Coco Palms Resort
Coco Palms Resort was a resort hotel in Wailuā, Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi, that was noted for its Hollywood connections, Hawaiian-themed weddings, torch lighting ceremonies, destruction by a hurricane, and long-standing land disputes. The resort includes or is near to many culturally significant spots and the sites of some of the most important legends and historical events for Native Hawaiians.
The land is ancient Hawaiian royal property that has been in dispute since 1866. In that year, Junius Kaae, along with Kapiolani, Kalakaua, and others filed a petition seeking to revoke the will of Kealiiahonui, which had been filed in probate by Levi Haʻalelea in 1855. The petition was eventually overturned by Sanford B. Dole almost immediately after the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Dole acted as a justice of the supreme court of the provincial government after stepping down from the bench and then being seated as president of the Republic of Hawaii. Litigants were made to sign an agreement for this adjudication to be allowed by Dole.
Lyle Guslander leased the site of Coco Palms from the Territory of Hawaii in 1952; the resort opened in early 1953. The hotel manager, Grace Buscher, took control of marketing the hotel as a Hawaiian-style getaway for tourists. A number of films were shot on location at Coco Palms, including Elvis Presley's film Blue Hawaii. The hotel made a big business out of Hawaiian-style weddings for decades. Buscher started a tradition, still in use at hotels throughout the islands, known at the hotel as the torch-lighting ceremony. Buscher also initiated a tree-planting ceremony to replenish the old coconut grove and honor individuals of note.
Coco Palms was destroyed by Hurricane Iniki in 1992. In 2016, Honolulu developers GreeneWaters LLC formed a partnership, Coco Palms Hui LLC, to restore the resort. Their intent was to reopen Coco Palms "as part of Hyatt's Unbound Collection." In 2019 the project collapsed. RP21 Coco Palms LLC, also known as Reef Capital Partners, plans to construct a 350-room resort to be completed in 2026.
Background and history
The area around the mouth of the Wailua River is well known to Hawaiians as a place of many legends and events of historical, cultural, and religious significance. It is the landing place of the Kahiki voyagers, who came ashore at Kauaʻi in about 500 AD, and the location of Hawaiian legends like the prophet Naula-a-Maihea and the origins of the Naha stone. According to the book The Story of the Coco Palms Hotel, by David P. Penhallow, the Coco Palms Resort sits on an ancient site of Hawaiian royalty and hospitality situated at the mouth of the Wailua River on the eastern side of Kauai.Kaumualii and Kekaihaʻakūlou (Deborah Kapule)
In 1810 the monarch of Kauaʻi, Kaumualii, negotiated a peaceful agreement that allowed the island to become a part of Kamehameha I's new Kingdom of Hawaii, while still allowing Kaumualii to remain the ruler. The agreement established Kamehameha's son Liholiho as supreme monarch. After Kamehameha I's death, a council was held in July 1821 with Kaumualii and Liholiho, now styled as "Kamehameha II" along with the top chiefs and advisors. Kamehameha II decided to continue his father's arrangements. For this, Kaumualii asked the new monarch to take some Kauaʻi lands for his wives, to appease Liholiho's guardians. While Kamehameha II refused to do so—stating that his father had left no instructions about the land, only that he should be the supreme monarch—he did take Kaumualii's wife Kekaihaʻakūlou as one of his own wives and gave his wife Kekāuluohi to his most trusted advisor, Charles Kanaʻina, as a way to please the chiefs. It is believed the council decision displeased the new Kuhina Nui, Kaʻahumanu. A year later, she would take Kaumualii and later his son Kealiiahonui as her husbands, using the teachings of the missionaries on marriage, to make herself their heirs.After Kaumualii was kidnapped, Kekaihaʻakūlou owned a home on the banks of the river where travelers knew they were always welcome, long before any hotel existed on the island. She had converted to Christianity and remarried Simeon Kaiu, who was to become an instructor for the missionaries. The couple had a son, Josiah Kaumualii, and in 1837, in order that to be closer to their own estates, they moved an entire retinue of people to Wailuā. Shortly after relocating, Kaiu died from a stroke. Historian James Jarvis traveled up the river with Kapule in a double-hulled canoe in 1837, climbing to the top of Wailua Falls. Jarvis wrote: "She lived in a beautiful spot... that looked more like park scenery than any work of nature." It was a large house that became open to visitors in 1823. It would become known as Deborah's Inn, where Kapule would entertain for twenty years. In the 1840s Kapule played host to the Protestant missionaries and the first Catholic priest on the island. By 1853, Deborah Kapule had moved to the other side of Kauaʻi and died, and the property began to rapidly deteriorate. George Washington Bates found the residence in complete disrepair, with the canoes, which had previously transported guests up the river, rotting in a shed. Several dilapidated buildings were left abandoned, including a small church. The villagers around the area continued to grow taro and care for the fishponds.
Kingdom Supreme Court probate decisions
was the son of Kaumualii, who died on approximately June 23, 1849. On January 25, 1855, Levi Haʻalelea petitioned the Hawaiian Supreme Court as a beneficial representative of the estate of Kekauʻōnohi, for whom he was the sole heir as her widower. Haʻalelea had possession of the will of Kealiiahonui, stating that Kekauʻōnohi was the monarch's sole heir but had also died before the petition. He filed the will into probate on February 16 of that same year. On July 2, 1866, a petition was filed on behalf of Kapiolani, her husband David Kalakaua, Poomaikelani and her husband Hiram Kahanawai, Victoria Kinoiki Kekaulike and her husband David Kahalepouli Piikoi, Kaluaipihana and her husband F. W. Malaihi, and a minor named Kamehaokalani through F. W. Malaihi. The case, involving the future king and queen and associates, was dismissed on November 30, 1866.In the case of the "ESTATE OF KEALIIAHONUI, Deceased. Appeal From Bickerton, J." of June 17, 1890, involving the amended petition of Junius Kaae, Haʻalelea's widow Amoe Ululani Kapukalakala Ena, represented by F. M. Hatch, made a plea in bar stating that the court had already delivered a judgement dismissing the case in 1866. Bickerton's decision stated: "After careful examination of this case, and of the authorities, I consider that the petitioner is estopped from what would amount to a re-hearing of the original petition.... The plea in bar is sustained." The full decision of the court read: "We support the decision appealed from.... he application of one desirous of suing as a next friend of a minor, was substantially complied with. The Judge's order for the issue of process, endorsed upon the petition, was a sufficient 'sanction' or authority for the person desirous of acting as the next friend of the minor to act throughout the proceedings in such capacity. Moreover, the minor in question was joined with several adult plaintiffs, and all were represented by counsel, and the case heard upon its merits. There is no claim that the case was not fully and adequately presented and tried."