Communication No. 2021-08- Simmy McMichael Testimony

Home

USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form Holualoa 4 Archaeological District NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 7 Page 5 Holualoa 4 Archaeological District name of property -------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- Page 10 OMB No. 1024-0018 _Hawai'i CountyHI county and state ----------------------- ----------------------- The lands of Holualoa 4 were sold to the Kona Sugar Company in 1899, but it appears that sugar was grown only in the uplands. In 1933, the land was purchased by Thomas White who used it for cattle grazing. In 1956, Frank Kent bought the makai portion of Holualoa 4 with plans to build a hotel. It was in response to the plans for resort development, that the Friends of Kamoa Point formed. Consisting of members of the Kona community, the Friends fought resort development and pushed for preservation of the cultural and historical complex at Kamoa Point. As a result of this preservation effort, the State of Hawaii purchased the 11.6 acres at Kamoa Point and designated the area Keolonahihi State Historical Park. Keolonahihi Complex (Kamoa Point) - State Site No. 50-10-37-2059 The Keolonahihi site corresponds to the 11.6 -acre parcel on the makai side of Ali'i Drive. This site is situated along the southern edge of Holualoa Bay and the shoreline consists of a coral and basalt boulder beach. Inland of the shoreline, the rocky pahoehoe is covered by a thin soil deposit of volcanic ash, weathering lava, and organics. The surf site along the southern edge of Holualoa Bay is named Kamoa and was known as a popular site for surfing and canoeing contests. This surf off Kamoa Point remains a popular surf site today. The Keolonahihi Complex consists of 16 contributing sites (Map 9). The sites in this complex are mostly religious in function, including five heiau and a pu'uhonua (place of refuge). While oral traditions suggest that the complex was constructed by the chiefess Keolonahihi circa A.D. 1300, archaeological testing has not provided an early date related to this occupation (Yent 1995). However, the dates confirm a pre -contact occupation, circa A.D. 1600-1778. A housesite built within the complex along Alii Drive in the mid -1800s adds a post -contact component to the site. Archaeological test excavations indicate the presence of subsurface cultural deposits in the northern portion of the site that have the potential to yield additional information about the chronology and use of the site. In the 1906 survey of heiau on Hawaii Island, John Stokes of Bishop Museum located 3 heiau at Keolonahihi: Keolonahihi Heiau, Hale'a'ama Heiau, and Haleokekupa Heiau (Stokes 1991: 60-63). His informant for these sites was John Bull. John Reinecke, also with Bishop Museum, followed with a survey of the Kona Coast in the late 1920s. In addition to Keolonahihi Heiau and Hale 'A'ama, Reinecke identified the Pu'uhonua of Haulelani. Haulelani is part of the Keakealaniwahine Complex, but Reinecke mislocated the pu'uhonua on the makai side of Alii Drive. In addition, Reinecke mislocated Haleokekupa in Kaumalumalu, rather than in Holualoa. In the late 1940s and 1950s, Kekahuna and Kelsey surveyed and mapped a number of historic sites in Kona. On their 1956 map of Keolonahihi, they identified 6 heiau (Ka-Hala-o-Mapuana, Hale A'ama, Kane-ka-hei-lani, Keolonahihi, Hale-o-Kaili, and Hale-o-ke-kupua) along with house platforms, canoe sheds, wells/springs/ ponds, and the grandstand feature. In 1970, the Statewide Inventory of Historic Places delineated the Kamoa Point Complex (site #2059) and the Kaumalumalu Complex (site #2058). Both complexes were placed on the Hawaii Register of Historic Places in 1973. In 1974, George Pinehaka Nelson, a resident of Kona, reiterated much of Kekahuna's, Kelsey's, and Naluahine's information in an effort to protect the site from development. In 1977, Aki Sinoto of Bishop Museum conducted an archaeological survey and mapping of Keolonahihi for owner Kent. Since 1980, State Parks archaeologists have conducted several phases of archaeological investigations at Keolonahihi (Yent 1995). During these later surveys, bulldozer damage to some of the sites based on Kekahuna and Kelsey's 1956 map (Map 10). In other cases, damage was high surf was recorded.