Parker Ranch, one of the oldest cattle ranches in America, is marking its 170th anniversary this year. Its two historic homes, which stand just 50 feet apart in rural Waimea on Hawaii island, provide insights into the Parker family’s long, colorful history.

Mana Hale

(“House of the Spirit”)

In 1809 John Palmer Parker, a sailor from Massachusetts, jumped ship on Hawaii island and wound up making it his home. Eight years later he married Chiefess Kipikane, a granddaughter of Kamehameha I. They bought 2 acres on the slopes of Mauna Kea for $10 — the beginning of Parker Ranch — where they initially lived in a home made of ohia wood and pili grass.

Parker replaced that dwelling in about 1855 with a two-story New England-style saltbox. Unusual for its time, Mana Hale has 8-foot ceilings, which accommodated the 6-foot-4-inch Parker. Also of note are the house’s gleaming all-koa interior and its lack of a kitchen, bathroom and fireplace.

“It was common in those days to have the kitchen and bathroom in separate buildings,” said Nahua Guilloz, Parker Ranch’s corporate secretary and senior manager. “When the cooking was done, the family would fill a big washtub with coals from the fire and put it in the main room; that would heat the house. Back then many houses had fireplaces; I’m surprised Mana Hale didn’t, especially since it was at the chilly 3,500-foot elevation.”

In 1986 Parker Ranch’s last heir, Richard Smart, decided to relocate Mana Hale to his estate, Puuopelu, 12 miles away, so visitors could see it. The entire interior was dismantled board by board. The boards were carefully numbered and assembled near Puuopelu with a new exterior that was an exact reproduction of the original, which remained at the old homestead.

Among the items on view are oil portraits of family members; a handsome koa bed; a guitar and ukulele that belonged to Smart’s mother, Annie Thelma Parker Smart; and replicas of jewelry and clothing worn by Parker women, including Smart’s maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Dowsett Parker, who raised him after both of his parents died young.

Although they aren’t heirlooms, a koa chest, a hand-sewn Hawaiian quilt and bone china teacups and saucers in a lovely rose pattern also help create a 19th-­century ambience.

Puuopelu

(“Folding Hills”)

John Palmer Parker II and his wife, Hanai, purchased stately Puuopelu for $2,720 from an Englishman, Charles Notley, in 1879. It stands on 14 acres surrounded by 200 acres of verdant pasture.

Over the decades, ownership of the estate passed to Parker heirs, the final one being Richard Smart, who died in 1992. His will stipulated that Parker Ranch be owned and operated by a trust whose beneficiaries are Parker School, Hawaii Preparatory Academy, North Hawaii Community Hospital and the Richard Smart Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation.

A gifted singer and actor, Smart spent nearly 30 years performing on Broadway and in Europe with stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Nanette Fabray and Carol Channing. He returned to Hawaii for good in 1960 and oversaw extensive remodeling of Puuopelu a decade later.

One of the house’s most interesting features is hidden in plain sight. When Smart was in Europe for performances during World War II, he bought original art for Puuopelu. At one time 58 works by renowned painters such as Edgar Degas, Constantin Kluge and Pierre-Eugene Montezin adorned the walls in the Great Room, which doubles as a vault.

“As part of the renovation, Richard raised the room’s 8-foot ceilings to 16 feet,” Guilloz said. “The walls, floor and ceiling are concrete. The pocket doors look like wood, but they’re actually metal. When we close them the room becomes a large fireproof safe. It’s ingenious! The art and antiques can be displayed and protected for insurance purposes.”

Other treasures include John Palmer Parker’s muzzleloader, which dates from between 1800 and 1810 and still works; some 30 calabashes from his collection, most crafted from koa harvested at the ranch; and a silver sword that looks like an artifact from medieval Europe.

King Kamehameha V established the Royal Order of Kamehameha I in 1865 to honor the legacy of his grandfather and to defend the sovereignty of the kingdom of Hawaii. When he became king (1874), Kalakaua had three silver swords made as emblems of the Royal Order. A member of the Order and Kalakaua’s privy council, Samuel Parker, only grandson of John Palmer Parker, was given one of the swords.

He also received two bronze vases from the emperor of Japan while he was serving as Queen Liliu‘okalani’s minister of foreign affairs. Dating from the Meiji period (1868-1912), the vases are decorated with relief designs of hawks on plum trees and have handles shaped like dragons’ heads. Missing is the imperial chrysanthemum crest that is normally on gifts from the emperor, which suggests the vases came from his personal collection.

They flank a blue porcelain vase that was presented by Emperor Akihito, the reigning emperor of Japan, during his visit to Parker Ranch in 2009. That vase bears the chrysanthemum crest.

The ranch’s headquarters moved to Puuopelu in May 2011. Offices occupy the three bedrooms, caretaker’s house and guesthouse and are off-limits, but visitors are welcome to walk through the gardens, kitchen, great room and formal dining room at their leisure.

“Public tours were not available at Puuopelu and Mana Hale from 2008 to 2012, but houses are meant to have people in them,” said Guilloz, the senior manager. “It’s wonderful to see them filled with voices and footsteps again.”

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.