The original took the long route
The Kamehameha statue in Kapaʻau is the original casting. The Architect of the Capitol’s history records that the statue was cast in Paris in 1880 and lost in a shipwreck on its journey to Hawaiʻi. A second casting arrived safely and was unveiled in Honolulu in 1883. The first was recovered and brought to Hawaiʻi; it was placed at the courthouse in Kapaʻau in 1912. That distinction is easy to miss when the Honolulu image is so widely recognized. Architect of the Capitol · Kamehameha I statue history ↗
The years in between matter
North Kohala’s Kamehameha Day organizers fill in the local chronology: the recovered statue was dedicated at ʻĀinakea on May 8, 1883, before its later move to the courthouse. Their account also follows the community’s practice of painting the figure and the restoration completed in 2001. Conservator Glenn Wharton worked with cultural practitioners and residents through a process that considered the statue’s local meaning. The organizers describe continuing care by trained local volunteers, alongside the lei and ceremonies of Kamehameha Day. North Kohala Kamehameha Day Celebration · Statue History ↗
Care is part of the history
Taken together, these accounts invite us to look beyond the dramatic shipwreck. The statue’s history includes the decisions, skills and repeated work that keep it part of community life. For readers who pass it on an ordinary errand, the restoration story offers a fresh question: who taught the next person how to care for it? A photograph of a lei preparation, or a recollection of a restoration meeting, can help describe that quieter history. The monument and the work around it belong in the same story.
Based on the linked published accounts, with Kohala Signal’s local perspective. Sources consulted September 12, 2026.