Cemeteries

Burial Grounds and cemeteries are among the most valuable of archaeological and historic resources. They are evidence of various settlement patterns, burial practices, cultural and religious influences, economic development, social relationships, and genealogy. Unfortunately, they are also one of the most fragile resources to preserve and protect.

Within the Hakalau Plantation, there were, at least, five cemeteries. Lower Hakalau Camp included 3 cemeteries: Korean (at the tip of Hakalau Point--see picture on the left), Japanese, and Catholic. According to "Voice of Hakalau", there was also a cemetery at Kamae Mauka. A private cemetery in Honohina, on Liliuokalani Trust lands, still exists.

Korean Cemetery at the tip of Hakalau Point, 1928. Photo courtesy of Lyman Museum

Japanese Cemetery

This cemetery was located on a point directly behind the hospital in Hakalau Lower Camp. It was known as the Japanese Cemetery. Waichi Ouye reported that the cemetery held mostly Japanese and a few Korean immigrants who worked at the mill (Haun and Associates, 2014).

While the cemetery was based on ethnicity and not religious affiliation, many of the Japanese immigrants to Hakalau Plantation were Pure Land Buddhists with rich ceremonial traditions for funerals and honoring the dead.

The cemetery contained 202 graves and was maintained by the Hakalau Jodo Mission. The earliest graves here were probably late 19th/early 20th century and the latest graves are probably the mid to late 1930's. A 1966 Department of Health survey reported that Rev. Bino Mamiya, acting as an interested party for the community, collected money to keep the cemetery clean. Tetsuo Yugawa cleaned the cemetery on a regular basis.

In the early 1970's, the remains were removed to Homelani Memorial Park at the request of the local kumiai, which also paid for the relocation of remains.

Data Sources: a) Archaeological Inventory Survey #2083169, April, 2014, Department of Land and Natural Resources, State Historic Preservation Division and b) PHRI letter report #2174-090101 to John Cross, Mauna Kea Agribusiness, Inc., September, 2001.

Japanese cemetery, Hakalau Lower Camp.

Photo courtesy of Department of Land and Natural Resources, State Historic Preservation Division, from Archaeological Inventory Survey #2083169, p. 15, April, 2014

Korean Cemetery

The former Korean Cemetery (also known as the Japanese and Korean Cemetery) is located at Hakalau Point, behind what was formerly the stables. According to an archaeological inventory survey (Rosendahl, Inc. 2009), the graves were disinterred. It was noted that grave markers were buried on site and that the burials were removed using a backhoe, indicating the likely presence of grave markers and disturbed human skeletal remains at the site (DLNR Log 2013.6237, Doc 1312TD01).

The Japanese/Korean Cemetery is deemed significant under Historic Preservation Criteria D possibly E.

Criterion D: Yields, or is likely to yield, information important for research on pre-history or history
Criterion E: Has important value to the native Hawaiian people or to another ethnic group of the state due to associations with cultural practices once carried out, or still carried out, at the property or due to associations with traditional beliefs, events or oral accounts—these associations being important to the group’s history and cultural identity

Data Source: A Data Recovery Plan for Site 50-10-16-26592, Scientific Consultant Services, June 2014.

Photo courtesy of Department of Land and Natural Resources, State Historic Preservation Division, from Data Recovery Plan for Site 50-10-16-26592, p. 18, June, 2014.

Catholic Cemetery

This cemetery was an informal plantation cemetery. It was neither owned nor operated by the Catholic Church but was likely associated with the Wailea Church and the Hakalau Filipino Catholic Club. There may have been between 200 and 250 Filipinos, Portuguese, and Puerto Ricans buried there. These were probably plantation workers and members of their families.

Deceased were interred at the Catholic Cemetery during the first half of the 20th century. Some of the remains might have been moved to another location by family members. Most of the grave markers were made of wood, though a few inscribed stone monuments were used. The wooden grave markers are not longer present at the cemetery. Given the age of the cemetery, it likely qualifies as an Historic Property under state rules.

Data Source: A Data Recovery Plan for Site 50-10-16-26592, Scientific Consultant Services, June 2014.

No Picture Available

Kamaee Mauka Cemetery

This cemetery is not shown on the plantation maps from 1947.

Voice of Hakalau, November, 1960, p. 4