Traditional stonework is getting a new generation of hands in Hawaiʻi, and it is happening on a site where the original builders set the standard centuries ago.
Hui Mālama O Kāneiolouma says it has completed the Uhau Humu Pōhaku Reconstruction Project, an 18-month training program focused on traditional Hawaiian dry-stack masonry. The work restored about 410 linear feet of the ancient inner walls at the Kāneiolouma Heiau Complex in Poʻipū. Funding came from a $50,000 grant through Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation’s Native Hawaiian Organization Preservation Stewardship Training Program.
The project was delivered through 11 hands-on workshops held from January 2025 through July 2026. Kumu Peleke Flores led rotating crews that averaged 17 participants per session, with community volunteers supporting the work. Organizers said some trainees are now moving into Alakaʻi leadership roles, with the goal of leading future crews and keeping the work going.
Each training session paired cultural protocol with field instruction, and a training workbook was created to guide the program. In a move that will sound familiar to anyone who has chased quality in restoration, key wall sections were intentionally dismantled and rebuilt until the work was pono, or correct, making the rebuild itself part of the lesson.
The Kāneiolouma Heiau Complex dates to at least the mid-1400s and includes house sites, taro fields, fishponds, shrines, and the only intact makahiki sporting arena in Hawaiʻi. The wall restoration followed 1959 documentation by Hawaiian archaeological expert Henry Kekahuna, whose maps continue to guide the site’s recovery. Hui Mālama O Kāneiolouma stewards the complex under an agreement with the County of Kauaʻi that runs through 2037, and the next phase of restoration is expected to continue with support from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the State of Hawaiʻi.
For mason contractors and restoration crews watching this work, the takeaway is straightforward: strong outcomes come from solid documentation, repeatable training materials, patient rebuild work when the wall dictates it, and a plan to develop the next crew leads alongside the craft.
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