Wailua Descendants Invited to Share Manaʻo on the Wailua Complex of Heiau
Some places carry more than history. They carry kuleana, genealogy, prayer, memory, and the voices of kūpuna.
Ka Hale Manu o Lono is calling on lineal descendants of Kuleana Land Commission Award and Royal Patent awardees of Wailua Ahupuaʻa, Kauaʻi to take part in a virtual consultation on the Wailua Complex of Heiau National Historic Landmark.
The meeting will take place on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM HST, on Zoom.
This consultation is a chance for descendants to share manaʻo about some of the most sacred places in Hawaiʻi, including heiau, pōhaku, wahi pana, and connected sites within Wailua. The way these places are described, connected, and protected should be shaped by the families whose kūpuna lived, worked, worshipped, farmed, traveled, and cared for this ʻāina.
Your knowledge matters. Your ʻohana’s stories matter. Your concerns matter.
The consultation will focus on the Wailua Complex of Heiau National Historic Landmark
The Wailua Complex of Heiau is already recognized as a National Historic Landmark, often shortened to NHL. The current project is focused on updating the NHL description and the National Register of Historic Places nomination form.
These updates are being carried out in accordance with a Memorandum of Agreement. The work involves Hawaiʻi State Parks and the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Hawaiʻi State Department of Transportation, and Cultural Surveys Hawaiʻi.
This may sound like a technical process, but it has real meaning for Wailua and for the families connected to it.
The updated documents can shape:
Which sites are included in the landmark
How those sites are described
How the sites are understood in relation to one another
Where the official boundary of the landmark is drawn
How future generations learn about the complex
How agencies and others recognize the cultural significance of the area
For descendants, this is more than a paperwork update. It is an opportunity to help ensure that official records reflect ʻike that has lived in families, not only in maps, reports, and archives.
The Wailua Descendants Invited to Share Manaʻo on the Wailua Complex of Heiau consultation creates space for family knowledge to guide how the complex is understood.
Meeting details for descendants
The consultation will be held virtually, so descendants do not need to be on Kauaʻi to participate.
Meeting detail | Information |
What | Consultation on the Wailua Complex of Heiau National Historic Landmark |
When | Wednesday, November 4, 2026 |
Time | 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM HST |
Where | Virtual meeting on Zoom |
How to receive the Zoom link | Email kahalemanuolono@gmail.com |
The Zoom link will be sent by request. Because the meeting is coming up soon, descendants are encouraged to email as soon as possible.
For questions or more information, email kahalemanuolono@gmail.com or call (808) 855-8810.
Who is invited to participate
This call is especially for lineal descendants of Kuleana Land Commission Award and Royal Patent awardees of Wailua Ahupuaʻa.
These families have deep ties to Wailua. Their kūpuna held kuleana in the ahupuaʻa, and their knowledge may include names, places, practices, relationships, and memories that do not appear in formal records.
Participation is not limited to those who feel prepared to give a formal statement. The consultation welcomes different kinds of manaʻo.
That may include:
Moʻolelo passed down in families
Place names and older names for features or areas
Knowledge of trails, ʻauwai, boundaries, or gathering areas
Memories from parents, grandparents, or other kūpuna
Concerns about how sites are described or protected
Understanding of how different sites relate to one another
Questions that should be considered before descriptions are finalized
No one needs to speak in a polished or formal way. Family knowledge often comes through conversation. Sometimes one memory leads to another. Sometimes a place name opens a larger story. Sometimes a concern about a boundary points to a deeper relationship between places.
The goal is to listen and gather manaʻo that can help shape a fuller, more accurate understanding of Wailua.
The key questions that will guide the discussion
The consultation will center on the National Historic Landmark criteria and several core questions.
These questions are meant to help identify the scope, meaning, and relationships within the Wailua Complex of Heiau.
What sites should be included in the National Historic Landmark?
Descendant manaʻo can help clarify whether important sites, features, or connected places have been left out or need to be considered together.
How are the sites connected and related?
A heiau, a pōhaku, a river, an ʻauwai, a trail, a shoreline, and an upland area may hold meaning together. The relationships among places can be just as important as the places themselves.
What can you share about these sites?
Families may hold knowledge about names, uses, protocols, stories, events, or changes over time. Even small details can be significant.
What is the significance of the sites and the complex?
Significance may include spiritual, genealogical, political, agricultural, navigational, ceremonial, and community meanings. Descendant perspectives help deepen the public record.
How should the boundary of the National Historic Landmark be defined?
Boundaries can affect how a landmark is understood and protected. Descendant knowledge may help identify whether the current or proposed boundary reflects the full cultural setting.
These questions are not simply technical. They ask how Wailua should be understood as a whole.
