Puukohola << `POO` oo koh HOH lah HAY aw, >> Heiau National Historic Site, in Kawaihae on the island of Hawaii, is the site of a temple dedicated to the Hawaiian god of war, Kuka’ilimoku. Puukohola Heiau means temple on the hill of the whale.
The prophet Kapoukahi advised Kamehameha I, then a Hawaiian chief, that he would successfully conquer all the Hawaiian islands if he built a temple for Kuka’ilimoku. Thousands of men, women, and children built the temple in 1790 and 1791. The workers passed lava rock along a human chain that stretched about 20 miles (32 kilometers). They used these rocks to build the temple on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The building is about 20 feet (6 meters) high, 100 feet (30 meters) wide, and 225 feet (70 meters) long.
Kamehameha gained control of Hawaii Island in a bloody nine-year war that began in 1782. John Young, a British sailor, and Isaac Davis, an American seaman, taught Kamehameha and his warriors to use cannons and muskets. Young had become stranded on the island of Hawaii in 1790, and Davis was the only survivor of an attack by natives on the schooner Fair American in 1790. With this help, Kamehameha captured and united the other main islands, except for Kauai and Niihau, by 1795. Kaumualii, ruler of Kauai and Niihau, accepted Kamehameha’s rule in 1810, and so Kapoukahi’s prediction came true.
Two other heiau (places of worship), Mailekine and Hale O Kapuni, are on the historic site. The remains of John Young’s home are also there.
Congress authorized the park as a historic site in 1972. The park officially opened in 1974.
