I remember a fairly popular song in the 1960s called “Try to Remember.” I`m sure some of you might remember it. I never really appreciated that song until recently. I find myself as the years pass by trying to remember how things once were.

As I struggle to remember aspects of my childhood I find myself humming that song. Trying to remember those places and times that were special to me in my childhood. I think we all do that as we get older. I can remember when getting older meant becoming wiser. I don`t know if that means anything anymore.

I can recall as a young boy making an annual drive to Nanakuli with my parents. This was before there was an H-1 Freeway. I recall a very interesting place and to a young boy perhaps even mysterious. Just on the Wai’anae side of where Honokai Hale now stands, along this winding section of Farrington Highway, was a gate that entered into the cane fields.

My father went diving a lot, especially along the Waianae side, however I don`t remember him diving in this particular area. I do recall the use of the word “Kapu” when conversations came up on the subject of diving in this area. It seemed that fishing and diving were forbidden. Not because it was through the sugar cane fields but for some other reason that a young boy could not understand.

Let me start by saying this. Ko Olina is not a new name although when growing up I never heard my parents mention the name. I first heard of the name when the area was starting to be developed. It does however appear on some old maps although only a few can lay claim to how old the name is. No one can say with certainty what our ancestors had in mind when they gave this name to this place. There are those who feel the name Ko Olina refers to a “brightness.”

Some contemporary cultural thinkers mana`o is that its name is meant to draw our attention to a distant star on the southwestern horizon. When our voyaging ancestors ventured into the northern latitudes they left behind the stars that they were most familiar with and entering waters whose stars were not known to them. When they arrived on these distant shores the first thing they did was mark the location of those distant stars that would lead them back home.

It was on the leeward shores of the islands that provided that sense of direction. Places such as Ka’u or South Point on Hawai’i Island. Ukumehame on Maui looking directly through Kealakahiki Channel between Kaho`olawe and Lana`i. On O`ahu possibly even Ko Olina. It makes sense especially when considering the ancient place name of Kaupe`a whose name has a dual meaning one of which refers to the constellation the “Southern Cross.” To the Po`e Kahiko the “Southern Cross” was known as the “Bat`s Perch” or Kaupe`a. It was at these places where the first cultural structures were built to serve as markers home.

In the 15th century the mo`i of the island of O`ahu was Kakuhihewa. He was considered a benevolent and well respected chief for the many good things that he had accomplished during his reign.
Subsequent to his reign the island of O`ahu was referred to as Moku O Kakuhihewa. Ko Olina was considered Kakuhihewa`s favorite vacation place and Napuaikamao was his caretaker. What some of us might not understand is that a “kapu” was placed over favorite places of chiefs. However whenever a mo`i places a “kapu” over a place, that “kapu” extends out into the ocean and extends to the highest mountain in that mauka-makai relationship.

This “kapu” was placed over this mauka-makai relationship to protect all the resources associated with this location. No fishing or diving was allowed with the exception of the chief“s men. That “kapu” was solidified with the construction of a small Ahu at Mauna Kapu. That Ahu was constructed of both basalt and coral, the coral having come from Ko Olina. Today coral can be found at all elevations from Ko Olina to Mauna Kapu. It is believed by many today that the name Mauna Kapu, which is a high peak or pu`u in the Waianae Mountains gets its name from this “kapu”.

John Papa I`i shares an event with us that occurred when he was 8 or 9 years old around 1808 or 1809. John Papa I`i who was from Pu`uloa had relatives in Nanakuli. He learned on one visit of the burning of the homes of families at Ko Olina which was in the Ili of Waimanalo.

When Kamehameha defeated Kalanikapule and took control of the island of O`ahu he awarded the ahupua`a of Honouliuli to Kalanimoku, one of his leading war chiefs in the conquest of O`ahu. It was awarded as panilaau lands or conquered lands at around the middle 1790s. Kalanimoku subsequently took as a wife a chiefess by the name of Kuwahine.

John Papa I`i learned from the person in charge of the burning of the homes that he was ordered by the royal court because the people there had given shelter to the chiefess, Kuwahine, who ran away from her husband Kalanimoku after associating wrongfully with someone. She had remained hidden for about four or five days before she was found. Here we see the sadness that fell upon the people through the fault of the chiefs. The punishment fell upon innocent families of Ko Olina.

Captain Vancouver of the British Royal Navy is credited for charting much of the Hawaiian Islands to include the leeward side of O`ahu. Lt. Malden was Vancouver’s cartographer and his charts are referred to as Malden’s Maps. Malden`s Map of 1825 identify a small coastal village in the area of the natural lagoons at Ko Olina.

James Campbell built a summer residence in the area of Ko Olina at the turn of the century and called it “Lanikuhonua,” “where heaven touches the earth.” He built in the area of several natural small lagoons, Kakuhihewa’s favorite vacation place. Much of the stories associated with this place
including the area mauka of Ko Olina all the way to the top at Mauna Kapu remained hidden for several hundred years.

Kamokila Campbell was one of the 4 daughters of Kuaihelani Maipinepine Campbell and James Campbell. She lived in San Francisco for many years and became a very respected socialite of the area and came to know many very important people in San Francisco during this period.

As she got older she began to struggle with who she was as a Hawaiian and descendant of the Maui line of chiefs. She returned to Hawai’i in the 1930s and wanted to live in the old ways. In late 1945 she chose to live at the place her father referred to as Lanikuhonua. Much had changed since her father built his summer home. The military had built some structures that still remained at the time Kamokila chose to make it her home.

There was no water. I was informed that she got some of her water from a sinkhole where today stands a water feature at the Ko Olina Golf Course adjacent to the security entrance to Ko Olina.
There was no electricity. She got her power from a generator, this daughter of James and Maipinepine Campbell. Much of what we know today of the cultural landscape on both the makai and mauka side of Farrington Highway came from Kamokila. It was she who shared stories with friends and family regarding the cultural landscape from Lanikuhonua at Ko Olina to Mauna Kapu.

It was Kamokila who became upset when hearing of interest in closing an opening in a Naupaka hedge fronting one of the natural lagoons at Lanikuhonua. She spoke of the need to allow “visitors” to pass through on their mauka walk through Lanikuhonua crossing Farrington Highway in the area
of Honokai Hale mauka along Makaiwa.

Today Kupuna who knew Kamokila still refer to the area between Lanikuhonua and Mauna Kapu not as a Wahi Pana but rather a Wahi Kapu. So when we drive by Honokai Hale and the entrance to Ko Olina let us think of Kakuhihewa and Kamokila and try to remember how it once was.

This is only a small part of the story of Ko Olina in the City of Kapolei.

This essay was first published on myadvertiser.com in January 2007.