Kona Historical Society members are invited to join our nonprofit on a Jeep Trip Saturday, Feb. 22, to a South Kona mountain family house at Papaloa, located near the 5,100-foot elevation on Mauna Loa.
Participants will get to explore the breathtaking beautiful ahupua’a of Kealakekua while hearing a talk story on the history of Kealakekua Ranch and how these Kona mauka lands are now being transformed by a new industry.
The price of this Jeep Trip is $190 per person. It includes lunch and transportation, both of which are provided by Hawaii Forest & Trail.
The featured speakers are Maile Melrose and Hannah Kihalani Springer. Melrose is a recognized historian, researcher, author, speaker and noted living history storyteller, as well as a descendant from the W.H. Greenwell line and a long-time Kona Historical Society supporter. Springer is kamaʻāina of Kaʻūpūlehu, North Kona, as well as a cultural historian and lifelong student of the cultural and natural histories of Hawaii. She has served in many volunteer, appointed, and elected capacities throughout our island and state, including now as a Kona Historical Society board member.
“The wooden house at Papaloa was built in 1927 when Arthur L. Greenwell took complete ownership of Kealakekua Ranch. Until that time, Henry Nicholas Greenwell’s three eldest sons had worked together under the watchful eye of their mother, E. C. Greenwell, using the family mountain house at Pulehua as their mauka headquarters for their far-flung cattle ranching operations,” Melrose said. “The first stone walls at Papaloa were built to hold dairy cattle and their calves. H. N. Greenwell’s butter business peaked at the end of the 19th century, dwindling in importance as beef cattle became more lucrative. His first Portuguese dairymen had lived in small houses on the mountain with their wives and children, but by the 20th century, that isolated way of life was no longer popular. Working cattle up on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualalai required some sort of permanent housing, both for employees and owners. There probably was some rough shelter at Papaloa before 1927, but Arthur did not bring his wife Beatrice and their young children up to stay on the mountain on Kealakekua until Papaloa house was completed.”
After World War II, as horses gave way to Jeeps and narrow stony trails were flattened by small dozers, access to the house became easier for those who had the privilege to go to it.
“Over the years, this house has become a favorite family destination for long summer stays in which horseback riding, sheep and pig hunting, and family fun went along with cattle work: branding, castrating, worming, building water tanks and miles of fence lines,” Melrose said. “Life on the mountain was so different from life along the Main Road – chilly mornings, brightly burning fires at night, and stunning vistas of sky, vast volcanic peaks, and beautiful towering koa trees.”
Every year, Kona Historical Society coordinates several engaging excursions to areas not accessible to the general public, accompanied by local historians, naturalists and cultural practitioners that help participants tap into all there is to know about this beautiful island. These day-long excursions bring a limited number of Kona Historical Society members to special places across Hawaii Island that can only be reached by way of four-wheel drive vehicles like Jeeps and trucks, or on foot.
“This jeep trip will be a revelation to everyone because the mauka lands of Kona are being claimed by a new industry. The essential oil producers of the world want access to sandalwood trees, and Kona is one of the last strongholds of this native species. … The Kingdom of Hawaii paid for the silk and satin dresses of its queens in part with money made from the sandalwood trade,” Melrose said. “The landscape of the forested slopes of Hawaii has seen vast change – all of it the result of human intervention. The once open spaces of the mountain are rapidly being transformed into fenced in plots – trees in, cattle, sheep and horses locked out. This new economic driver is invisible from Mamalahoa Highway – the best way to understand what is happening is to come see it with your own eyes.”
Jeep Trips are specifically organized for Kona Historical Society members. Membership with Kona Historical Society is required and can be obtained through our website at https://konahistorical.org/membership. These historical trips help Kona Historical Society share with its members the intricate history and natural landscapes of the island.
To participate on this Jeep Trip to Papaloa, you must reserve and purchase your spot no later than Feb. 15, also when your waiver is due.
For more information, call Kona Historical Society at 808-323-3222 or email Programs Coordinator Joel Pearson at joel@konahistorical.org.