Hui o Laka: History

The Roots of our forest ‘ohana

In 1952, Joseph M. Souza, Jr. “Koke’e Joe” to many, engaged two Kaua’i women, Ruth Knudsen Hanner and Isabel Fayé  to help organize “Hui o Laka” for the purpose of creating a visitor center for Koke’e. Koke’e was a Territorial park with no visitor amenities.

Souza engineered the relocation and rebuilding of two World War II buildings two miles

up the road , bringing them to the north edge of Kanaloahuluhulu Meadow. He turned them into what are now The Koke’e Lodge and Koke’e Natural History Museum. In the meantime, Hanner and Fayé rallied community support and designed and created the first exhibits.

Costs for this boot-strap community effort were supported by over 300 Kauai residents and visitors who became members of Hui o Laka for a donation of $2. That early handwritten membership list, preserved by Hui o Laka, is a treasure trove of old time Kauai residents – it even includes Eric Shinseki, a famous Kauaian who went on to become the U.S. Army’s Chief of Staff. Charter Lifetime Members donated more to the cause.

On November 28, 1953, proud founders Joe Souza, Ruth Hanner, and Isabel Fayé joined friends and well-wishers in opening the doors of the building that has served over five decades as the visitor and activity center for the park. Rustic touches like ohi’a posts and railings, as well as handcarved redwood signs framed in pine, softened the utilitarian structures.

The building Souza turned into the Koke’e Lodge is operated as a for-profit concession, currently Kikiaola Land Company. The Koke’e Museum is operated by Hui o Laka.

The philosophy behind it all

What inspired Hui o Laka’s founders to go to so much effort to initiate a natural history museum in an isolated and then, not much used, mountain park on Kauai?  All three loved and were deeply committed to the Koke’e region. Both Ruth Hanner and Isabel Fayé’s family figured in the 20th century history of these upland watersheds, indeed of the whole island. And Souza was determined that Kauai’s parks would be among the best in America and the world.  

It was after a trip to Calfornia that Souza, long the ranger for Koke’e, came home fired up to bring what he had learned to his beloved Koke’e. In 1951, he had visited numerous state and national parks in Calfornia, looking behind the scenes at all aspects of park operations and visitor services. Inquiries, replys, and thank yous from that exploratory trip are still archived in the library of Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.

Over five decades since the founding, Hui o Laka continues to serve visitors to these mountain parklands, both every day at Kokee Natural History Museum, as well as through festivals, guided hikes, and an active volunteer stewardship program, Kokua Koke’e.