Originally published by Kaʻiwakīloumoku, this reposted Kūkahekahe column commemorates Charles Reed Bishop and his enduring legacy. Read the original here.

Charles Reed Bishop was born on January 25, 1822. He and Ke Ali‘i Bernice Pauahi Pākī Bishop were married for more than 34 years. The Kamehameha Schools were not the only way Charles Reed Bishop contributed to Ke Aliʻi Pauahi’s legacy. Another lasting expression of his kuleana was supporting the protection of places that carried deep cultural, genealogical and national meaning.

Most of Pauahi’s vast landholdings came to her through inheritance from beloved members of her royal lineage. These lands formed the foundation of her estate and reflected generations of aliʻi stewardship. Against this backdrop, Charles’ role was not to expand Pauahi’s holdings for their own sake, but to help establish these significant places under care so they could endure.

The mid to late 1800s marked a period of rising nationalism around the world. Governments articulated national identity through monuments, museums and protected landscapes. The Kingdom of Hawaiʻi was no different as leaders sought to define what it meant to be a Hawaiian nation rooted in history, place and memory.

Within this context, Pauahi and Charles worked intentionally to ensure that certain wahi pana would be cared for into the future. One of the most meaningful examples of this stewardship was Hōnaunau in South Kona.

In 1867, Charles brought the ahupuaʻa of Hōnaunau into Pauahi’s care as a gift. The land held the iwi of her kūpuna, giving the act profound personal and ancestral significance. Historical records describe a great lūʻau held to mark the occasion, followed by the ceremonial planting of an ulu niu east of Keoneʻele Cove. Pauahi herself participated in the planting.

These actions affirmed Hōnaunau not simply as land, but as a living, sacred place tied to genealogy, ceremony and national memory.

The protection of places like Hōnaunau paralleled Charles’ broader efforts to safeguard Hawaiian history, including his work to establish a museum to care for the heirlooms of the Kamehameha family. He believed that cultural landscapes and cultural objects alike required foresight and long-term responsibility. In an 1897 letter to fellow trustee Henry Holmes, Charles emphasized the importance of ensuring that heiau and puʻuhonua, once placed under care, would be protected perpetually.

Today, Hōnaunau remains a place of refuge and remembrance. At Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park, a plaque acknowledges that the sanctuary was preserved through Charles’ foresight and care and dedicated for the benefit of future generations.

Charles hoped that places like Hōnaunau would be shielded from misuse or development by remaining within Pauahi’s care. In honoring her legacy, he helped ensure that places central to Hawaiian identity would endure not as possessions, but as wahi pana entrusted to the future.
 

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