Oʻahu Cemetery

{{Short description|Cemetery in Honolulu, Hawaii}} {{Use American English|date=September 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox cemetery | name = O{{okina}}ahu Cemetery | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = OahuCemetery&Chapel-boundarywall.JPG | image_size = | alt = | caption = O{{okina}}ahu Cemetery & Chapel boundary wall at Nu{{okina}}uanu Ave. & Judd St. | pushpin map = | map_type = | map_size = | map_caption = | mapframe = | established = {{Start date|1844|11}} | abandoned = <!-- or | closed = --> | location = 2162 Nuʻuanu Avenue | country = United States | coordinates = | type = | style = | owner = | size = {{Convert|4.38|acre}} | graves = | interments = | cremations = | leases = | website = | findagraveid = | politicalgeo = | footnotes = | nrhp = | embedded = }}

The '''O{{okina}}ahu Cemetery'''<ref>{{gnis|type=retired|358690|O{{okina}}ahu Cemetery}}</ref> is the resting place of many notable early residents of the Honolulu area. They range from missionaries and politicians to sports pioneers and philosophers. Over time it was expanded to become an area known as the '''Nu{{okina}}uanu Cemetery'''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DoLfAAAAMAAJ&q=oahu+cemetery+also+known+as+nuuanu|title=Battleship Oklahoma, BB-37|author1=Jeff Phister |author2=Thomas Hone |author3=Paul Goodyear |page=170|isbn=978-0806139173|year=2008|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press}}</ref>

==History== It was the first public cemetery in Honolulu, founded in November 1844. Due to the growth in the whaling industry, discussion had started in 1836 on the need for a new burial ground that was not associated with a specific church. The {{convert|4.38|acre}} site was purchased for $300 and $350 granted for a house. The money was raised by selling subscriptions on 59 plots of $12 each. Later another {{convert|3|acre|m2}} were purchased from Gerrit P. Judd to expand in 1860. Rev. Samuel C. Damon served on the cemetery association in the early days. The first recorded burial was American sailor H. Wolley, for $2.50.<ref>{{cite journal|hdl=10524/384|title=Here Lies History: Oahu Cemetery, a Mirror of Old Honolulu|journal=Hawaiian Journal of History|publisher=Hawaiian Historical Society|volume=1|author=Richard A. Greer|year=1967|pages=53–71}}</ref> thumb|right|Crematorium built in 1906

In 1906, the first public crematory in the Hawaiian Islands, designed by architect Oliver G. Traphagen opened at the cemetery.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oahucemetery.org/cremation.html|access-date=May 20, 2010|work=Oahu Cemetery web site|title=Crematory Facilities & Cremation Services|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101016004536/http://www.oahucemetery.org/cremation.html|archive-date=October 16, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Firsts and almost firsts in Hawai'i|author1=Robert C. Schmitt |author2=Ronn Ronck |page=80|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EZ82fVMn1joC&q=nuuanu%20cemetery&pg=PA80|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|year=1995|isbn=978-0824812829}}</ref>

After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, all paper currency on the islands was withdrawn and replaced with Hawaii overprint notes, in case the Japanese invaded. Faced with the task of quickly destroying $200 million of cash, the crematory at the cemetery was used to burn it, instead of risking transport to the mainland.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/targetpearlharbo00slac|url-access=registration|quote=crematorium.|title=Target: Pearl Harbor|author=Michael Slackman|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|year=1990|isbn=978-0824813789|page=[https://archive.org/details/targetpearlharbo00slac/page/246 246]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gZLaAAAAMAAJ&q=oahu+crematory|title=Protecting the president: the inside story of a secret service agent|author1=Dennis V.N. McCarthy |author2=Philip Wayne Smith |publisher=Morrow|year=1985|isbn=978-0688054229|page=105}}</ref> However, progress was too slow, so the larger furnace at the Aiea sugar mill was also used.<ref name="AdvertiserRare">{{cite news|url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Jul/27/ln/507270358.html|title=Wartime currency not so rare|first=Bob|last=Krauss|publisher=Honolulu Advertiser|date=2005-07-27|access-date=2009-11-15}}</ref><ref name="years">{{cite book|title=Hawaii's war years, 1941–1945: Prepared under the direction of the Hawaii Hawaii War Records Committee|page=92|author=Gwenfread Elaine Allen|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|year=1950|location=Honolulu|isbn=978-0837153315|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KSN6AAAAIAAJ&q=crematory}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Numismatist|volume=114|year=2001|publisher=American Numismatic Association|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LZcaAAAAYAAJ&q=oahu+crematorium|page=1467}}</ref>{{Ref label|A|a|none}}

