ISLAND HISTORY: The old Wailua Ranch Hotel at Pihanakalani, Kauai
In 1951, rancher Richard Henry Sloggett of Kauai sold his 71-acre Wailua Ranch at Pihanakalani on the banks of the Wailua River (now the site of a Hindu monastery and temple) to Honolulu manufacturer’s...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: Memories of holidays on Kauai in the 1950s and ’60s
My wife, Ginger Mae Beralas Soboleski, born and raised on Kauai, recently reminisced to me about her holidays on Kauai in the 1950s and ’60s. Easter Ginger and her ohana went to Kalapaki Beach on...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: The story of Kauai’s Valley of the Lost Tribe
In 1922, the Bishop Museum of Honolulu launched an archaeological exploration expedition at Honopu Valley on the Napali Coast of Kauai. Expedition members present were geologist Prof. Herbert E....
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: Renowned Kauai-born hula dancer Kealoha Holt
Born at Lihue, Kauai, the daughter of Christopher and Elizabeth Kealohapauole Hoopii Holt, hula dancer and Hollywood actress Kealoha Holt’s (1919-2010) ancestry could be directly traced to Hawaiian...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: The story of K. M. Ahana’s Chinese hair queue
On June 1, 1907, 11-year-old K.M. (Koon Ming) Ahana of Huleia, Kauai, tied his horse to the hitching post outside of Kinzuchi Fukunaga’s Lihue barber shop, walked inside, held out a handful of nickels...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: The famous luxury liner ‘SS Lurline’ visited Kauai in 1963
On Dec. 28, 1963, the day that Kauai County Chairman Raymond X. Aki proclaimed “Lurline Day,” the luxury liner “Lurline” steamed into Nawiliwili Harbor. As it passed Ninini Point, nine outrigger...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: The Menehunes and the killer shark of Donkey Beach, Kauai
Long ago, in legendary times, one of the favorite swimming spots of the Menehunes was Paliku Beach, also historically referred to as Homaikawaa Beach, but most commonly known for quite some time now as...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: Detective Chang Apana, the real-life Charlie Chan and...
Honolulu police detective Chang Apana (1871-1933) was the real-life detective who inspired American novelist and playwright Earl Derr Biggers (1884-1933) to create the famous fictional police detective...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: The historic banyan trees at Niumalu and Nawiliwili, Kauai
The historic Kanoa Banyan Tree, which still flourishes in Niumalu along the road to the Menehune Fishpond on what was once the property of Stanford Achi (1926-1995) and his wife, June Achi (1929-2012),...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: Visiting the old Sinclair homestead at Kiekie, Niihau
During 1993, while employed by the USDA as an agricultural science technician engaged in insect surveys, I had the good fortune of visiting Niihau — with the permission of Niihau’s owners Bruce and...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: Eddie Fountain, Kauai’s best fisherman, and his ohana
Eddie Fountain (1893-1958), whose home once stood on Rice Street in Lihue, across from the present fire station, was Kauai’s examiner of driver’s license applicants in the Kauai Police Department. He...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: Ancient Pihanakalani on the banks of the Wailua River
Pihanakalani is the locale on Kauai off Kuamoo Road, on the banks of the Wailua River, upon which a Hindu temple was built in 1973. Yet, in the distant past, it was originally settled by the Tahitian...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: Hobey Goodale witnessed the shelling of Nawiliwili Harbor in...
On the night of Dec. 30, 1941, over three weeks after Pearl Harbor and other military installations on Oahu were attacked by Imperial Japanese aircraft on Dec. 7, Nawiliwili Harbor was shelled by...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: The authentic Hawaiian ‘ahu‘ula (feathered capes) at the...
In Old Hawaii, ‘ahu‘ula (feathered capes) — royal garments meticulously crafted using thousands of colored feathers taken from native Hawaiian birds that were tied to a netted olona-fiber foundation —...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: The story of Liholiho’s archaic ipu paka (tobacco pipe) at...
Between 1995 and 2000, Paul Johnston of the Smithsonian Institution and his salvage team, while excavating the sunken wreck of the royal yacht “Ha’aheo o Hawaii” in Hanalei Bay, recovered many historic...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: The ‘Ha’aheo o Hawaii’ royal yacht exhibit at Kauai Museum
Built at Salem, Mass., in 1816, “Cleopatra’s Barge,” the first ocean-going luxury yacht built in the United States, sailed about the Atlantic and Pacific oceans until 1820, the year King Kamehameha II...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: A history of the Anahola Hole in the Mountain
On Wednesday, April 15, 1981, the Hole in the Mountain, a natural geological formation created centuries ago in the narrow ridge of Mount Kalalea at Anahola, Kauai, vanished when a massive chunk of...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: Plantation manager Benjamin Douglas Baldwin and the Baldwin...
Born at Kohala, Hawaii, Benjamin Douglas Baldwin (1867-1928) was, from 1903 until his death in 1928, the manager of Kauai’s Hawaiian Sugar Company, established in 1889, and also known as Makaweli...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: The old Ota farm at Huleia, Kauai
Born at Hiroshima, Japan, Kauai master farmer Jinkuro Ota (1878-1962) had been farming at Huleia, Kauai, for 20 years when the photograph accompanying this story was taken in 1930. At that time, he and...
View ArticleISLAND HISTORY: Native Hawaiian Kauai educator Gabriel I
Kauai educator Gabriel I was born at Hanalei in 1909, the son of Joseph and Haleakala I, and resided at Nawiliwili for most of his life. His surname, I, was a truncation, adopted by his father, of his...
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