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Preserving historic Koloa and Po‘ipu
  
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By Paul C. Curtis - The Garden Island
KOLOA — Teddy Blake is on a mission. A mission from mom.
It is for his mother, the late Grace Blake of Koloa, for the late Dorothy Tao and other kupuna and future generations, that Teddy Blake has put his idyllic family life in Tahiti on hold in order to ensure a small slice of Po‘ipu and Koloa, which borders a huge chunk of Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i history, is preserved in perpetuity.
Many people — lifelong residents and newcomers alike — have no clue either where or what Hapa Trail is.
And that is a shame, Blake says, because it is from where people can view what’s left of an area which as late as 1975 contained an estimated 18 percent of all the significant archaeological sites in the entire state.
“Through all of this development, this is the one flag we can hold up,” he said of the trail.
Soon, it will be surrounded by resort and residential development and, if efforts are not made to preserve it in perpetuity, it might get swallowed up by those developments, he said.
According to research conducted by archaeologists, Blake, the Koloa Community Association and many others, Hapa Trail is believed to be around 150 years old, and bisects the Koloa Field System, which had a rich history as a fertile agricultural area despite rocky soil considered unsuitable by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, and lack of significant rainfall (40 inches per year).
That assessment is in stark contrast to historical fact that, in 1857, sweet potatoes from Koloa and Po‘ipu were exported to California from Koloa Landing at a rate of 10,000 barrels a year, Blake said.
In the 1960s, Hapa Trail was earmarked for pedestrian, bikeway and an emergency route, he said.
In the early ‘70s, after having the Kiahuna lands rezoned, Moana Corporation and the Eric A. Knudsen Trust agreed to improve and maintain the trail from Po‘ipu Road to Koloa Town in perpetuity, he said.
“In the ‘90s when rezoning the Po‘ipulani lands, the trust agreed to this again. They have been compelled by ordinance to live up to these conditions,” Blake said in an e-mail.
“Last year, after no movement from the developers and landowner, some of us in the community decided to take ownership of this county trail and started to clear the path of cactus, koa haole and guinea grass.
“In a year’s time, we have written a brochure, started a Web site, (are) in the process of applying for a grant to be placed on the state and national historical register, applying for a 501(c)(3) and continue to get Hapa the attention warranted it for over 38 years,” he wrote.
“This is one of the most if not the top field system in all Polynesia. Our kupuna took arid, rocky land with silty, clay-like soil and turned it into a highly productive area,” he said.
“In the 1970s, this area had over 18 percent of all intact archeological sites in the state of Hawai‘i. Today, of the 750-plus surveyed sites from the ‘70s, only 109 remain,” he said. Most of the former sites are now Kiahuna Golf Course and surrounding residential and commercial developments.
“If the present situation continues, all but eight will be destroyed. What has been preserved is so fragmented that it is difficult to learn what our kupuna mastered in sustainability,” he said.
“The pohaku (rock, stones) that made and make up these sites have become more valuable to contractors who are hired to construct walls to delineate one’s property,” he wrote.
“The buzz word is ‘taking ownership,’” Blake said at the northern end of Hapa Trail on Thursday, speaking about the arduous task of clearing the trail of cactus, koa haole and guinea grass that totally covered what is now a rocky dirt trail most don’t even think is anywhere close to the real alignment of the original trail.
“First we sprayed, then we chain sawed,” cutting and clearing on the same day so the greenwaste wouldn’t pile up, he said.
As word spread of the work, more people got involved, and more human energy fueled Blake’s and others’ desires to learn more about the area they were clearing, he said.
The history of the Koloa Field System makes Blake as proud of his Native Hawaiian ancestry as his ancestors’ ocean-voyaging legacy, he said.
His ancestors harnessed all of the northern Koloa (Koloa Komo‘oloa) water, eventually feeding into Waikomo Stream, and fed by ‘auwai (rock irrigation systems) to over 700 acres under agricultural production.
“Hawaiians in the area all had running water in their homes,” gravity-fed systems from the above-ground and underground ‘auwai systems, portions of which still exist on a portion of the undeveloped lands slated to become the Village at Po‘ipu, he said.
There were not too many homes in the area because this was an agricultural region, he said.
Intricate rock walls were built, to delineate taro fields, cattle pastures, altar sites, burial sites, home sites and other agricultural fields, and even with the knowledge of the cultural significance of what remains of many of these structures, several of them are still slated for demolition in favor of modern development after “data-recovery” efforts — taking a few notes and photographs before the bulldozers take over, Blake said.
“This is one of a kind in Hawai‘i. Historically, this will give us something to all be proud of,” he said of preservation efforts which he also thinks will draw visitors to the area.
“There’s lessons to it,” such as if the area could be self-sustaining in agriculture 200 years ago, why couldn’t it be again today? Blake said.
It is for his mother, the late Grace Blake of Koloa, for the late Dorothy Tao and other kupuna and future generations, that Teddy Blake has put his idyllic family life in Tahiti on hold in order to ensure a small slice of Po‘ipu and Koloa, which borders a huge chunk of Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i history, is preserved in perpetuity.
Many people — lifelong residents and newcomers alike — have no clue either where or what Hapa Trail is.
And that is a shame, Blake says, because it is from where people can view what’s left of an area which as late as 1975 contained an estimated 18 percent of all the significant archaeological sites in the entire state.
“Through all of this development, this is the one flag we can hold up,” he said of the trail.
Soon, it will be surrounded by resort and residential development and, if efforts are not made to preserve it in perpetuity, it might get swallowed up by those developments, he said.