Wailua is a royal and spiritual center of Kauaʻi
Wailua holds a central place in the history and culture of Kauaʻi. It has long been understood as a royal and spiritual center, with places tied to aliʻi, ceremony, birth, worship, and the movement of people and water.
Sites associated with the complex stretch from the shoreline near the mouth of the Wailua River into the uplands along Kuamoʻo Road. Places named in the consultation materials include:
Hikinaakalā
Malae Heiau
Poliʻahu Heiau
Holoholokū Heiau
Pōhaku Hoʻohānau
The Bellstone
Each place has its own significance. Together, they also form part of a larger cultural setting.
Wailua cannot be understood only as isolated points on a map. The river, shoreline, uplands, ʻauwai, heiau, pōhaku, and named places are connected. They sit within an ahupuaʻa system that reflects Native Hawaiian relationships among land, water, people, cultivation, ceremony, and governance.
That is why descendant manaʻo is so important. Official forms can name sites, list boundaries, and describe features. But descendants may carry knowledge of how places were used, remembered, approached, protected, and related to one another.
A boundary line can show one kind of information. Moʻolelo can show another.
The waters of Wailua connect more than one side of the island
The consultation also recognizes the importance of water in understanding Wailua.
The ʻauwai of this region is tied to waters that feed both sides of Kauaʻi. The Wailua and Waimea rivers both flow from the island’s central uplands, linking windward and leeward areas through shared water sources.
This connection matters because cultural places are often connected through water, movement, and use. A river is not just a feature of the land. It can be a pathway, a source of life, a boundary, a marker of relationship, and part of the identity of a place.
For Wailua, the connection between shoreline and upland is especially important. Sites near the coast and sites farther inland may hold meaning together. The same is true for water systems, trails, named places, agricultural areas, and ceremonial sites.
When descendants share manaʻo, they can help the project team understand these relationships more clearly.
Family knowledge can add what archives cannot
Archives, maps, survey reports, and government records all have value. They can provide dates, names, prior descriptions, and past documentation. But they cannot replace family-held knowledge.
Descendants may know:
What kūpuna called a place
Which areas families avoided or approached with care
How one site was spoken of in relation to another
Where people gathered, cultivated, or traveled
Which stories were shared only within ʻohana
What changes families witnessed over time
What concerns remain about access, disturbance, or interpretation
This kind of knowledge can be difficult to capture in a form, but it can change how a place is understood.
For example, a document may treat two sites as separate because they appear in different locations. A family story may explain how those places are connected through ceremony, genealogy, water, movement, or a remembered event. That connection can matter when defining the character and boundary of a landmark.
The goal of this consultation is to make room for that kind of knowledge.
How to prepare for the Zoom consultation
Participants do not need to prepare a formal speech. Still, it may help to take a little time before the meeting to gather thoughts or speak with relatives.
Here are a few simple ways to prepare:
Talk with kūpuna or ʻohana members before the meeting, if possible
Write down place names, family names, or words you want to remember
Note any stories or concerns connected to specific sites
Think about whether the named sites feel complete, or whether other places should be considered
Consider how shoreline, river, upland, ʻauwai, and heiau areas relate to one another
Bring questions, even if you are not sure they are ready to be answered
Participants may also want to have paper nearby during the meeting. Sometimes hearing another person’s manaʻo brings up a memory or question.
If more than one person in an ʻohana wants to attend, bring them into the conversation. The consultation welcomes ʻohana participation.
The project team involved in the update
The National Historic Landmark update team includes representatives from state agencies and Cultural Surveys Hawaiʻi.
The NHL members named for this effort are:
Pua Aiu, Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation
David Shideler and Scott Belluomini, Cultural Surveys Hawaiʻi
Martha Yent, DLNR, State Parks
The consultation is being held with Hawaiʻi State Parks and DLNR, the Hawaiʻi State Department of Transportation, and Cultural Surveys Hawaiʻi.
Their work on the NHL description and National Register nomination form will be strengthened by descendant participation. The more complete the manaʻo shared, the better the chance that the final documents reflect Wailua as a connected and living cultural place.
Please request the Zoom link as soon as possible
The consultation will take place on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM HST.
To request the Zoom link, email:
kahalemanuolono@gmail.com
For questions or more information, call:
(808) 855-8810
Because the meeting is just days away, please reach out as soon as possible. If there are ʻohana members who should know about this consultation, share the meeting information with them directly.
The heiau, pōhaku, waters, and wahi pana of Wailua deserve to be described with care. They also deserve to be understood through the ʻike of the families connected to them.
Mahalo nui, and we look forward to hearing from you.
Ka Hale Manu o Lono
Comments