("Hele Kaapuni ana ia Maui a me Molokai" (excerpt), Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, June 5, 1869) April 24—I left Ulupalakua and rode to Kaupo. Mr. William and his guide were my companions on this terribly rocky trail. When we arrived at Nuu my horse was exhausted. I trudged on to Puuomaiai, where I hired a new…
Author: Kawika Gregoire
News from the rain that makes one hide behind rock walls
("Na Mea Hou o ka Ua Peepapohaku", Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, September 20, 1879) DEAR NUPEPA KUOKOA; Greetings:—Please have your helmsman publish the news below. The cooperative associations of Kaupo, ranging from where the water dives from Manawainui Valley to the calm waters of Nuu Bay, shared dinner. The three groups are the Kumunui Association, Keahuloa…
Moses Manu, East Maui storyteller
The Hawaiian language newspapers of the 1800s printed much more than “hard news”. Their pages were also filled with moolelo: histories, legends and myths that had been passed down orally by generations of Hawaiians. These tales were printed serially, sometimes running for years. The well-known books by historian Samuel Kamakau describing ancient Hawaiian culture and…
Scandal and intrigue at an early Kaupo school
In a prominent location in Kaupo, at the junction of Piilani Highway and the road leading to Kaupo Ranch headquarters, lies a notable community building: Kaupo School. The current building is a recreation of the historic 2-classroom schoolhouse torn down in 2019. That schoolhouse was built in 1923, at least according to County tax records,…
Koa, kea and other trees of old
If you travel from the western border of Kaupo at Waiopai going east, you will see the land gradually transform from arid grassland to sparse trees and finally to dense forests. However, nearly every tree that you see along the way is an invasive species introduced since Westerners arrived. These include kiawe, christmas berry, koa…
Etched in stone: Three petroglyph sites in Kaupo
Petroglyphs (images pecked or incised in stone) are present throughout Hawaiian archipelago, most notably on the Big Island, which contains tens of thousands of examples. The ancient Hawaiian artists who created these images were thoughtful in choosing locations for petroglyphs and pictographs (painted images). As archaeologist Sidsel Millerstrom has noted, “Petroglyphs were not randomly placed…
The sweet potato prayers to Kamapuaa
In most areas of old Hawaii, taro was the main crop. But in Kaupo, sweet potato was king. In fact, based on sheer amount of sweet potato field remains, Archaeologists Pat Kirch and others have estimated that the area could have had a population of up to 17,000 people at its peak. In May 1922,…
Chief Heleipawa is laid to rest
Kaupo is full of stories of chiefs during the period just before and after Western contact. In the early 1700s, Maui chief Kekaulike made Kaupo his royal seat. Soon after, Kaupo was a battleground between the chiefs of Maui and Hawaii Island. Kamehameha I, the first ruler of all the Hawaiian islands, first rose to…
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