According to research conducted by archaeologists, Blake, the Koloa Community Association and many others, Hapa Trail is believed to be around 150 years old, and bisects the Koloa Field System, which had a rich history as a fertile agricultural area despite rocky soil considered unsuitable by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, and lack of significant rainfall (40 inches per year).
That assessment is in stark contrast to historical fact that, in 1857, sweet potatoes from Koloa and Po‘ipu were exported to California from Koloa Landing at a rate of 10,000 barrels a year, Blake said.
In the 1960s, Hapa Trail was earmarked for pedestrian, bikeway and an emergency route, he said.
In the early ‘70s, after having the Kiahuna lands rezoned, Moana Corporation and the Eric A. Knudsen Trust agreed to improve and maintain the trail from Po‘ipu Road to Koloa Town in perpetuity, he said.
“In the ‘90s when rezoning the Po‘ipulani lands, the trust agreed to this again. They have been compelled by ordinance to live up to these conditions,” Blake said in an e-mail.
“Last year, after no movement from the developers and landowner, some of us in the community decided to take ownership of this county trail and started to clear the path of cactus, koa haole and guinea grass.
“In a year’s time, we have written a brochure, started a Web site, (are) in the process of applying for a grant to be placed on the state and national historical register, applying for a 501(c)(3) and continue to get Hapa the attention warranted it for over 38 years,” he wrote.
“This is one of the most if not the top field system in all Polynesia. Our kupuna took arid, rocky land with silty, clay-like soil and turned it into a highly productive area,” he said.
“In the 1970s, this area had over 18 percent of all intact archeological sites in the state of Hawai‘i. Today, of the 750-plus surveyed sites from the ‘70s, only 109 remain,” he said. Most of the former sites are now Kiahuna Golf Course and surrounding residential and commercial developments.
“If the present situation continues, all but eight will be destroyed. What has been preserved is so fragmented that it is difficult to learn what our kupuna mastered in sustainability,” he said.
“The pohaku (rock, stones) that made and make up these sites have become more valuable to contractors who are hired to construct walls to delineate one’s property,” he wrote.
“The buzz word is ‘taking ownership,’” Blake said at the northern end of Hapa Trail on Thursday, speaking about the arduous task of clearing the trail of cactus, koa haole and guinea grass that totally covered what is now a rocky dirt trail most don’t even think is anywhere close to the real alignment of the original trail.
“First we sprayed, then we chain sawed,” cutting and clearing on the same day so the greenwaste wouldn’t pile up, he said.
As word spread of the work, more people got involved, and more human energy fueled Blake’s and others’ desires to learn more about the area they were clearing, he said.
The history of the Koloa Field System makes Blake as proud of his Native Hawaiian ancestry as his ancestors’ ocean-voyaging legacy, he said.
His ancestors harnessed all of the northern Koloa (Koloa Komo‘oloa) water, eventually feeding into Waikomo Stream, and fed by ‘auwai (rock irrigation systems) to over 700 acres under agricultural production.
“Hawaiians in the area all had running water in their homes,” gravity-fed systems from the above-ground and underground ‘auwai systems, portions of which still exist on a portion of the undeveloped lands slated to become the Village at Po‘ipu, he said.
There were not too many homes in the area because this was an agricultural region, he said.
Intricate rock walls were built, to delineate taro fields, cattle pastures, altar sites, burial sites, home sites and other agricultural fields, and even with the knowledge of the cultural significance of what remains of many of these structures, several of them are still slated for demolition in favor of modern development after “data-recovery” efforts — taking a few notes and photographs before the bulldozers take over, Blake said.
“This is one of a kind in Hawai‘i. Historically, this will give us something to all be proud of,” he said of preservation efforts which he also thinks will draw visitors to the area.
“There’s lessons to it,” such as if the area could be self-sustaining in agriculture 200 years ago, why couldn’t it be again today? Blake said.
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| Weekly Roadwork Index for Sunday, June 14, 2009 | Long-range planning on front burner |
Related headlines
- Preserving historic Koloa and Po ipu
- Judge allows Hapa Trail development
- Letters for Saturday, September 19, 2009
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The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of kauaiworld.com.
lene808 wrote on Jun 14, 2009 4:19 PM:
" What a beautiful revelation!
<~\\HAWAIIANS//~<><, and the people like (mine, and) Mr. Blake's kupuna were "GREEN".. and hard-working and actually,
lived quite sustainably.. and we could and should ALL be doing the SAME THING today.
**As our late Queen decreed: Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono**
Malama Aina - Malama Wai **Aloha kekahi i ke kahi **(Love each other unconditionally)
*MAHALO KE AKUA*for this beautiful 'aina we live on!!!
God Bless You! Mr. Blake & Loyal Friends of Kaua'i
<><\\Proud to be KAUAIAN!!//<>< "
<~\\HAWAIIANS//~<><, and the people like (mine, and) Mr. Blake's kupuna were "GREEN".. and hard-working and actually,
lived quite sustainably.. and we could and should ALL be doing the SAME THING today.
**As our late Queen decreed: Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono**
Malama Aina - Malama Wai **Aloha kekahi i ke kahi **(Love each other unconditionally)
*MAHALO KE AKUA*for this beautiful 'aina we live on!!!
God Bless You! Mr. Blake & Loyal Friends of Kaua'i
<><\\Proud to be KAUAIAN!!//<>< "
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hanaleiwahine wrote on Jun 14, 2009 7:32 AM: