Oral History with Video

Kahuā Ranch 'Ohana Reunion

Welcome to Kahuā Ranch

Kahuā  Ranch is located on 8500 acres of land on Kohala Mountain and has been a continuous ranching operation since its purchase in 1928 by Atherton Richards and Ronald Von Holt. With most of the employees living on the ranch, Kahuā has a rich history that has touched the lives of many.    
At one of the semi-annual brandings, Amoo Kainoa, wife of long time paniolo, Godfrey Kainoa, realized the need to bring the families home to talk story and share their experiences working on the ranch and this DVD is a record of that reunion that includes the stories and festivities that took place during the three day weekend reunion.
Over the decades, ranch families and their descendants have lived, worked and loved the land. Such names as Hoʽopai, Akina, Kainoa, Yamamoto, Salvador, Faisca, Tavares and Napier endure along with the evidence of their contributions.
The Hoʽopai family was one of the ranch’s mainstays. “Clem Hoʽopai Sr. was the fence foreman. He was a good man and I worked closely with him. Lily Hoʽopai was Clem’s wife and she worked here in the house doing laundry and that kind of thing. Their sons James Hoʽopai and his older brother, Clem Hoʽopai, Jr., “Junior” is what we called him, both worked here,” Monty Richards.
The Kainoa family is another mainstay of the ranch “I’ve worked with five generations of Kainoas. When I first came to Kahuʽa to work, Peter Kainoa was waterman. His son, John Kainoa, worked here also as a cowboy. He worked in the slaughterhouse, did the cowboy work and did the milking in the morning.” Monty Richards.