate Building (1896), Judd Building (1899),  Stangenwald Building (1901) and Honolulu Star-Bulletin Building (1912) and the Old Police Station (1931). It’s also home to the Campbell Block, if you can find it. Maybe this clue will help:  it was a massive building fronting a major commercial intersection in its day and has an incredible story. THE MAN James Campbell Born the eighth child in a family of eight boys and four girls in Londonderry, Ireland, in 1826, James Campbell stowed away to sea when he was only 13 years old. After a couple of years in Canada and New York, he signed on as a carpenter on a whaling ship bound for the Pacific in 1841. They survived the passage around Cape Horn only to be wrecked on a reef in the Tuamotus Islands between Pitcairn and Tahiti. He clung to a spar and was washed to shore where he and two shipmates were quickly captured by locals and tied up. Unfortunately, [...]

May 20, 2020: The Ford Island Interpretive Trail completed in 2019, is comprised of 30 interpretive panels telling the history of Ford Island paired at 15 nodes along the historic trail. The Interpretive Trail was developed by Commander, Navy Region Hawaii to raise awareness and appreciation of the role that Ford Island and its surroundings played in Hawaiian culture and military history with the purpose of educating while communicating the importance of protecting cultural resources. The rich history spans from the pre-contact period through its use as agricultural land and by the military today. Ford Island, in the center of the Pearl Harbor Naval Complex, has been a National Historic Landmark since 1964. Originally known as Mokuʻumeʻume, the island is noted in history as the home of guardian shark gods and goddesses, oysters, and makahiki gatherings. Post-contact it was a prized source of pili grass used for roof thatching. Following the Great Māhele, the island was sold at auction and changed hands. The island was re-named Ford Island in honor of Dr. Seth Porter Ford, a noted medical doctor who serviced the Hawaiian Kingdom and used Pearl Harbor as a transit point to reach outlying residents in remote locations only accessible by small boat or horseback. During the latter 1800s, Ford Island produced livestock and agriculture for provisioning. Later, the land was used for sugar cane production. The island’s history includes its use by the U.S. Army Coastal Defenses and Air Corps until the founding of Hickam Air Force Base in the mid-1930s, and its pivotal role as part of the naval installation at the start of and during World War II. The interpretive panels, developed by MASON, illustrate this history through photos and [...]

This year marks the monumental 100-year anniversary of the Kamehameha Schools Song Contest, a staple event here in Hawai‘i that culminates months of preparation and rehearsal by students on O‘ahu, Maui and Hawai‘i islands. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 crisis, this year’s contest was suspended. Instead, on March 20th, a special three-part program that recognized and celebrated a century of the Song Contest aired on Hawai‘i News Now and online performances, albeit in a different format, are available on the School's website. The Contest represents the evolution of Hawaiian language and culture over the past century.  As beautifully stated on Kamehameha Schools' webpage, the Song Contest “has brought us – the lāhui – to renewed understandings of our cultural identity – an identity no longer fading, but eager to thrive in contemporary contexts. One hundred years’ worth of students have sung the songs of their kūpuna, preserving invaluable data that has revitalized our people to our current standing. Those mele are the pages of our history, kept alive at the tip of the tongue.” Throughout the years, the song contest pays tribute to the ancestors who came before us and keeps their memory, stories, and mele alive.  The goal is to “tell our stories of today, for tomorrow”, illustrating how the past, present and future intertwine. Through this 100-year old tradition, Kamehameha Schools provides an opportunity to remember, to connect with one another, and to leave a legacy for generations to come. Kekoa Kaluhiwa, Senior Director for the Statewide Operations Division of its Community Engagement and Resources Group at Kamehameha Schools, is a proud KS graduate of the Class of ’94, Kekoa was a co-ed team song director from 1991-1993 and the “I Mua Kamehameha” [...]