Hawaii's past lies written in stone, from magnificent heiau (temples) to the rubble and mortar walls of missionary churches to lava flows layered like the pages of a book. On the west side of Kauai, perched on a promontory overlooking the mouth of the Waimea river, lies a ruin that tells the story of one of the more obscure chapters in that book of stone: Paulaula. Today there's not much left of what later came to be called Russian Fort Elizabeth-the ruddy foundation stones roughing out the building's shape, surrounded by dry grasses and invasive haole koa trees-but at one time Paulaula was among the most significant structures on Kauai, both a fortress and a heiau that almost changed the course of Hawaiian history.
Constructed in 1816, Paulaula was a symbol of the power of Kaumualii, the high chief of Kauai, who intended to use it in a bold gambit to wrest control of Hawaii from King Kamehameha. But the story behind its construction and its rediscovery is filled with intrigue-of warring kings, merchant ships and Russian agents vying for power, wealth and prestige-a story that is still being rewritten today.
Until recently called Russian Fort Elizabeth, Paulaula in Waimea was a fort and royal compound built on the site of a heiau (temple) in 1816. It was the largest stone structure on Kauai at the time and the seat of power for King Kaumualii, the chief of Kauai. (ABOVE) A digital reconstruction of Paulaula as it might have looked in 1817, shortly after it was completed.
On January 31, 1815, a winter gale sent the Russian merchant ship Bering aground at Waimea, Kauai, laden with valuable cargo: furs and winter provisions bound for Russia's colony in Alaska.
The ship's American captain, James Bennett, and its crew made it safely ashore and spent two months on Kauai until an American ship arrived and gave them passage to New Archangel (now Sitka), Alaska, where the powerful trading enterprise, the Russian-American Company, was headquartered. Bennett angrily informed RAC chief manager Alexander Baranov that the Bering's cargo had been impounded by the chief of Kaua'i, Kaumualii, and urged Baranov to retake it by force.
Baranov, however, took a more moderate approach: He would send a representative, Georg Anton Schaffer, to try diplomacy. A medical doctor fluent in multiple languages, Schaffer had an impressive resume, including helping to develop a military balloon intended to assassinate Napoleon. But Baranov had bigger plans than just recovering cargo: He wanted Schaffer to establish trading relations with Hawai'i, but that risked stepping straight into a conflict between the ruler of Hawaii, King Kamehameha, and his rival Kaumualii.
In the early 1800s, British, Russian and American traders were crossing the Pacific, often stopping in Hawaii on their way to and from China, where they would sell furs and return with silk, porcelain and tea. The War of 1812 disrupted this lucrative trade and pitted the young nation of the United States against Great Britain. King Kamehameha, who had unified the Islands in 1810, was allied with Britain. To avoid capture by the British, American merchant ships sought refuge on Kauai, where they knew Kaumualii would protect them.
Kaumualii was an unwilling subject of Kamehameha. In 1810, to avoid a bloody invasion of Kauai, Kaumualii agreed to submit to Kamehameha's rule. In return, Kamehameha permitted Kaumualii to remain alii ai moku, or chief of the island of Kauai-though still a vassal. While Kamehameha believed he had reached a lasting agreement, that wasn't the case for Kaumualii.
"What people leave out of the history, because it makes it messy, is that during the War of 1812 Kaumualii had broken away from Kamehameha and stopped paying a tribute," writes Peter R. Mills, professor of anthropology at the University of Hawaii-Hilo, in his 2002 book Hawaii's Russian Adventure. "That is very clearly documented in several ships' journals in 1814, before the Russians ever show up."
Emboldened by the presence of the American traders, Kaumualii began openly defying Kamehameha. In April 1814 three American sea captains pledged their "friendship and protection as far as lay in their powers, at all times" to Kaumualii. But six months later the war was winding down, the Pacific trade resumed and the Americans sailed off, leaving Kaumualii without foreign alliances and vulnerable to Kamehameha's retribution.
So when the Bering washed ashore in 1815, a matter of weeks after the last American ship departed, Kaumualii saw an opportunity. "This Russian-American Company vessel wrecks on his shore, in front of his very own house, and he takes all the material," writes Mills.
