"Be good to the land and the land will be good to you" -- motto (headline above) of the Hawaiian Monarchy.
Before leaving Honolulu this afternoon I toured the Iolani Palace - the official residence of King Kalakaua and his queen, Kapiolani and his sister-successor, Queen Liliuokalani.
This "American Florentine" style palace is the only royal palace on American soil.
After the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown the palace served as the capitol of the Provisional Government, the Republic, the Territory and finally the State of Hawaii until the new state capitol was completed in 1969.
The Friends of the Iolani Palace has restored the palace to its splendid 1890s appearance.
My tour guide, an older woman of Hawaiian descent, did a fantastic job of bringing the palace to life with her words and stories -- all while keeping a 5 and 6 year old that were part of our group entertained for over an hour.
Interestingly, I learned that Stanford Dole -- the founder of Dole Foods -- collaborated with the U.S. Army to overthrow the Hawaiian monarchy. Somehow this didn't get mentioned during yesterday's ride on the Pineapple Express at the Dole Plantation.
No comments:
Post a Comment