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UPDATE:  On June 1, funding from a dedicated city land conservation fund which had been pending in the city's proposed budget was restored to be used toward the purchase and permanent protection of Kanewai Spring. In a grand show of support for the project, more than 100 people from Hilo to Maui and the North Shore to Kuliouou submitted testimony on behalf of securing the funding to help protect the Spring. "Mary Lindsay Kalikolani Correa testified that the preservation and care-taking of Kānewai was valuable for the connection to the community and the next generation as well as for the cultural and environmental health of the land and sea. Greg Stock, a teacher for the past 16 years in East Honolulu, regularly takes his students to Kānewai for service learning opportunities because it is an invaluable resource where young people can learn about Hawaiian culture, values, land management and much more," (noted on Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center Facebook page). The Spring was listed as one of Hawaii's Most Endangered Historic Places of 2015, an annual public awareness campaign jointly sponsored by Historic Hawaii Foundation, HONOLULU Magazine and the Hawaii State Historic Preservation Division. Groups hope to save the Kanewai Spring By Andrew Gomes, Honolulu Star Advertiser April 17, 2016 It was named one of Hawaii’s most endangered places last year and has been a trophy property owned by business scoundrels, but now a historic multimillion-dollar East Honolulu estate with a freshwater spring feeding a wildlife preserve is close to becoming a public resource through a community effort. The Trust for Public Land and Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center are trying to pull off a $2.65 million purchase of a nearly 70-year-old mansion that fronts a fishpond and [...]

Home Showcases the Architectural Talents of Charles W. Dickey by Kristen Pedersen, Historic Hawaii Foundation guest writer Tucked into Maui’s upcountry, halfway between Makawao and Paia on the road to Hana, this former plantation manger’s historic estate is on the market. Just about everything connected to this beautiful seven-acre property is interesting – the location, the architect, the house, and the owners. Upcountry Maui is well known as the home of cattle ranches, rodeo competitions, and the paniolo, or Hawaiian cowboy. Paniolo have been working Maui ranches since the 1850’s, even before cowboys were riding the mainland wild west. Makawao town itself is a bustling arts community with galleries, shops and restaurants. Just a few miles down mountain is Paia, a small, funky sugar plantation village with some of the best windsurfing in the world and the famous Mama’s Fish House Inn. This area of Maui is home to over 30 micro climates, where just the right amount of sun and rain combine to make for perfect weather. The 7-acre Gannon Residence is significant for many reasons – not just the location and micro climate. The 2,968 sq. ft. house was designed in 1938 by renowned architect, Charles W. Dickey (1871-1942), at the very height of his career. Dickey was from a kama’aina family, born in Oakland, CA, raised in Haiku and a resident of both Hawaii and California for a good chunk of his career. His Hawaiian roots were deep, however – his mother was an Alexander, his cousin was a Baldwin, and his sister married James Dole. Dickey designed many acclaimed houses and buildings throughout Hawaii and in the Bay Area. Some still exist around the islands today – including the Kula Sanitorium [...]

Preservation Program Helps At-Risk Youth Among the programs I have most enjoyed has been to mentor at-risk teens in a cultural mentoring partnership with Alu Like. Historic preservation in an era dominated by electronic distractions presents a challenge to youth engagement, and this program enabled us to connect young people with important places in our history. Places like Nu`uanu Pali, where the battle of Kamehameha's drive to unify the islands ended. We preserve history not for ourselves, but for generations beyond us, to carry on the memory of who we are and who we were from time immemorial. Failing to do this will result in loss of our personal identity as a people and a community. Why Preservation Matters Historic preservation, in my view, is an important kuleana of every civilization because it endeavors to preserve the mo`olelo, or stories and history of a community, a people, and its treasured places of antiquity and connects us all with where we came from.  For example, when I visit the wahi kapu of Lulumahu, a narrow valley of Nu`uanu that is "hidden from view", I can feel the presence of the kupuna kahiko - our ancestors of O`ahu island who were trapped in this valley and killed during the great Battle of Nu`uanu. I sense the sadness and quiet of the stone mounds that mark their common graves, and hear the cries of the children left on the trail as the kupuna and women fled from the pursuing army. Encountering this large pohaku a Kane, I find a silent sentinel that stands watch near Lulumahu falls and see in him a vast body of ancient knowledge from the time before the Hawaiians of old settled in the [...]

East-West Center 2016 New Generation Seminar- Now Accepting Applications Dates: September 18-October 1, 2016 Theme: Cultural Heritage and Identity in a Globalizing, Urbanizing World Destinations: Honolulu, Hawaii; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and Yangon, Myanmar Application Deadline: Monday, June 13 ________________ Annually since 1990, the East-West Center invites rising young leaders from the United States and Asia Pacific to participate in The New Generation Seminar (NGS), a two-week intensive educational and dialogue program. The program is developed around a thematic focus and provides participants with an opportunity to strengthen their understanding of regional developments and challenges, increase their contacts with counterparts in the region, and to become more effective leaders with an international perspective. 2016 marks the program's 26th year. The New Generation Seminar Program is an intensive two-week study, dialogue and travel program that provides the next generation of Asia Pacific and American leaders an opportunity to strengthen their understanding of key Asia-Pacific developments, discuss policy options for common challenges while building an international network and broadening their perspective. The first week of the program is held in Hawaii and focuses on key regional policy issues such as international relations, security, economics, population, health and environment. The second week involves field travel to either the United States or Asia Pacific for exploration of the program theme. Who can apply? Young leaders aged 25-40, from Asia Pacific and the United States who are in a position to influence policy, shape public opinion and lead action. The strongest candidates for the program will be elected officials and other political, business, law and community leaders or communicators with broad-based policy knowledge and influence and/or demonstrated leadership in their countries and communities. Social and business entrepreneurs also make strong candidates. What about [...]