Though it was the result of Russian involvement with the Hawaiian Islands in the nineteenth century, Paulaula was built by Kaumualii, in part to counter King Kamehameha's power. "Russians were not the primary builders, and they never occupied the fort," says University of Hawaii-Hilo professor Peter R. Mills. "Hawaiians built it and occupied it for forty-three years." A statue of Kaumualii (AT TOP and SEEN ABOVE), was dedicated at the site in 2021
Schaffer departed Alaska aboard an American ship in October 1815, posing as a naturalist on a "scientific mission." Baranov wanted a clearer understanding of the political dynamics in the Islands, so he directed Schaffer to meet with Kamehameha, then Kaumualii. "His instructions stipulated that only after he gained the trust of Kamehameha or Kaumualii, or both, was he to negotiate the return of the Bering's cargo or request any restitution. Both his arrival on a non-Russian vessel and his introduction as a naturalist gave Schaffer's mission a peaceful appearance," writes Mills.
Schaffer met Kamehameha in November 1815, but not everyone was buying the doctor's cover story, including English-born John Young, one of Kamehameha's most trusted advisers. Fortunately for Schaffer, both Kamehameha and his queen, Kaahumanu, needed medical attention: He treated the king for a heart condition and the queen for yellow fever, which helped advance his plan.
Baranov had told Schaffer to give the king a letter once he'd gained his trust, explaining that his company wanted to reclaim lost cargo on Kauai. Recognizing Kamehameha as the sovereign of all Hawaii, Baranov's letter asked the king for permission to use force. While Kamehameha had treated Schaffer well, giving him a house on Hawaii Island and land in Honolulu to build a storehouse for the RAC, Young saw trouble and the king refused to aid Schaffer in his recovery effort.
In spring 1816 three Russian ships arrived, and Schaffer escaped an increasingly tense situation on Hawaii Island. Sailing for Kauai, Schaffer would not be incognito: He was coming as the agent of a powerful European company aboard an armed vessel and prepared to use it. But that turned out to be unnecessary: Upon arriving in Waimea, Schaffer was surprised to find that Kaumualii had already sent a significant portion of the Bering's cargo to Alaska and planned to return the rest. He agreed to pay restitution in sandalwood for any items that had disappeared.
Kaumualii had not only defused a potential conflict, he had gained an ally. He noted that the Russians, unaccompanied by Kamehameha's men, "could be used to protect his chiefdom from Kamehameha," writes Mills. But Kaumualii didn't intend to stop there. He hoped the Russians might help him take back the islands that Kamehameha had seized.
Paulaula ("red fort") as it looks today, on the east bank of the Waimea river. The name, says Mills, "is the term Hawaiian soldiers stationed at the fort used. We know this from written documents and family histories. There's no record of Kaumualii ever using the name 'Fort Elizabeth.'"
Coincidentally, in a repeat of what had happened with Kamehameha and Ka'ahumanu, Kaumualii and one of his wives needed medical attention, and Schaffer treated both. Schaffer offered support in helping Kaumualii regain his sovereignty-not only from the Russian-American Company but also, surprisingly, from Imperial Russia. In May 1816 they signed an agreement placing Kauai under Russian protection. During the ensuing ceremony, says Mills, Kaumualii raised a Russian-American Company flag next to his residence.
The pact was further cemented with a ceremonial offering, according to an official report from July 1817 co-written by four Russians who participated. "After the contracts were concluded with the Russian-American Company, they constructed, as a sign of gratitude, a new 'morea' or temple, and made sacrifices of various kinds-fruits, and, if reports are correct, two men," they wrote.
"This may be the last reference to human sacrifice recorded for Kauai, and it came when Kaumualii was considering reconquering other islands," writes Mills.
According to Mills, the 1817 report's use of the plural, "contracts," might refer to a second, secret treaty stipulating that Kaumualii would provide five hundred people to conquer Oahu, Lanai, Maui and Molokai. Schaffer would provide ships and weapons in exchange for sandalwood. Schaffer also agreed to oversee the construction of new forts-one of them on the east bank of the Waimea river, on a spot where a heiau stood.
Construction began on September 12, 1816. Schaffer designed the star-shaped fort, and Kaumualii's wives were among the hundreds of Native Hawaiians who labored to build it. "Paulaula o Hipo was a nineteenth-century amalgam of Hawaiian and European monumental architecture," Mills says, "a combination of a heiau and a European fort; the former was imbued with ritual, the latter with military strategy, and both with social control." Mills suggests the location on the sacred eastern bank of the Waimea river indicates that the fort was a "dynamic interpretation" of a traditional war temple, imbued with spiritual significance and symbolism-not a purely utilitarian Western-style military fortification. Mills believes Paulaula was also intended to serve as a counter to Puukohola, Kamehameha's massive war heiau on Hawaii Island.
