Above: William Ellis and members of his 1823 exploration party hear the story of Laniakea. The cave portion of the site was fortified at that time.
First the earth cooled. The story of Laniakea is one story that actually does begin with this line. First there was a lava tube: a cave formed by molten lava hardening around volcanic gasses into a series of rooms and tunnels. The cave ran from the mountain to the sea, and the people of Kona knew its length from end to end.
When war threatened the early inhabitants of Kona, and it was not uncommon, those who could not fight took refuge in the cave, and while the battles raged overhead, the refugees sent forays up the mountain and to the sea, via the cave, to gather food and water.
During and after the reign of Kamehameha the Great, first King of all of Hawaii, war did not break out with its old regularity. The fortifications crumbled.
In 1823, four years after the death of the first Kamehameha, English protestant missionary William Ellis joined forces with American protestant missionary Asa Thurston and a party of explorers to circumnavigate the island of Hawaii. In A Journal of a Tour Around the Island (1825 (Pages 56-57) he writes:
"The plan of our tour being thus arranged, we were anxious to receive the aid of the Governor ( this was Kuakini-ed.) in the execution of it. Messrs. Thurston and Ellis were therefore chosen to wait upon him in the afternoon, to make him acquainted with our wishes, and solicit his assistance for their accomplishment."
"In the course of the forenoon, two of our number visited the ruins of an old military fortification, formerly belonging to the makaainana, (common people.) It had been a place of considerable importance, while the island of Hawaii was divided into a number of independent governments under chiefs, when civil wars were frequent. All that at present remains, is a part of the wall, about twelve feet high, and fourteen feet thick at the bottom, built of lava, and apparently entire. In the upper part of the wall are apertures resembling embrasures; but they could not have been designed for cannon, that being an engine of war, with which the natives have but recently become acquainted. The part of the wall now standing, is near the mouth of Raniakea, the spacious cavern already mentioned, which formed a valuable appendage to the fort. In this cavern children and aged persons were placed for security during an engagement, and sometimes the wives of the warriors, when they did not accompany their husbands to the battle. The fortification was probably extensive, as traces of the ancient walls are discoverable in several places; but what were its original dimensions, the natives could not tell. They asserted that the cavern, if not the fort also, was formerly surrounded by a strong palisade."
First the earth cooled. The story of Laniakea is one story that actually does begin with this line. First there was a lava tube: a cave formed by molten lava hardening around volcanic gasses into a series of rooms and tunnels. The cave ran from the mountain to the sea, and the people of Kona knew its length from end to end.
When war threatened the early inhabitants of Kona, and it was not uncommon, those who could not fight took refuge in the cave, and while the battles raged overhead, the refugees sent forays up the mountain and to the sea, via the cave, to gather food and water.
During and after the reign of Kamehameha the Great, first King of all of Hawaii, war did not break out with its old regularity. The fortifications crumbled.
In 1823, four years after the death of the first Kamehameha, English protestant missionary William Ellis joined forces with American protestant missionary Asa Thurston and a party of explorers to circumnavigate the island of Hawaii. In A Journal of a Tour Around the Island (1825 (Pages 56-57) he writes:
"The plan of our tour being thus arranged, we were anxious to receive the aid of the Governor ( this was Kuakini-ed.) in the execution of it. Messrs. Thurston and Ellis were therefore chosen to wait upon him in the afternoon, to make him acquainted with our wishes, and solicit his assistance for their accomplishment."
"In the course of the forenoon, two of our number visited the ruins of an old military fortification, formerly belonging to the makaainana, (common people.) It had been a place of considerable importance, while the island of Hawaii was divided into a number of independent governments under chiefs, when civil wars were frequent. All that at present remains, is a part of the wall, about twelve feet high, and fourteen feet thick at the bottom, built of lava, and apparently entire. In the upper part of the wall are apertures resembling embrasures; but they could not have been designed for cannon, that being an engine of war, with which the natives have but recently become acquainted. The part of the wall now standing, is near the mouth of Raniakea, the spacious cavern already mentioned, which formed a valuable appendage to the fort. In this cavern children and aged persons were placed for security during an engagement, and sometimes the wives of the warriors, when they did not accompany their husbands to the battle. The fortification was probably extensive, as traces of the ancient walls are discoverable in several places; but what were its original dimensions, the natives could not tell. They asserted that the cavern, if not the fort also, was formerly surrounded by a strong palisade."
Above: A detail of an engraving from a drawing done by Persis Goodale Thurston, daughter of pioneer missionaries Asa and Lucy Thurston. It portrays the missionary homesite in the 1830s. The cave is behind the mid sized hale, (hah-lay) a house built in the native style.
The Thurston family lived in Kona from 1820 until the 1840s, with Reverend Asa heading the church in its many forms and Lucy working with the people and raising her own family. Central to her ability to raise her children "as christians in a christian land", was the mission compound, fashioned as a secluded homesite and modeled after the secluded homes given to selected ali'i (the native elite) for the purpose of retaining concentration on oral studies. The lands of Laniakea were given to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the ruling board of the mission in Hawaii. The board directed the Thurstons to use the site as their headquarters, and in 1832 sent a wooden house around Cape Horn from Massachusetts. It was built on the site.The Thurstons were joined by other missionaries as the years passed, and aided for many years by Thomas Hopu, a Hawaiian educated in Massachusetts who travelled with the pioneer mission group in 1820.
When the Thurstons retired to Honolulu, the house and land became the property of Mokuaikaua Church. The house fell into disrepair, and in the 1990s the Laniakea Foundation was formed to save the ruins of the cave and homesite from development. The site is registered on the State Historic Site Registry. It can be visited once a month by arrangement.
When the Thurstons retired to Honolulu, the house and land became the property of Mokuaikaua Church. The house fell into disrepair, and in the 1990s the Laniakea Foundation was formed to save the ruins of the cave and homesite from development. The site is registered on the State Historic Site Registry. It can be visited once a month by arrangement.