Come hear the history of Hōlau Market at this Historic Preservation Month event! HART’s Planning team would like to invite you to a collaborative gathering with the State Historic Preservation Division, a historic preservation lunchtime event at HART-owned Hōlau Market on Friday, May 27, 2016 at 12:00pm-1:00pm: He Inoa no Hōlau: Ka Mākeke i ka Mele Hōlau Market (next to site of planned Chinatown Station) 928 Kekaulike Street, Honolulu, HI 96817 Friday, May 27, 2016, 12:00pm RSVP at: http://holaumarket.app.rsvpify.com/ HART will showcase a property we own, Hōlau Market, located on Kekaulike Street adjacent to the future site of the Chinatown Station. Within its walls is a unique story of a native Hawaiian woman, Mary Ellen Hōlau Loncke, who in the early 1900s saw a need to bring Hawaiian food back to feed native Hawaiians who worked in the midst of Chinatown and Honolulu Harbor.  She endeavored to bring the food of her people to the specifically Chinese area to enhance the availability of familiar food to Hawaiians, an allegory and parallel to the ongoing grassroots efforts taking shape now a hundred years later to return to traditional Hawaiian diets and cultural connections through food. Beyond the story of female indigenous entrepreneurship is another story to tell, that of the wealth of information and historical documents that shaped the research of this property.  HART’s Planning team utilized resources often overshadowed in western-focused research and delved into a Hawaiian language newspapers and personal ‘ohana oral histories.  Through the discovery of research, a Hawaiian mele composed by noted “Hawaiian Songbird” Lena Machado emerged – a tribute to the market upon its opening day, simply called “Hōlau.” HART will conduct standard Hawaiian protocol, tell the story of Hōlau Market, [...]

Preservation means something a little bit different to each person but there are common threads in the responses of everyone who answered our call for thoughts on why they care to preserve the receptacles of our past. Alison Chiu of Fung Associates in Honolulu Shares Her Thoughts on Why Preserving our Past Matters "Each place has a story to tell because of the people who, over the years, have come together to share experiences, connections, and memories together. The hope is they will continue to do so. To me, historic preservation represents the interconnectedness of our world, and of these shared values and experiences across different cultures and generations. Preservation and innovation are complementary. In doing what we can to retain historic spaces and utilize them in modern ways, we help to encourage and sustain a vibrant community in order to help build future generations." ~Alison Chiu is a founding Board Member of Docomomo US, Hawaii Chapter and Past President in 2015. She is an Architectural Historian/Designer with Fung Associates, Inc.  She has served as a volunteer docent at many Historic Hawaii Foundation events.

"Preservationist Nanette Napoleon is considered Hawaii's leading expert on graveyards. She's the author and photographer of a book on Hawaii's oldest public graveyard. She gives walking tours of the site and she supervised documentation of more than 300 graveyards and 30,000 tombstone inscriptions throughout the state."     (From PBS's Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox). Historic Preservation and Sense of Place By Nanette Naioma Napoleon For me, historic preservation is one of the most important disciplines in our society today. Much of our cultural and historical identity rests in our ability to clearly see the value of preserving our historic and cultural sites, which define us as a unique multi-ethnic community. Buddhist temples, heiau, plantation houses, military outposts, loʻi systems, Chinese society buildings, bridges, salt ponds, train tracks, fire houses, petroglyphs….they are all a part of our rich history and gives us a strong sense of place in the world and within our specific neighborhoods and communities.  Without them, our man-made environment would become a bland reproduction of “Anywhere” America. Of course for me personally, historic graveyards rank number one in terms of historic sites that should be appreciated as important historic, cultural and genealogical sites. I have spent the last 30 years of my life dedicated to the preservation of such sites through documentation projects, walking tours, lectures, onsite cleaning and maker restoration efforts, and a book about Oʻahu Cemetery. Cemeteries give us a unique view of our past that no other historic site can.  They preserve, in stone, the lives of tens of thousands of individuals, each of whom contributed, in their own unique way, to what we have become as a society today. Family descendants and friends find much solace and a [...]

Frank Haines and his Award The Frank Haines Award, presented by the Historic Hawaii Foundation at the annual Preservation Honor Awards Ceremony, was established in 2009 and is named for master architect Frank Haines, FAIA who passed away on August 10, 2017. From 1948, Haines headed many prominent architectural projects, including the Prince Kūhiō Federal Building, Kaiser Moanalua Hospital, Kaiser's Honolulu Clinic, Bishop Square and the restoration of the Ali‘iōlani Hale. This award is presented to an individual who has demonstrated sustained and outstanding achievements in the area of preserving the significant historic and cultural places of Hawaii. Below is a list of all of the recipients of the Award since its inception in 2009.  We are deeply indebted to these visionary and hardworking individuals who have taken great strides to preserve Hawaii's historic places and inspire others to follow suit. 2009 Frank S. Haines, FAIA 2010 Billy Fields, in recognition of his lifetime dedication to restoring significant Native Hawaiian sites and teaching others his cultural practice. As a career stone mason, Fields concentrates on restoring sacred and traditional Native Hawaiian sites using traditional, dry-stack techniques used prior to western contact and the introduction of mortar. Using these traditional techniques, he furthers the traditional masonry practices in the repair, restoration and reconstruction of dry-laid stone walls, platforms and terraces on significant structures including Hapaiali‘i and Ke‘eku Heiau at Keauhou; Kūka‘ō‘ō Heiau in Mānoa; and walls, fish ponds and burial platforms across the state. Billy Fields (2010) 2011 William R. Chapman, D. Phil., in recognition of his work as Director, Historic Preservation Program, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. The Historic Preservation Program at UH Mānoa was founded in 1986 by William [...]