Sunday, August 24, 2008

Hawea Heiau



Hawea heiau is located at the foot of Kaluanui Ridge (Mariners ridge) in the ahupuaʻa o Maunalua.

Remnants of the ancient site are where the coconut grove is located (see pictures above). This grove is near marshy land. Water holes in this area once provided fresh water when it rained to people living or passing through the area. Also, in ancient times there was a spring in this area called Waiakaʻaia which provided fresh water (History of Hawaii Kai & Maunalua - pg 34).

According to Levi Chamberland, a missionary who traveled through the Maunalua area in the early 1800ʻs, there was a village near where the Hawaii Kai Recreation Center is located now. This village according to him was called Keawaʻawa.

He counted nearly 100 huts in this area in which my guess would be that they were a combination of hale pili (thatched huts) and pāpaʻi lawaiʻa (fishermens huts). The inhabitants were mostly kānaka lawaiʻa (fishing people).

4 comments:

Bob Stanfield said...

Dear Kimo:

This 2001 story in the Honolulu Star Bulletin indicates that McAllister plotted the location of the Hawea Heiau in 1930 on the slopes of the ridge above the Hawaii Kai Post Office, not at the foot of Kaluanui Ridge. However, the story agrees with you that the coconut grove area was part of an ancient village.

Thanks for all the great work you are doing in nourishing the culture and the land.

Aloha,
Bob Stanfield

Bob Stanfield said...

Sorry!!

Forgot to include the link to the Star Bulletin story. It can be found at:
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2001/06/17/news/story8.html

Aloha,
Bob

Kimo Franklin said...

Thanks Bob for the comments & info. Kimo

Anonymous said...

Ahaa, its fastidious conversation on the topic of this article at
this place at this weblog, I have read all that,
so now me also commenting here.

Have a look at my website how to get followers on instagram