Mokuʻula was a tiny island in Maluʻulu o Lele Park, Lahaina, Hawaiʻi, United States. It was the private residence of King

Kamehameha III Kamehameha III (born Kauikeaouli) (March 17, 1814 – December 15, 1854) was the third king of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1825 to 1854. His full Hawaiian name was Keaweaweula Kīwalaō Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa and then lengthened to Keaweaweula K ...

from 1837 to 1845 and the burial site of several Hawaiian royals. The island is considered sacred to many Hawaiians as a ''piko'', or symbolic center of energy and power. It was added to the

Hawaiʻi Hawaii ( ; ) is an island state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only state not on the North American mainland, th ...

State Register of Historic Places on August 29, 1994, and to the National Register of Historic Places on May 9, 1997, as King Kamehameha III's Royal Residential Complex. According to author P. Christiaan Klieger, "the moated palace of Mokuʻula...was a place of the "Sacred Red Mists," an oasis of rest and calm during the raucous, rollicking days of Pacific whaling". When the capital of Hawaiʻi moved from Lahaina to Honolulu and plantations diverted Mokuhinia's water source to irrigate their crops, Mokuʻula fell into disrepair. Mokuula

Loko o Mokuhinia

Mokuʻula was surrounded by Mokuhinia, a spring-fed, wetland

pond A pond is a small, still, land-based body of water formed by pooling inside a depression (geology), depression, either naturally or artificiality, artificially. A pond is smaller than a lake and there are no official criteria distinguishing ...

. The pond was reported to be the home of Kihawahine, a powerful '' moʻo'' or lizard goddess. According to myth, the moʻo was a reincarnation of

Piʻilani Piʻilani ("ascent to heaven") (born ca. 1460) ruled as Alii nui of Maui, Chief of the island of Maui in the later part of the 15th century. At the time Maui was an independent Monarchy, kingdom within the List of islands of Hawaii, islands of Haw ...

's daughter, the chiefess, Kalaʻaiheana. Hawaiians cultivated loʻi, or

taro Taro (; ''Colocasia esculenta'') is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and Petiole (botany), petioles. Taro corms are a ...

patches, and

fishponds Fishponds is a suburb in the north-east of the English city of Bristol, about from Bristol city centre, the city centre. It is mainly residential, and housing is typically terraced Victorian. It has a small student population from the presence ...

within Mokuhinia. Lahaina was once known as the Venice of the Pacific for its fishponds. The sugar cane industry diverted water from mountain streams in the late 1800s, which dried up the water source. In 1919, the county turned the land into a park and buried it beneath a baseball field.

Restoration

The non-profit organization Friends of Mokuʻula promoted the restoration of the sacred site from 1990 to 2011. From 1992 to 1995 and in 1999, archaeologists from

Bishop Museum The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Founded in 1 ...

and Heritage Surveys surveyed the site and documented its features and boundaries. Bringing water back to this site and restoring Mokuʻula and Mokuhinia received renewed attention after the devastating wildfires in 2023, including commitments by Governor Josh Green and mayor Richard Bissen.

References

External links

Friends of Mokuʻula Official SiteLahaina's Invisible Island
''

Maui No Ka 'Oi Magazine Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of Maui County's five islands, along with Molokai, Lānai, K ...

'' Jan/Feb 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Moku'ula Geography of Maui Archaeological sites in Hawaii History of Maui Former islands of the United States Cemeteries in Hawaii Royal residences in Hawaii Lahaina, Hawaii Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Hawaii Sacred islands

Loko o Mokuhinia

Restoration

References

Further reading

External links