Mokuaikaua Church

Mokuʻaikaua Church
The church today
Location: Kailua, Hawaii County, Hawaii
Area: 1.0 acre (4,000 m2)
Built: 1837/1820
Architectural style: Stone and lime masonry
Governing body: Private
NRHP Reference#: 78001015[1]
Added to NRHP: October 3, 1978

Mokuʻaikaua Church is the oldest Christian church in the Hawaiian Islands. Its address is 75-5713 Aliʻi Drive in Kailua-Kona, coordinates .

Contents

History

The congregation was first founded in 1820 by Asa and Lucy Goodale Thurston, from the first ship of American Christian Missionaries, the brig Thaddeus. They were given permission to teach Christianity to King Kamehameha II, and the Queen Regent Kaʻahumanu. After the royal court relocated to Honolulu, they briefly moved there. In October 1823, they learned that the people of Kailua-Kona had developed an interest in the new ways and had erected a small wooden church.[2] The first structure on the site was made from Ohiʻa wood and a thatched roof, on land obtained from Royal Governor Kuakini across the street from his Huliheʻe Palace. The name moku ʻaikaua literally means "district acquired by war" in the Hawaiian language,[3] probably after the upland forest area where the wood was obtained.[4]

After several fires, the present stone structure was constructed, partially from stones recycled from a nearby Heiau (ancient temple of the Hawaiian religion), from about 1835 to 1837.[5] The interior is decorated with Koa wood.

Today

The church continues to be in use and is open to the public for tours, with some artifacts on display, such as a scale model of the Thaddeus. The other notable members of that first company were Rev. and Mrs. Hiram Bingham I. [6] The state historic place register lists it as site 10-28-7231 as of January 1978.[7] On October 3, 1978 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings on the island of Hawaii‎ as site number 78001015.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. no date specified. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
  2. ^ Boone Morrison (August 11, 1992). "Mokuaikaua Church Nomination form". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/78001015.pdf. Retrieved 2009-07-26. 
  3. ^ Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert and Esther T. Mookini (2004). "lookup of Mokuʻaikaua ". in Place Names of Hawai'i. Ulukau, the Hawaiian Electronic Library, University of Hawaii Press. http://wehewehe.org/gsdl2.5/cgi-bin/hdict?j=pp&l=en&q=Mokuaikaua&d=. Retrieved September 28, 2010. 
  4. ^ Lloyd J. Soehren (2010). "lookup of Mokuʻaikaua ". in Hawaiian Place Names. Ulukau, the Hawaiian Electronic Library. http://ulukau.org/gsdl2.5/cgi-bin/hpn?l=en&a=d&d=HASHf0e5e3ae96db68e748ccef. Retrieved September 28, 2010. 
  5. ^ Lucy Goodale Thurston (1872). Life and Times of Mrs. Lucy G. Thurston: Wife of Rev. Asa Thurston, Pioneer Missionary to the Sandwich Islands. reprinted by Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2007. ISBN 978-1432545475. http://books.google.com/books?id=3E6KktuHQ74C. 
  6. ^ "Official Mokuaikaua Congregational Church web site". http://www.mokuaikaua.org. Retrieved 2009-07-26. 
  7. ^ Historic Places in Hawaii County on official state web site

External links

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