Kailua Kona – City of Kings
The town of Kailua, now known as Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii traces it’s roots back over 1,000 years. Originally, a small fishing village nestled around Oneo Bay and Kailua Bay beneath the shadow of Mount Hualalai Volcano, the town is now a popular resort destination on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Originally know simply as Kailua, the town received a name change in the 1950’s by the U.S. post office to help distinguish it from other towns know by the same name in the islands. Once a favorite area for Hawaiian royalty, today, it is an interesting beach town with good restaurants, shops, hotels, with a good sprinkling of historic places to share with interested visitors.The waterfront area is bright and vibrant and well worth spending some time walking up and down Alii Drive, the town’s “main drag.”
At the north end of Alii Drive next to the King Kamehameha Hotel, is one of Kailua-Kona’s most famous historic spots. This is the Kamakahonu compound where King Kamehameha spent his last years and died on May 8, 1819. Here, you can see the restored ‘Ahu’ena Heiau on a lava rock platform at the edge of the lagoon. From this spot, the great Hawaiian king had a panoramic view of the farming communities living on the side of the mountain in the area. Soon after the death of the great king, it was here that Queen Ka’ahumanu, his favorite wife, as a result of foreign influence, helped lead the overthrow of the “kapu” system of law that had been in place in the islands. She did this by eating with male members of the family and by eating a banana which had been forbidden to women. When nothing bad happened to her as a result of her actions, the old ways begin to crumble in favor of more western cultural practices. While Kamehameha lived here, he dedicated the heiau to the god Lono and filled it with European and Chinese furniture. Inside the nearby King Kamehameha Hotel, you can see portraits of the various Hawaiian royalty along the hotel lobby walls. Across the harbor is another royal retreat build by John Adams Kuakini, King Kamehameha’s brother in law called Huilihu’e Palace in 1838. The Palace received some earthquake damage in the recent earthquake but has now been repaired by the Daughters of Hawaii who oversee the museum. Across from the Palace is Moku’aikaua Church which was built in 1836 to replace Hawaii’s first Christian church which had been built in 1826 on this same spot. The new church was built with stones from a heiau. The original thatch building burned down but was rebuilt as it is today. The sanctuary has rich koa and ‘ohi’a wood furnishings and is worth a visit.