[[File:OahuCemetery-HFD-obelisk.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Honolulu Fire Department memorial, 1885]] An area called the ''Seamen's Lot'' contains many unmarked graves for sailors, provided by the Honolulu Sailor's Home. Another plot is dedicated to firefighters, marked by a monument {{convert|15|ft|m}} high. Two dozen were killed by strafing in the December 7, 1941, attack.<ref>{{cite book|title=The American resting place: four hundred years of history through our cemeteries and burial grounds|author= Marilyn Yalom|author-link= Marilyn Yalom|publisher= Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|year=2008|isbn=978-0618624270|url=https://archive.org/details/americanrestingp00yalo|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/americanrestingp00yalo/page/245 245]–49}}</ref>

O{{okina}}ahu Cemetery is located at 2162 Nu{{okina}}uanu Avenue, at the base of the Nu{{okina}}uanu Valley at coordinates {{coord| 21|19|27|N| 157|51|1|W| type:landmark_region:US-HI|display=inline,title}}.<ref>{{cite web|title=Oʻahu Cemetery|url=http://www.oahucemetery.org|access-date=May 20, 2010}}</ref> In 1863, King Kamehameha IV built the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii across the street for the Hawaiian royal family. In Punchbowl Crater (to the south) the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific was founded in 1948. Just north of the Royal Mausoleum, the "Nu{{okina}}uanu Memorial Park" was added in 1949, with its own funeral home.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nmplimited.com/Business/infobusiness/infobusiness.htm|title=Company History|publisher=Nuʻuanu Memorial Park Ltd.|work=archive of former web site|year=2000|access-date=2009-11-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071113095158/http://nmplimited.com/Business/infobusiness/infobusiness.htm|archive-date=2007-11-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url= http://archives.starbulletin.com/2004/05/06/business/story1.html|date=May 6, 2004|title=Operator walks away from Nuuanu Memorial Park: The landowners are suing cemetery manager RightStar following a two-year rent dispute|newspaper=Honolulu Star-Bulletin|author=Dave Segal}}</ref> In 1958, a Japanese cemetery was added on adjacent land called "Honolulu Memorial Park".<ref>{{cite web|title=Honolulu Memorial Park|url=http://honolulumemorialpark.com/|access-date=November 28, 2009|archive-date=March 27, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327063520/http://www.honolulumemorialpark.com/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1964, two Columbaria (buildings to store cremated remains) called the Kyoto Gardens were constructed.

One of the buildings is a replica of a Buddhist temple. They are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref name="focus">{{cite web|author=Lorraine Minatoishi Palumbo|url={{NRHP url|id=04000020}}|title=Kyoto Gardens of Honolulu Memorial Park nomination form|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service|date=July 1, 2003|access-date=2009-11-28}}</ref>

Strictly speaking, the original 1844 cemetery is called "O{{okina}}ahu Cemetery", although the extended area is often called "Nu{{okina}}uanu Cemetery"<ref>{{cite book|title=Alexander Cartwright: The Life Behind the Baseball Legend|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HGAKf203p8C&q=+cemetery&pg=PT88|author1=Monica Nucciarone |author2=John Thorn |isbn=978-0803233539|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|year=2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s4QWvle-CR8C&q=nuuanu+cemetery&pg=PA30|title=Hawaiʻi sports: history, facts, and statistics|author=Dan Cisco|isbn=978-0824821210|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|year=1999}}</ref> after the area.<ref>{{gnis|1853080|Nu{{okina}}uanu}}</ref>

In 1989, a funeral for Ferdinand Marcos was planned at the mortuary,<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=New York Times|date=September 29, 1989|title=Ferdinand Marcos, Ousted Leader Of Philippines, Dies at 72 in Exile|access-date=2009-11-28|url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0911.html}}</ref> but instead the body was kept refrigerated at the Byodo-In Temple until it was flown back to the Philippines in 1993.<ref>{{cite news|title=Marcos's body to get a 21-gun send-off|newspaper=The Independent|date=August 30, 1993|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/the-world-this-week-marcoss-body-to-get-a-21gun-sendoff-1464238.html|access-date=May 20, 2010|location=London, UK|author=Elizabeth Nash}}</ref> {{clear}}

