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 (c. 1778–May 26, 1824), 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 (now known as Deborah Kapule) 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
Kealiiahonui 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 (1842–1904), 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.... [T]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."
Reversal by Dole acting as justice while president of provisional government
According to "IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF KEALIIAHONUI, Deceased. PETITION FOR REVOGATION OF ORDER ADMITTING WILL TO PROBATE, AND APPOINTMENT or ADMINISTRATOR. APPEAL FROM DOLE, J. HEARING, FEBRUARY 23, 1893. DECISION, JUNE 2, 1893", The petition reads as follows: "An executor of a deceased wife's estate filed a petition to revoke an order admitting to probate the will of K., who it was claimed was the uncle of petitioner's executrix, and a plea in bar thereto was sustained. (8 Hawl 93.) The same person filed another petition with the same object, claiming to be a purchaser of the rights of another person alleged to be a niece and heir of the testator, K. A party in interest pleads the former proceedings in bar. The plea is overruled." Junius Kaae was the petitioner who had filed a similar petition in 1890, along with Kapiolani, Kalakaua, and others, which was given a judgment dismissing it, pleaded in bar, and sustained upon appeal of the full court. Levi Haʻalelea's widow, A. A. Haʻalelea (Amoe Ululani Kapukalakala Ena), pleaded the last proceeding in bar to the present (at that time) proceedings as "that in a proceeding heretofore had in this Court in which said J unius Kaae was a party, the identical matter now set up by said Kaae was litigated and a judgment rendered against him." The plea in bar this time was overruled. When the decision was adjudicated, both litigants were required to sign an agreement allowing Justice/President of the Provisional Government of Hawaii Sanford B. Dole to continue to adjudicate even though he was no longer seated on the high court but president of the Provisional Government of Hawaii after the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii. The court wrote, "Now, therefore, it is hereby agreed that the said Honorable S. B. Dole may participate in, make, sign, file and enter a decision and judgment in this cause, upon said appeal, in like manner as though he were still in commission as a Justice of said Court."
Coconut grove
Although believed to have been a royal grove, the coconut grove was planted in 1896 by William Lindemann, a German immigrant,[5] to harvest oil and copra (dried coconut meat).[6] Lindemann hoped to someday operate a vast copra empire, but he was unaware of how long the trees took to mature, and the plantation was a failure. Today the vast coconut groves along the coastline are often referred to as the Coconut Coast, with many of the trees outliving their expected lifespan but thinning out over time.
