A new gate... and why we have one in the first place

February 23, 2015

Mahalo to Grove Farm Company for our lovely new gate!  This is the third gate erected across the entrance to Makauwahi Cave since the first one that we built eighteen years ago.  But why do we have a gate in the first place?

The story begins with one of the Makauwahi Cave Reserve’s founders; “Auntie La

Mahalo to Grove Farm for a new cave gate! Hope it lasts!

France.”  When Lida and I first obtained permission to work in the cave, along with Dr. Storrs Olson and Helen James of the Smithsonian Institution, we needed not only various government permits and the permission of the current landowner, Grove Farm Company, but also something more fundamental: permission and indeed the blessing of the cave’s traditional Hawaiian owner, the late La France Keahikunikekauonohi Kapaka-Arboleda.  This dear lady was not only the direct descendant of the 19th century owners, but also a member of the Kauai and Niihau County Island Burial Council, a Kauai Office of Hawaiian Affairs official, and head of the Kauai Habitat for Humanity program – a busy, practical lady whose energies just welled up out of her sparkling eyes and galvanized all around her. She became a dear friend to us, and wise counselor.

We knew from old stories and our cave mapping that there were burials far up in the back of the cave – not at all where we were interested in digging.  With La France’s guidance, we made sure that our unfolding program there provided much-needed protection for the burials, as prior to our years beginning there in 1992, grave-robbers had disturbed the sanctity of this family cemetery, so we wanted to help set that right any way we could.  La France wanted a gate, to protect her `iwi kapuna (ancestral bones), and she had the backing of Federal law to request this.  Grove Farm was anxious to comply, and then Vice President Allan Smith (who also has Hawaiian ancestry) worked closely with us to protect the site.  The first gate we built with the help of a welder from Grove Farm was a quite solid affair, and it lasted for years.  Many break-in attempts had left it quite battered.  We built a second in about 2008 and it lasted until recently.  This new one is the strongest yet, and we look forward to years of service.

The gate has always been the most controversial thing about the place.  Folks don’t like to be locked out of anything, even for a good cause like protecting a family cemetery.  Our best protection against vandalism has always been obvious, if not always attainable:  keep the cave open, with a knowledgeable guide on duty, as much as possible.  For over a decade, we struggled by with the cave open just one day per week, every Sunday.  As visitation has grown (this past year we had almost 30,000 visitors to the reserve), more and more people, especially short-term visitors to the island, were being disappointed by the long stretch, often six days running, of being locked out of the cave.  We were finally able this past year to offer guided tours three, and now four days per week: Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And we would dearly love to find somebody to cover any of the other three days per week (call 808.482.1059, or email makauwahi@gmail.com if you’re interested).

So our apologies for needing a gate, but we just do.  I close with a quote directly from a signed letter to me from La France dated August 17, 1997, from the MCR archives, giving us her blessing to care for her beloved cave:

“As a direct descendant of Keahikuni, the original awardee of the limestone cave, through my grandfather, Joseph Keahipiole Kapaka, his mother, Komolole Kapaka, and her father Kapakaokalani, husband of Kapaapaina of Niihau, I submit my approval.”

Mahalo La France, we miss you.

By David Burney