Living History in Kona, Hawaii

The Kona Historical Society has already established a living history coffee farm. Authentic buildings, a coffee grove, and coffee-processing machinery show visitors how the farm operated circa 1920. In the photo at the right, an interpreter shows Rich Slatta the newly ground coffee beans, grown on the site.

With the experience garnered from the coffee farm, the Kona Historical Society now plans a living history cattle ranch. It will be located below the almost 150-year-old Greenwell store in Captain Cook, Hawaii. The site will feature a mix of restored historic buildings and more recent constructions built in historic style. The time period to be presented is circa 1880.

A team of historians has worked to formulate an interpretive plan. Additional sites inland and upland can be used to add to the visitor's understanding of Kona ranching. Scholars wishing to write the history of a place must visit the locales under study.

For example, Slatta researched records of a wool-processing plant from the 1870s. The site sits at about 4,500 ft. above sea level. However, Slatta could not has grasped the scale of the operation without visiting the site and examining the huge metal press that compressed the wool into 600-pound bales. Experiencing the site and seeing the tangible artifacts brought a life to the descriptions from the documents.

Here's an excerpt from the historical record, based on the ranch owner's and manager's diaries. [Source for all quotations: "Kona: Cradle of Hawai`is Paniolo." Montana, the Magazine of Western History, 54: 2 (Summer 2004): 2-19, Slatta, Ku`ulani Auld and Maile Melrose.] "Kona did not suffer the range wars between cattle and sheep raisers typical of the mainland American West. Many ranchers raised sheep. Like many other introduced species, sheep went feral and spread across the landscape. Observers reported feral sheep on Mauna Kea by 1822. On February 6, 1880, Greenwell recorded in his diary that 'Clark marked about 100 lambs, and nearly 100 woolly sheep were shorn.' The following day, 'Clark got 500 more sheep from Kanupa.' On February 12, 'Mr. Clark returned with about 600 sheep from Keauhou Hema, including 250 wooly sheep (unshorn last year.)' Rancher earned from ten to twenty cents per pounds for pressed, baled wool in early 1880, depending on its quality. Clark's journal entry for November 30, 1882, summarized the year's production at Kaanahaha. 'Pressed four bales of wool making a total of 114 bales pressed this season. The four bales are not branded or numbered. The total weight is 1328 lbs.'"