In this section of the park website, you can learn more about how the National Park Service takes care of Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. Explore the Laws & Policies that govern park management. Find out how basic planning and management decisions are made in the Foundation Document. Discover how to get a Commercial Use Authorization or Special Use Permit. On this page, learn the significance of Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau and how to contact Park Management with your comments and suggestions.
What Makes Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park Significant?
- The park protects one of the best preserved Pu‘uhonua in the Hawaiian Islands, a sacred place of refuge that exemplifies the important role of the kapu system in governing Hawaiian society.
- Reconstructed by the National Park Service, Hale o Keawe is the only representation of a traditional hale poki (consecrated house) on the island. At Hale o Keawe, a ruling dynasty cared for the sacred bones of Keawe‘Īkekahiali‘iokamoku and other paramount chiefs, imparting a strong spiritual power to the Pu‘uhonua site that is still felt today.
- The park encompasses the Royal Grounds of Hōnaunau where many generations of high ranking chiefs governed, including Keawe, who was once the paramount chief of the Island of Hawai‘i.
- The religious and cultural significance of this wahi pana connects visitors, communities, and cultural practitioners to its resources and inspires collaborative stewardship of these lands.
- Due to its great size and high degree of preservation, the coastal village of Ki‘ilae is an outstanding archeological landscape with great potential to reveal new insights about daily Hawaiian life from the precontact times to the late 1920s.
- From the Royal Grounds where high chiefs governed, to an agricultural village where commoners lived and farmed, the park protects a great variety of cultural resources that represent a tremendous degree of social stratification and illustrate the richness and complexity of Hawaiian culture.
Contact Park Management
We, the staff of Puʽuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park, are dedicated to preserving and protecting this culturally significant site for the benefit and inspiration of all people. Please let us know how we can better protect the park and serve you. Tell us what you think we’re doing right too.
To contact Park Management electronically via this website, please visit the Contact Us page.
If you would prefer to write your comments or suggestions and mail or deliver the form in person, please use this Comment & Suggestion form.
