The following is a continuation of an August 1978 article by Mr. Rick Edwards on the history of Hawaiian Paradise Park.
Before the sub-division became a sub-division, it was rather a barren area with much less vegetation than it has today. It wasn't very prized by local people, it actually was used for grazing purposes for the Shipman Ranch. But going way back into the old days, apparently there was a heiau down in the corner of the subdivision along the ocean on Kapoho boundary of Paradise Park. There is a one hundred acre parcel in that area which belongs to the Shipman Estate. When Herbert Shipman was alive there was a standing offer to the County and/or State that if these one hundred acres would be restored to the Bishop Museum specifications, and the heiaus be preserved, then that land would be donated for park purposes. (There are the remains of two stone platforms for heiaus, one mauka and one makai on Beach Rd.). Now that Mr. Shipman has passed away I am not sure whether that status still stands. It's too bad that no one took advantage of it while he was still living. I do think it is important for all people who live in the area to do something toward preserving the heiau area for the importance that it did have. One Hawaiian that I talked to from the area said that one of the heiau was devoted to Lono, the God of Agriculture (no human sacrifices were made at this heiau). It was more of a peaceable agricultural and fishing type venture for the small community around the heiau.
On Lot No. 87 in Blk 11 which is an ocean front lot, you will find a rather high mound which has some loose rock and soil mixture. This has been broken into by successive high water periods, and this did consist of a burial area. I know that the bones of one human being became exposed the teeth, the jaw, the skull and some of the other bones.
The thing that I found most significant was that there was a dime that was found; apparently, the Hawaiians in the old days upon burying their ancestors, would place a coin or something of value over each of the eyes before they were wrapped in "ti-leaves, or however else they were prepared for burial. The significant thing about this dime was that it had an 1810 mint on it, which meant that burial had to take place sometime after that 1810 minted dime. A man from Honolulu took the dime, and, I think, that it was rather significant to note that this individual who took the dime has had a series of misfortunes or bad luck occur to him. I really think that anytime you find someplace in the sub-division where someone has been buried, that in all due respect, those things should be left as they are or pointed out to proper authorities so that they can be preserved as much as possible. I don't think that anyone should consider the desecration of graves, whether it be within or without our culture, and it is unfortunate that this type of thing goes on. There is one area close to the heiau where I know of a burial. In addition to that, off Road 22 on the mauka side between Paradise Dr. and Kaloli, there is an entrance to a lava tube. The lava tube goes on for quite some distance in the mauka direction before it runs into collasped rock near Road 29. This lava tube apparently served two different purposes since there are one or two branches off this tube. One of them was sealed with lava rock and is not too high at all, and contains the remains of quite a few burials. It was very important to the Hawaiians to bury their loved ones in a place that couldn't be found by anyone else, so that the grave couldn't be desecrated. This cave was used for, number one, that purpose, and number two, defense purposes, because in the early sixties within this cave were found the rotted remains of spears and sling stones and some of the largest opihi shells that I have ever seen which were used to collect water. Upon coming in and out of the sunlight into this cave and looking into the dark you are blinded. You are on loose rock to begin with, therefore, it is an area that can be defended easily (only a few can come in at a time; it only takes a few whose eyes are already adjusted to the light to defend it). At one of the entrances there was a skull which must have been a warrior's as there was no ceremony as far as burial was concerned. The skull was just sitting there; the jaw bone was loose, and I recall one time picking up this jaw bone-it was so large that it easily fit outside my jaw, flesh and all. He apparently made the mistake of entering the cave and must have been bashed in the head with a rock or something and left there and not given a decent kind of burial. Apparently there was a very small community in the golf course area as there are remains of some house sites and evidence of fruit trees, coconuts, etc.
Another historical item of more recent vintage in the Block 3 area, probably within a thousand feet of the highway, during WW I I a P38 crashed. I was told by a Chinese gentleman in Pahoa that this caused quite a bit of excitement, and since it had crashed he was going to go in and get the propeller as a souvenir. Apparently they had some M.P.'s in the area that said, "this is government property, and it belongs to the government; and don't remove anything from it." The crash must have been investigated, but they never removed the aircraft. It might be of interest to people in Block 3, when someone is building on his lot if he comes across a piece of beat up, rusty or corroded metal, or whatever-that could be the remains of the P38 which crashed in the early 1940's.
I think it is interesting to note also, that there are a handful of petroglyphs in the sub-division. The bulk of these that I have been able to find have been close to the ocean. The ocean front park area between Paradise Drive and Makuu has several. I would say they are probably in the area across the street from Lot 2962 in Block 7, or in that general area. I would be glad anytime to point out some of them to you, if anyone is interested, so they can be preserved. In addition, there are a couple more on both the mauka and makai sides of Paradise Drive, as it goes on in the vicinity of Lot 468 in Block 10. They are a little bit hard to see; the grass has been growing over them, but I think they still might be found. One of them is very rustic; it's not the classic type. It's interesting because someone went to the trouble to do a fairly large stick figure type petroglyph down in that area. We don't have to go to PUULOA, PUAKO, to see petroglyphs because we have them right here in our sub-division. They are not that spectacular, and they are a little bit hard to see in some place, but they do exist within our sub-division.
You indicated an interest in Names and Places within the sub-division.
