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Arts & Culture
KEAWALA’I CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
Just south of Makena Bay landing is one of the island’s earliest churches, Keawala’i Congregational Church. Its name means “peaceful harbor” or “tranquil haven.” The small pebbly cove in front of the church is formed by two points of lava. The points shelter the cove’s inner waters during the most adverse ocean conditions. The north point of the cove is actually a small rock islet with three kiawe trees growing on it. To the east of the cove is Maluaka Beach.
 The area was apparently a sacred place in ancient times. In the kiawe and cactus on the hillside “not far from the church at Makena,” archaeologist Winslow M. Walker from the Bishop Museum noted a large heiau, “said to be of sacrificial class but now reduced largely to a shapeless pile of rocks.” Walker conducted an all-isalnd survey in 1931. Walker said the ancient site was called the Kalani Heiau, measured 126 feet across the front and had a width of 98 feet. It was apparently an open platform eight feet above the surrounding countryside and was built of rough aa blocks with some coral and pebbles on top. Its interior structure had largely been demolished by cattle, he said.
Historian Inez Ashdown, whose stories came from living with and talking to Hawaiian old-timers, said that the heiau that stood a few yards above Keawalai Church was named One’uli (land of mystery) or Onelau’ena (land of plenty). There was once a sacred coconut grove there called Nahawale in reference, she said, to the sacred lineage of the Maui chiefs. According to Ashdown, the heiau was a place of healing. She says the land around Nahawale was a pu’uhonua, a place of refuge.“
In later times, although the area remained part of a large village in the Honua’ula district, the ancient chiefs and customes were forgotten or discarded for a new order and today the land is graced only by the beauty of Faith at Keawalai Church, and a few new homes,” she wrote in her book KE ALALOA O MAUI, which was published in 1970.
During the 19th century, Makena was the busiest settlement in South Maui. Cattle from Ulupalakua Ranch and the other pastures in the Upcountry area were taken down the mountain to Makena Landing and shipped to the market in Honolulu. Up until 1912, barrels of sugar, pineapples, eggs, poultry and vegetables packed the holds of every nterisland steamer that plied the waters between Honolulu and Hilo. The port was second only to Lahaina in economic importance on Maui. By the 1920s inter-island boat traffic had shifted to other ports on the island and Makena withered.
Forty years after the French explorer La Perouse visited Maui in 1786, Protestant missionaries began their work on Maui. Because of the importance of the port at Makena, they began a mission there shortly after their arrival. There were over one hundred families living in the area at the time. The establishment of that mission was soon followed by others at Kanaio, Keawakapu and Kalepolepo.
The first Keawalai church was a pili grass structure erected in 1832. In 1855 parishioners gathered wood as well as stone and coral for lime from the nearby reefs and built a small, but more substantial church that lasted until today. The stone walls of the church are three feet thick.
In the churchyard there is an old graveyard, the resting place for members of the old Makena families. A number of the tombstones have cameo photographs.
When the steamers stopped coming to Makena the population declined. For a variety of reasons, the church lost its worshippers and was virtually abandoned. However, it has come back and is as strong and active today as it ever was.
In 1996, artist Dale Zarrella carved petroglyph designs of a family of four plus the other generations within a family on two rocks. The designs were incorporated into the church’s annual luau theme for that year and the following year. Today the stones are included in the sanctuary of the church.
In the summer of 1998, Sam Lu’uloa, a stonemason, was commissioned to restore a section of the stone wall surrounding the church. The 100-foot section of the wall is located between the sidewalk and gated entrances to the church. One day the entire wall surrounding the church will be restored.
In the winter of that same year, Charlie Noland, a craftsman, fashioned five stone lamps for the church’s celebration of the season of Advent. Although the stone lamps incorporate modern materials (a wick made of synthetic fiber and pure liquid paraffin) the design of the lamps are based on early Hawaiian stone lamps that used wicks of olona fibers or kapa (bark cloth) strips and oil expressed from kukui nuts.
In 2000, a columbarium (vault for urns) was erected in the cemetary. The design included the use of small pebbles, ili’ilii, and several sleeping mats that were used for the church’s annual Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. The design intended to reflect the interior of a hale noa,, sleeping house. A stone lamp representing the Christ Candle was also included. Regular services are held every Sunday and the church is a popular choice for weddings.
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Braddah-Nics Lexicon
Upcountry is more than an area; it really is a frame of mind. One long-time upcountry resident, a painting contractor, states flatly, "You have to know how to live easy when you live upcountry. If you rush-rush-rush, you miss the best parts of being here." For him, the best parts included noticing which trees are in bloom, talking story with neighbors and friends, enjoying watching his active kids growing up and throwing great barbecues and garage parties for family and friends. 
