History of the Land
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,…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