I maybe saying something that you already know but I won't take
anything for granted. As you know, the Hawaiians originally divided
up the islands into districts like: Hilo, Puna, Ka'u, Kona, Kohala,
and Hamakua, etc. Within these districts there were further breakdowns
that were called AHUPUAAS and within the AHUPUAAS, there were
additional breakdowns called KULEANAS. The KULEANAS were usually
for a family or a small number of families to use, and they were
awarded by the local chief or local king, as long as they maintained
the favor of the ALI'I. I think it is significant to note that
the names of the three AHUPUAAS that occupied the park are of
course KEAAU, which is on the Hilo side; then you come to WAIKAHEKAHENUI
and WAIKAHEKAHEIKI, NUI means big; and IKI means small; WAI water,
and WAIKAHEKAHE means trickling. So, it's big trickling water
or little trickling water. I know there are places within the
sub-division that during heavy rains you can hear the water running
beneath the surface of the lava rock in many places. KEAAU,-I
am not sure what that means. I know that KEA means white, and
AU is another work for water, as well as current, or whether it
forms white water when it is running, I really don't know. This
would be a good thing to ask El Mathews or someone else who is
an expert in the Hawaiian language--What these names mean. Going
all the way from the Hilo boundary to Pahoa the AHUPUAAS are called
KEAAU. Then of course, it is WAIKAHEKAHINUI and WAIKAHEKAHEIKI.
Then we go into MAKUU, and into HALONA, then into KEONEPOKO, and
KEONEPOKOIKI, and then to NANAWALE, which is in the Pahoa area.
I think it is important to preserve the importance of the original
Hawaiian names and how they got them. I was told by Richard Lyman
that the word PUNA, the district we live in, means the source
or it could mean the spring. PUNALUU-is a little black sand beach-where
there are a lot of little springs that flow into the ocean. PUNA
means spring, LUU means running or could mean running springs
with water running into the ocean at the ocean side. As to some
of the other names within our sub-division, there again it would
be a good idea to check with El Mathews. KALOLI DRIVE, I am sure
was named because it runs from the highway down to KALOLI POINT
which is the peninsula largely occupied by Block 10, lots. What
KALOLI means I don't really know but it would be of interest to
find out. MAKUU DRIVE, of course is the one that runs from the
Highway down to the ocean in the area of MAKUU; there again, I
don't know the meaning of it. PARADISE DRIVE, I feel positive
was named because the corporation, Hawaiian Paradise Corp. started
this sub-division. SHOWER DRIVE was named because there were several
attempts to plant shower trees along it, but when they were not
attended, they would not grow. I had a Johnny Appleseed complex
in the early 60's when I had more time than anything else, so
I got busy and dug up some of the albizzia tree seedlings from
the Nanawale Forest Reserve and planted them along Paradise Drive
and Makuu. I tried to do it randomly and in far enough, so if
utility lines ever came in they wouldn't interfere with them.
I can see I didn't really accomplish that, now that the trees
have grown up pretty high today. But it is a tree that adapts
well to this area, whereas the shower trees, monkey pod and some
of the others, just didn't make it when they weren't attended.
If you take care of these they will grow all right.
The words POHAKU CIRCLE, I think, are kind of significant. The
story behind that is Lot 8323 originally belonged to Louis Stone.
I'll never forget that name because Louis Stone was the name of
the man that played the father in Andy Hardy movies when I was
a kid growing up. Some of you may remember that. Louis Stone and
his mother owned that lot, before there were any houses on that
street. He came here and made a big issue of going to build a
house. But (if) they built a house, they expected the street to
be named after them. I phone David Watumull and told him the story.
We both recalled the word for stone, or rock, in Hawaiian was
POHAKU, so we said, "O.K., we will name the street after
you, go ahead and build your house". The street was named
for him, and like quite a few false starters in the beginning,
it turned out to be just talk. Subsequently LouisStone sold the
lot and moved someplace else. I think it is rather interesting
that it was a trivia type reason how POHAKU ClRCLE got its name.
For anyone who is curious, that is the story behind it.
Lee, I want to thank you, I don't know if I have provided all of the answers that you want. I have tried to provide the things that stick out in my mind in kind of an informal manner. I thank you for the opportunity because those things that I know about I got from some people who are no longer with us, and I think it is important that some of the knowledge about this area be preserved as much as possible. I wish to express a concern that anytime any kind of burial site is found, that the people that find it show the proper type of respect and reverence for it. We can only show our respect for Hawaii and let's face it we are all Hawaiians, you don't need to have Polynesian blood to be Hawaiian. All you need to have is a love for the 'aina or land and if you have this you will show proper respect. I am hoping there can be proper education of newcomers so they can come to appreciate the land and its history-it is a very delicate history-the threads are only here and there. If we can, when we know about things, do whatever is possible to preserve and keep them for future generations and expand knowledge on it, then I think people will be living up to some of their obligations to Hawaiians of 1978 and beyond. But again Lee, l want to thank you for the opportunity to make a contribution of what little knowledge I have about the background of the sub-division. I do hope that is is useful, and please feel free because I am going to be the white-haired old man that's going to sit around for as long as I possibly can and share any kind of old lore that might have come my way just simply by virtue of the fact that I came here to live a lot sooner than a lot of people have been able to do. Thank you, Lee, very much.
Rick Edwards