A local nonprofit land trust now owns a Hauula property containing a relatively intact heiau that it intends to protect and share with the public.
Hawaiian Islands Land Trust announced Thursday that it completed a purchase of 9 acres containing the Maunawila Heiau from a local family for $1.3 million provided by state and city land preservation funds.
The nonprofit said it is collaborating with the Hauʻula Community Association and the Koʻolauloa Hawaiian Civic Club to develop plans for creating an educational public preserve envisioned to include trails, interpretive signage and parking.
Maunawila Heiau is described as one of the last remaining relatively intact heiau in the Koolauloa region, and was built in stages beginning around 1500, according to the land trust.
The Hauula parcel was first bought by Louise Aoe McGregor in 1906 from the Territory of Hawaii. McGregor, a principal at Hauula Elementary School, lived on the property with her husband, Daniel, and children for about a decade until the 1920s when a fire destroyed their home.
Subsequent generations of McGregor descendants inherited but never occupied the land, the trust said.
Lurline McGregor, granddaughter of Louise and Daniel McGregor, praised the trust’s purchase. "We believe that our grandparents would be very honored to have this aina (land) shared with the entire community as an educational and cultural resource for the benefit of current and future generations," she said in a statement.
The state Legacy Lands Conservation Program and the city Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund each provided $650,000 for the purchase.
The acquisition is the first on Oahu for Hawaiian Islands Land Trust, which has conserved more than 17,000 acres in the state through similar efforts.
