This is the story of a place once known as Líhue. Not Líhue, Kauai — but Líhue, Oahu.

The Honouliuli Map of 1873, which was surveyed by W.D. Alexander, identifies Líhue as a large geographical region perhaps on the same scale as an ahupuaa. He identifies it as encompassing 7,510 acres. Based on Alexander's map and the oral traditions associated with Líhue, it appears to be bordered today by Schofield Barracks on the north, the H-3 Freeway on the east, Pohäkea, Kupehau and Keahumoa toward the south and the Waianae Mountains on the west.

There are several aspects that make Líhue an extremely interesting place. This significance appears to have grown out of a need to secure the sanctity and purity of the bloodline of the ruling chiefs and that of Kukaniloko. The road to Kukaniloko was by way of Kaihuo Palaai (West Loch). That path to Kukaniloko is today's Kunia Road. The traditions associated with Líhue make reference to it serving as a place of nakoa (warrior) training. These warriors not only secured the road to Kukaniloko, but also served to secure the northern gate into Waianae Moku at the Kolekole Pass.

My interest in Hawaiian culture got its start when I stabled my horses on the fringes of Líhue at Pohäkea many years ago. It was my horses that ushered in that interest on many of our long rides into the valleys and hillsides of Líhue. More recently I have come to meet a group of young women who call themselves Na Wahine O Kunia. I was invited by them to participate in a site tour of a cultural landscape in the area of Líhue.

Prior to our site tour we reviewed some of our informational sources. Sites of Oahu by Sterling and Summers identifies site No. 133 in the approximate area we were planning on visiting as "a small enclosure said to be a heiau, on a slight elevation in a gulch at the foot of Puu Känehoa."

Expecting to see a small enclosure, I was surprised to find not just "a small enclosure" but an entire landscape of cultural walls, terraces, elevated platforms, kuula stones, walking paths between terraces and signs of possible burials.

It was, however, disturbing when we shared a map of the "Preliminary General Site Plan" drafted by the new landowners that identified this parcel as an agricultural lot up for sale. The question is whether the landowner disclosed the existence of this cultural landscape and its cultural resources to potential purchasers. Secrecy is not an option in land sales. We all need to be aware that these special places exist today and the likelihood of their destruction and disappearance is real. Secrecy is not a solution.

The only ones who benefit from secrecy are developers and landowners.

There are a thousand trails in life. However, there is only one trail that matters and that is the trail of a real human being.

The Na Wahine O Kunia are on that trail. It is important that one day our children will know that there was once a place on Oahu known as Líhue.