Kauikeaouli and Nāhi'ena'ena

Kauikeaouli was born nearby and went on to rule Hawai'i as King Kamehameha III, and his sister, Princess Nāhi'ena'ena, was also born in Keauhou about 1815. From childhood, Nāhi'ena'ena was expected to marry her brother in accordance with ancient Hawaiian cultural traditions of sacred marriage and bloodlines. Their mother, Keōpūolani, baptized on her deathbed, expressed her last wish for her children to be raised in the Christian faith. Nāhi'ena'ena was tormented by the clash of the two cultures and died very shortly after the death of her infant in 1936. To the left was Mo'ikeha Cave, where legend says a king once hid from pursuing enemies by standing erect and concealing his legs in a high pocket of the cave, becoming invisible to his pursuers. Hawaiian land management divided moku, or island districts, into smaller, generally wedge-shaped ahupua'a that usually extended from the mountain into the sea and contained the resources needed for sustainable living. People shared natural resources and cared for the land, with upland field systems cultivated for crops where water was more accessible and coastal activities focused on ocean resources; villages were often located near sheltered beaches with access to good fishing grounds. The boundary between the ahupua'a of Keauhou I and II lies about the middle of Keauhou Bay, with Keauhou I including the northern shore and continuing along the coast to Paniau Point, and Keauhou II comprising the southern shore and continuing toward Lekeleke Burial Grounds and Kuamo'o Bay. To the north around Ha'ikaua Point is He'eia Bay, noted for surfing and formerly the end of the monumental Kāneaha hōlua slide. Ancient fishing legends were passed down in seafaring cultures over generations, and in Hawai'i the chief god of fishermen was Kūula, a term also applied to any stone god or shrine used to attract fish. In 1953, cultural historian and mapmaker Henry Kekahuna documented several kūula along this coastline, including Kumaha'ula Kūula, Kapehe Kūula, dedicated to the propagation of red fish, Kōele Kūula, dedicated to the propagation of shellfish or opihi, and Pāhe'ehe'e Kūula, a shrine for general fishing.

Kahaluu-Keauhou, Hawaii · United States