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Kailua: Two Seas, A Thousand Years
The name says it all. Kailua — "two seas" in Hawaiian — takes its name from the two currents that meet in Kailua Bay, and the two ancient fishponds, Kawainui and Ka'elepulu, that once defined this landscape. It is a place shaped by water in every direction.
People have called this corner of Windward O'ahu home for at least 1,500 years. The earliest settlers lived along the slopes surrounding Kawainui Marsh — then a lagoon open to the sea — fishing, farming taro, and building a community in the shadow of the Ko'olau Mountains.
By the 16th century, Kailua had become something more. During the reign of King Kākuhihewa, the town replaced Waikiki as the royal seat of the O'ahu chiefs. The ali'i were drawn here by the abundance of fish, the calm canoe landings of Kailua Bay, and the fertile land spreading inland from the coast. Ancient heiau dotted the landscape. The great freshwater fishpond at Kawainui — once the largest cultivated fishpond on O'ahu — fed thousands.
The biggest moment in Kailua's ancient history came in 1795, when King Kamehameha the Great conquered O'ahu and unified the Hawaiian Islands. After his victory at the Battle of Nu'uanu, Kamehameha granted Kawainui Marsh and the surrounding lands to the warriors and chiefs who had helped him. The town's political center gradually shifted toward Honolulu, but Kailua remained — fertile, beautiful, and deeply rooted.
Modern Kailua began to take shape in 1917, when Harold Kainalu Long Castle acquired 9,500 acres of land around the town. Castle donated land for schools, churches, and what became Marine Corps Base Hawaii. His family's charitable foundation, the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, continues its work in the community to this day.
The population surged after World War II — from 1,540 residents in 1940 to more than 25,000 by 1960 — as subdivisions spread across the land between the mountains and the sea. Through it all, what made Kailua distinctive endured: the beach, the marsh, the mountains, and the particular quality of light on a Windward morning.
Today, approximately 40,000 people call Kailua home. Among them, in recent years, was Barack Obama — who chose this town as his winter White House, drawn by the same things that have drawn people here for fifteen centuries.
The Mokes are still out there. The marsh still filters the light at dusk. The currents still meet in the bay. Kailua, two seas, a thousand years.