Russian Fort Elizabeth

Fort Elizabeth was one of three Russian forts partially built between 1815 and 1817 on the island of Kauai. Fort Alexander and Fort Barclay were built near the mouths of the Hanalei River on Kauai's north shore, while Fort Elizabeth was built about 35 miles away at the mouth of the Waimea River on the opposite side of the island. The sites were chosen for safe anchorage in the bays and commanding viewpoints from bluffs along the river mouths. Built under the direction of Georg Anton Schaeffer, an agent of the Russian-American Company, Fort Elizabeth was named for the Czarina of Russia at the time of its construction. The Russians allied with Kauai King Kaumualii to build the forts and secure a provisioning station in Hawaii for Russian-American ships trading between the American Northwest and Asia across the Pacific Ocean. Forced to leave Kauai in 1817, the Russians abandoned the forts. Hawaiian troops then completed and occupied Fort Elizabeth from 1817 until 1864. By order of the Hawaiian government, the fort was dismantled in 1864 and fell into disrepair. Its remnants consist of a fort wall of basalt boulders staked over an earthen embankment and the foundations of buildings that once stood inside the wall.

Kekaha, Hawaii · United States