Stories by Hank Soboleski

ISLAND HISTORY: The mysterious Malae Heiau at Wailua, Kauai

In 1824, Kaahumanu (1768-1832) ordered the destruction of all vestiges of the old Hawaiian religion on Kauai by burning wooden idols and tearing down heiau, including Kauai’s largest heiau, Malae Heiau, located near the mouth of the Wailua River.

ISLAND HISTORY: A brief history of Puhi Camp, Kauai

Although previously published articles indicate that Grove Farm’s employee housing Puhi Camp (c. 1917-1980s) was built during the 1920s, newspaper accounts I’ve recently uncovered reveal activity at Puhi Camp as early as 1917.

ISLAND HISTORY: The Turning Point ghost at Kipu, Kaua‘i

William K. Yamanaka, PhD (b. 1931), the author of “Kipu-Huleia, The Social History of a Plantation Community” and “Huleia, the Journey Home,” was born and raised at Kipu Sugar Plantation’s (1907-1940) Rice Camp and was educated early on at Huleia Grammar School.

ISLAND HISTORY: The story of the ‘Ghost Dog of Po‘ipu’

In 1972, Kaua‘i-born historian, author, and University of Hawai‘i professor Rubellite ‘Ruby’ Kawena Kinney Johnson (b. 1933) told “Honolulu Star-Bulletin” newspaper writer Lois Taylor the story of the “Ghost Dog of Poipu” that her father, Ernest Kaipoleimanu Kinney (1906-1987), had told her some years earlier.