King Kamehameha Statue
A statue of Kamehameha the Great, the famous king who united the Hawaiian Islands in the early 19th century, stands watch over his descendants in North Kohala. The 8½-foot-tall figure wears the king's sacred feather kihei, mahiole, and kaei (cape, helmet, and sash). This is actually the original of the statue fronting the Judiciary Building on King Street in Honolulu. Cast in Florence in 1880, it was lost at sea. A replica was commissioned and shipped to Honolulu, but the original statue was later found in a Falklands Island junkyard. It now stands in front of the old Kohala Courthouse in Kapaau, next to the highway on the way toward Pololu Valley. Every year on King Kamehameha Day (June 11), Kohala residents honor their most famous son with a celebration that involves a parade and draping the statue in dozens of handmade floral lei.
