Pu’uhonua O Hōnaunau National Historical Park

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Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park preserves an ancient Hawaiian place of refuge. This was the second stop on our ‘Best of Kona’ excursion.

If you broke a law, any law, in old Hawaii, the penalty was death. The only way to escape that sentence was to flee to the sanctuary of a pu’uhonua. There, a priest would provide absolution to the law-breaker.

Just outside the walls of the sanctuary are the remains and reconstruction of temples, royal fishponds and a village where the chiefs lived for generations. The ancient nobility were buried here, but their remains were moved to the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii in 1858.