Menehune Ditch

Located within the West Region on Kauai

Heading west on Highway 50 from Hanapepe turn right onto Menehune Road near mile marker 23. Pull over to the side of the road, walk across the street from the Waimea Hanging Bridge and check out the Menehune Ditch. At first glance it just looks like a ditch with a stone wall, but this structure has a lot of historical significance. It is rumored to have been built by Hawai'i's 'little people,' the Menehune, who arrived around 300 AD from the Marquesas Islands. Seven hundred years later the Tahitians would arrive and build the Hawaiian culture that is present today. The stones used to complete the ditch were brought from nearly six miles away. Some legends say it was even constructed in one night.

Only a small portion of the engineering phenomena still remains.

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.

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John C. Derrick

Published by: John C. Derrick

Founder & certified Hawai'i travel expert with 20+ years in Hawai'i tourism, University of South Carolina climate-research training, and NOAA weather-station experience.

Menehune Ditch Reviews

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