Menehune Ditch

Menehune Ditch (Kikiaola)

The Menehune Ditch is an ancient irrigation aqueduct in Waimea, and the stonework here is unlike anything else found in pre-contact Hawaiian construction. The precisely cut and fitted stones suggest engineering techniques that don't match the typical building methods of ancient Hawaiians.

The Construction Mystery

Ancient Hawaiians typically stacked rough, uncut stones for their walls and terraces. The Menehune Ditch is different. Its stones are smoothly cut and tightly fitted, more similar to Incan stonework in South America than anything else in Polynesia. The stones were transported from a quarry nearly six miles away.

Hawaiian legend credits the Menehune, a mythical race of small people said to have arrived from the Marquesas Islands around 300 AD, centuries before the Tahitian settlers who built most of the Hawaiian culture we know today. The legend says the Menehune built the entire ditch in a single night, passing stones hand to hand in a line stretching miles.

What's Left to See

Only a small section of the original aqueduct remains visible along Menehune Road. It looks like a stone-lined ditch at first glance. A marker on the road identifies the site. The visible portion is modest, but the historical significance is real. This is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Visiting

From Highway 50, turn onto Menehune Road near mile marker 23 in Waimea. The ditch is a short distance up the road on the left, across from the Waimea Swinging Bridge. Free roadside stop. Five minutes is all you need, though you may linger reading the interpretive sign. Combine with a visit to Russian Fort Elisabeth and the Captain Cook Monument, both in Waimea.