==Notable burials== * Captain Alexander Adams (1780–1871), Scottish sea captain * R. Alexander Anderson (1894–1995), composer * Lorrin Andrews (1795–1868), missionary, publisher, judge * Andrew Auld (1799–1873), Scottish shipbuilder * Joseph Campbell (1904–1987), philosopher * George R. Carter (1866–1933), Territorial Governor * Alexander Cartwright (1820–1892), baseball pioneer * Mary Catton (1882–1971) social worker * John F. Colburn (1859–1920), businessman and politician * William H. Cornwell (1843–1903), politician * Samuel C. Damon (1815–1885), missionary * Benjamin Dillingham (1844–1918), industrialist * Emma Smith Dillingham (1844–1920), civic leader, educator, and poet * Mary Jones Dominis (1803–1889) mother of Prince Consort John Owen Dominis * Wilhelmine Kekelaokalaninui Widemann Dowsett (1861–1929), founder of the National Women's Equal Suffrage Association of Hawai'i, the first Hawaiian suffrage organization * Kenneth Emory (1897–1992), anthropologist * Jean Erdman (1916–2020), dancer and choreographer * Elizabeth P. Farrington (1898–1984), legislator * Joseph Rider Farrington (1897–1954), publisher * Wallace Rider Farrington (1871–1933), 6th Territorial Governor (1920–28) * Mary Jane Kekulani Fayerweather (1842–1930), teacher, musician, dairy farmer<ref name="Trapido-1984">{{Cite journal |last=Trapido |first=Evelyn |date=May 1984 |title=Mary Jane Montano: A Child of Two Cultures |url=https://historichawaii.org/wp-content/uploads/May-1984.pdf |journal=Historic Hawai'i |volume=10 |issue=5 |pages=6–7 |via=historichawaii.org}}</ref> * Grace Crosby Hamman (1899–1983), director of services to the blind in Hawaii, 1935–1955 * Victor S. K. Houston (1876–1959), naval officer, congressional delegate * John Papa ʻĪʻī (1800–1870), educator, jurist * Cornelia Hall Jones (1842–1911), philanthropist and clubwoman * Stella Maude Jones (1889–1955) librarian, archivist, historian<ref>{{Cite news |date=1955-01-26 |title=Services Today For Miss Jones |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-advertiser-obituary-for-st/169319478/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |work=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |pages=5 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> * Gerrit P. Judd (1803–1873), missionary physician, diplomat * Lawrence M. Judd (1887–1968), Territorial Governor * Elizabeth Kahanu Kalanianaʻole (1879–1932), Hawaiian princess by marriage * Stanley Kennedy Sr. (1890–1968), Founder of Hawaiian Airlines * Oren E. Long (1889–1965), Governor, Senator * J. R. Kealoha (d. 1877), a Native Hawaiian veteran of the Civil War * Lincoln Loy McCandless (1859–1940), industrialist, congressional delegate * Bina Mossman (1893–1990), entertainer, musical protegee of Queen Liliʻuokalani, political office holder * Paul Neumann (c. 1839–1901), royal lawyer and attorney general<ref>{{cite news|title=Local and General News: The Last Ceremony|newspaper=The Independent|location=Honolulu, HI|date=July 3, 1901|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85047097/1901-07-03/ed-1/seq-3|access-date=July 18, 2010}}</ref> * Arthur P. Peterson (1858–1895), lawyer and politician * Joseph Rock (1884–1962), explorer * Martha Root (1872–1939), Bahá'í teacher * Ingram Stainback (1883–1961), Territorial Governor * Lorrin A. Thurston (1858–1931), businessman, politician * Jules Tavernier (1844–1889), painter * Horace Worth Vaughan (1867–1922), Texas politician, Hawai'i judge * Four British Royal Navy personnel of World War II<ref name="cwgc">[http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/2073043/OAHU%20CEMETERY,%20HONOLULU,%20OAHU%20ISLAND] CWGC Cemetery Report; details obtained from casualty record.</ref>

==Notes== {{refbegin}} * '''a.''' {{Note label|A|a|none}}Some sources<ref name="AdvertiserRare"/><ref name="years"/> do not use the word "O{{okina}}ahu" for the crematory, but use "Nuʻuanu", and this was the only crematory listed in telephone books at the time that was on Nu{{okina}}uanu Avenue.<ref name="polk">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x9MVAAAAIAAJ&q=crematory|title=books.google.com|page=247|year=1941|publisher=R. L. Polk}}</ref>{{refend}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book|last=Purnell|first=Nanette Napoleon|title=Oʻahu Cemetery: Burial Ground & Historic Site|year=1998|publisher=Oʻahu Cemetery Association|location=Honolulu|isbn=978-1892755001|oclc=40579195}}

==External links== * {{cite web|url=http://www.nmplimited.com|title=Nuʻuanu Memorial Park|work=official web site|year= 2000}} * {{Find a Grave cemetery}}

Category:Cemeteries in Hawaii Category:Buildings and structures in Honolulu Category:History of Oahu Category:Lists of people from Hawaii Category:Protected areas of Oahu Category:1844 establishments in Hawaii Category:Tourist attractions in Honolulu Category:National Register of Historic Places in Honolulu Category:Protected areas established in 1844 Category:Cemeteries established in the 1840s