History of the Land
In the late 1700s, the Hawaiian archipelago was consumed by war as the rulers of each island vied for control. In 1775, just as British and Americans began the first battles of the Revolutionary War, so did fighting rage across Kaupo in the seaside fields near Kalaeokailio. Kalaeokailio, Kaupo. The forces of Maui and Hawaii…
Water has always been a challenge in Kaupo. The district lies in the rain shadow of Haleakala, with no permanent streams in the lower, habitable zone. Because of this, springs served as the main source of water until water systems were installed in the early 1900s. Over a dozen springs dotted the Kaupo landscape. In…
One day in late October 1945, Kaupo resident Abel Kawaiaea rode his horse to Mokulau around noon. The wind had calmed after days of rough seas, and the young cowboy, who had turned 20 the week before, had his fishing net in hand. As Abel scanned the ocean, he spotted a large fishing float off…
Anyone familiar with Kaupo knows of Kaupo Store, a fixture in the community for a century starting in the 1920s, operating as a general store selling food, goods and other items. But what's less familiar is that Kaupo Store was just the last in a long line of general stores in the village. Americans opened…
When foreigners first came to Hawaii in the late 1700s, they brought with them an appetite for alcohol. To slake their thirst, they turned to an abundant local ingredient, the root of the ti plant, creating a fermented brew typically distilled into a potent liquor called okolehao. Alcohol quickly spread throughout the islands, including Kaupo,…
In the mid-1800s, the Hawaiian kingdom upended the traditional system of land management in which the ruler of an island would choose supporters of high rank (alii and konohiki) to manage the various land divisions, with the land redistributed on the ascension of a new ruler. This changed in the 1840s and 1850s, when a…
On June 20, 2023, Kaupo Ranch changed hands for the first time in nearly 100 years when Kamehameha Schools, through the estate of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, took control. Dr. William Dwight Baldwin purchased the underlying land in 1929 for his son Dwight, who named it Kaupo Ranch. From 1929 until 2023, the ranch was owned…
Kaupo, like the rest of Maui, was in ancient times divided into land sections called ahupuaa. Ahupuaa typically consisted of an area of land running from the mountains to the sea, containing most of the resources that its residents would need for their day-to-day life. According to tradition, it was Kakaalaneo and Kakae, rulers of…
Kaupo natives of old frequently served as sources for Hawaiian history and culture. Their wisdom is dotted throughout museum archives, historical newspapers and radio program collections. But other information remains concealed in family records. This includes a legend about the shark gods Kanekokala and Kanewahine in the personal files of Kaupo resident Joseph Marciel (1882-1949)….
In April 1937, in a historic event for the Kaupo community, the road from Kaupo eastward to Kipahulu opened. For the first time, motorists could drive their vehicles to and from Kaupo, traversing the Hana Belt Road across northeastern Maui. In 1951, the road from Kaupo westward to Ulupalakua opened, allowing drivers to complete a…