ISLAND HISTORY: The Heiau at Polihale, Kaua‘i
From Hawaiian mythology we learn that the Polihale Heiau – a temple dedicated to the dead – was built by Menehunes centuries ago with stones brought from Makaweli.
ISLAND HISTORY: Deborah Kapule, Kauai’s last Queen
An alii, Kekaihaakulou (Deborah Kapule’s Hawaiian name) was born about 1798 on Kauai, likely at Waimea, her parents being the high chief, Haupu, and the chiefess, Haea.
ISLAND HISTORY: Captain Kapahe, the old-time skipper of the Ni‘ihau whaleboat
When Kauai’s teller of Hawaiian tales Eric Knudsen (1872-1957) was a young man, he became acquainted with an elderly, former Hawaiian whaleboat captain named Kapahe, and it was Knudsen’s pleasure to listen to Kapahe’s past exploits.
ISLAND HISTORY: Paniolo Miguel and the bandits of Knudsen Gap, Kaua‘i
The following story is an abridged version of a tale once told by Kauai Sheriff William Henry Rice (1874-1945).
ISLAND HISTORY: Author Ernest Hemingway visited Hawaii in 1941
Although Ernest Hemingway never visited Kauai, he did visit Oahu and the Big Island during February 1941.
ISLAND HISTORY: A brief history of coffee in Hawaii
Coffee is produced in only one state, Hawaii, where it is cultivated on the Big Island, Maui, Molokai, Oahu and Kauai.
ISLAND HISTORY: A visit to Hauola heiau in Hoea Valley, Kauai
I once hiked to Hauola heiau in Hoea Valley, Kauai during the 1980s while I was residing in Kekaha.
ISLAND HISTORY: Kauai-born publisher and postmaster Henry Martyn Whitney
Born at Waimea, Kauai, the son of American Protestant missionaries Samuel and Mercy Partridge Whitney, Henry Martyn Whitney (1824-1904) graduated from Rochester Collegiate Institute in 1841 and learned the printing trade with Harper & Brothers of New York before returning home to Hawaii.
ISLAND HISTORY: Historic Kaua‘i paintings by James Hoyle
Painter James Hoyle knew he wanted to be an artist at the age of six.
ISLAND HISTORY: Pioneer Kaua‘i rice farmer Kin Moi Ching
Chinese immigrant Kin Moi Ching (1860-1955) arrived in Honolulu aboard the Chinese steamer “Wo Chung” out of Canton, China in 1879, during the reign of King David Kalakaua, and stayed there less than two weeks before continuing on to Kaua‘i.
ISLAND HISTORY: Ed Sheehan, the author of “Days of ‘41”
Perhaps, my father, Henry Soboleski, and Honolulu radio personality, author and actor Ed Sheehan (1918-1992) knew each other, since they both worked at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard during World War II, Henry as a warehouseman and Ed as a shipfitter.
ISLAND HISTORY: Papu’s ghost waits at Puukapele, Kaua‘i
During World War II, teller of Hawaiian tales Eric Knudsen (1872-1957) recalled that long ago a friend had told him that Puukapele, a rock formation overlooking Waimea Canyon beside the Koke‘e Road, was haunted.
ISLAND HISTORY: The Rices entertained Queen Liliuokalani at Hale Nani
On January, 8, 1891, William Hyde Rice and his wife, Mary, entertained Queen Liliuokalani at Hale Nani, their Lihue home once located not far beyond what is today the west entrance into Ewalu Street.
ISLAND HISTORY: McBryde Sugar Co. engineer and yachtsman Joel Cox
“Helen,” the first yacht built entirely on Kaua‘i, was christened and launched by its owner, McBryde Sugar Co. civil engineer and yachtsman Joel Cox, at Wahiawa Beach on February 7, 1927.
ISLAND HISTORY: Kaua‘i teachers braved the stormy Kaieiewaho Channel in 1919
After spending their vacation in Honolulu, Kauai school teachers Miss Jasmine Sidlowski, Miss Thelma Gillen, and Miss Dorothy Ashe of Lihue School, and Miss Kathryn Darcey and Miss Helen Johnston of Koloa School, had planned to return to Kauai aboard the Inter-Island steamer “Mikahala” on Friday, Jan. 3rd or Saturday, Jan. 4th, 1919.
ISLAND HISTORY: The Singing People of Lima Loa and Koke‘e, Kaua‘i
Kama‘aina rancher and legislator Valdemar Knudsen (1819-1898) would often listen to Hawaiians tell him stories of their encounters with the supernatural on Kaua‘i.
ISLAND HISTORY: The beautiful girl of Pokii, Kaua‘i
Pioneer Kauai rancher Valdemar Knudsen (1819-1898) was konohiki (headman) of over 100,000 acres of western Kauai he leased from the Hawaiian government.
ISLAND HISTORY: The Valley House Hotel, Kealia, Kaua‘i, 1946-1950
Valley House Hotel, once located off Hau‘a‘ala Road in Keapana Valley, Kealia, Kaua‘i, was in operation from its opening day on Dec. 1, 1946, until Oct. 1, 1950, when it was destroyed by fire.
ISLAND HISTORY: The Waipahee Slide at Kealia, Kauai
Waipahee Slide is a naturally created, rock water chute, about thirty feet in length, with a downward angle of some forty-five degrees, located on Kealia Stream within Kauai’s 6,500-acre Kealia Ahupuaa, roughly three miles west of the Spalding Monument.
ISLAND HISTORY: Historic vignettes of good food and good times on Kauai
Mercy Whitney, the wife of Kaua‘i missionary Samuel Whitney, wrote the oldest record of a formal dinner on Kaua‘i.