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This site offers great ocean and mountain views and is a nice, off the beaten path 4 1/2 mile detour between Kealia and Anahola. It is much more scenic than just driving on the highway, and since this used to be the main road, a better sense of what it was like to live 60 years ago. You can start the drive either way, depending on which direction you're coming from.
From North Shore: Just after the Anahola Post Office, turn south onto Kealia Rd. The road will be smoothly paved the first 1/2 mile and rough gravel for the last 1 1/2 mile to the cache. If you're heading south, turn east at the monument down a smoothly paved rd for 2 1/2 miles to Kealia Beach. The road is fine for any regular car to drive on.
From Kapaa: Turn inland at Kealia Beach passing an old post office and general store. Drive up the smoothly paved road 2 1/2 miles to the monument and cache. If you're heading north, drive on the rough gravel road for 1 1/2 miles. The road will become paved the last 1/2 mile to Anahola.
The monument is in disrepair, so do not litter. Watch out for muggles, we had to wait a while for them to leave when setting the cache. Make sure you completely cover the cache so it does not get muggled.
Born in Ohio in 1837, Zephaniah S. Spalding commanded the 27th Ohio Infantry during the Civil War. After the war, he continued in government service and was dispatched to Hawai'i as a secret agent of the United States, with the mission of learning what effects a proposed Reciprocity Treaty would have on relations between U.S. and Hawaii. He arrived in Honolulu in 1867 pretending to be a prospective cotton planter and mailed a number of confidential reports, rejecting reciprocity, to his father, a congressman. Spalding later became a sugar planter on Kauai and owner of Makee Sugar Company, named after his father-in-law, James Makee.
His Valley House, located back here also is worth mentioning. The Valley House featured a grand central hall with a wide staircase leading upstairs. Also gracing the interior was an eye-catching crystal chandelier, imported European furniture, and a dining room spacious enough for 24 guests. Outside, visitors could play tennis on the estate's courts or swim in the pool.
Perhaps the greatest lu'au ever held on Kaua'i took place at the Valley House in September 1912 in honor of Spalding's 75th birthday. 3,000 guests came, many by plantation train. 62 tables were filled with food and drink. Ten bullocks, twelve pigs, hundreds of chickens, and several barrels of poi, made up the basics. Fruits, sweets and everything you could drink were at hand to enjoy, while a band played lovely music. In 1916, Spalding sold thousands and thousands of acres of the Makee Sugar Plantation to the Lihue Plantation for a whopping $1,500,000! But, today, billionaires are buying 20 million dollar homes on the North Shore, so go figure.
Oh well, that was then and this is now. Today, the only reminder of his extravagant lifestyle stands here. His heirs, if any, should use all the millions they inherited to refurbish the monument.
Congratulations to ScouterHerb &MrsB for a great FTF!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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