Construction continued at least through December 1816. Once complete, the octagonal fort was huge by contemporary standards, measuring 450 feet across, with walls 20 feet high and 15 feet thick-the largest stone structure ever built on Kauai until then.
Schaffer's achievement would be short-lived. Just as the fort was being completed, the Russian naval brig Rurik appeared in Honolulu, and Schaffer's alliance with Kaumualii quickly unraveled. The Rurik's commander, Lt. Otto von Kotzebue, assured Kamehameha that Imperial Russia had no intention to conquer Hawai'i. Kotzebue made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with Schaffer and would not sail to Kauai. To Kaumualii this was evidence that the Russian-American Company did not really back Schaffer. While the chief remained cordial, Schaffer no longer received military salutes. The Russian-American Company flag came down. In June 1817, Schaffer left Kauai.
While Kaumualii's dream of conquest went unfulfilled, he managed to distance himself from what has come to be called the Schaffer affair and retain control of Kaua'i, due in part to Paulaula. "Kaumualii used this resource to his full advantage, practicing military protocol of the period, firing cannons to salute ships and conspicuously displaying his mana," or spiritual power, says Mills. Visiting merchant captains described the fort as an impressive feat of military engineering.
For about forty more years, Paulaula continued to symbolize the power of the kingdom of Hawaii. Even after it was obsolete militarily, guards remained posted. But by 1864 it was closed and the last of its cannons removed.
(ABOVE) Aletha Kaohi, seen above, helped lead the effort to rename the site and recover its Hawaiian history.
Pa'ula'ula became a forgotten landmark in a remote area of a remote island. A government surveyor, Capt. George Jackson, created the first detailed map of the site in 1885. Drawn nearly seventy years after its construction, he described it as a "Russian fort" and guessed at what the ruin represented. His offhand description would leave a lasting impression: Paulaula became associated with a failed attempt at Russian colonization and was no longer understood to be the impressive heiau built by Kaumualii.
Until the 1960s the site was surrounded by cane fields but remained open to the public. In 1962 the fort and its surrounding seventeen acres were acquired by the State of Hawaii, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Unfortunately, the name Jackson assigned stuck, and it was listed on the register as "Russian Fort."
When it became a state park in 1972, a new name emerged: Russian Fort Elizabeth State Park, based on a name Schaffer recorded in his journal in honor of the empress of Russia. But few had called it that, and the name would lead many to believe it wasn't a culturally significant Hawaiian site. Because it has long been associated with Russian colonizers, Mills says, Paulaula hasn't been treated with the same reverence as other Hawaiian sites.
Waimea historian Aletha Kawelukawahinehololioolimaloa Goodwin Kaohi, executive director of the West Kauai Heritage Center and president of the Waimea Sugar Plantation Museum, offers guided walking tours at Paulaula and, like Mills, believes it deserves more recognition. She has long been campaigning to restore its Hawaiian name. "There is reason to believe that Jackson did not intend to officially designate the site as a Russian fort. It was merely a notation on his maps," says Kaohi, who is herself a descendant of Kaumualii. "In truth, the Russian experience on Kauai was limited to two short years, hardly enough time to give it a prominent place in Hawaiian history."
Kaohi isn't alone: Last March, vandals blacked out the word "Russian" on the site's signage, which at the time read "Russian Fort Elisabeth" (the spelling meant to reflect the softer Russian pronunciation of Elizabeth, says Mills). In a bizarre twist, the name change became a flashpoint in Russian-American relations; it was met with resistance from Russians and Russian-Americans, one of whom, Elena Branson, was indicted by the US Department of Justice for acting as a secret Russian agent-a development that only accelerated the effort to change the site's name. On June 14, 2022, a little more than a year after an eight-foot-tall statue of Kaumualii was unveiled at the site, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources approved the measure officially changing the name to Paulaula. The National Park Service is working to change the name on the National Register as well.
"Paulaula is imbued with sacred history," says Kaohi. "It had been Kaumualii's royal compound, and it was where a heiau had stood in the past. It was much more than a 'Russian fort.'"
