Peter Mills

Fort Elisabeth was built in 1816 (four years after the settlement of Russian Fort Ross in California) when Dr. Georg Anton Schaffer of the Russian-American Company signed an agreement with Kaumuali'i, the paramount chief of Kaua'i, to assist Kaumuali'i in conquering adjacent islands and protecting the sovereignty of Kaua'i. In return, the Russian-American Company was granted a monopoly in the sandalwood trade on Kaua'i. The plan failed and within two years Schaffer and his contingent of employees (mostly native Alaskan) had left Kaua'i. Historical records suggest that the fort was occupied by native Hawaiians through the 1850s and was dismantled of its armaments in 1864. What remains on the surface today are the collapsed stone walls of the fort and several stone foundations in the fort interior. No detailed draw-ings of the fort are known to exist prior to 1884 and historical data on the use of the fort are relatively limited. It is known that Kaumuali'i's chiefly compound and the home of the first Christian missionaries on Kaua'i (1820) were once directly outside the fort walls. Recent sugar cultivation has obliterated most surface remains outside the fort.

The fort and the surrounding 17.5 acres now form a state historical park that has a restroom, parking lot, coral paths, and one sign to orient visitors to the site. The state has drafted a master plan for improving these interpretive displays. This plan hinges on further archaeological and historical investigation which is being provided by two seasons of U.C. Berkeley field schools. Research goals parallel those at Fort Ross, focusing on the dynamics of a multi-ethnic community and culture change in the early historical period. Unlike Fort Ross and other Russian-American Company sites in the North Pacific, this settlement was established within a highly stratified chiefdom that may have changed the dynamics of the culture-contact.

The fieldwork is being conducted in two stages. The goal of the first field season was to investigate areas of the fort exterior that are expected to have included Kaumuali'i's compound, the missionary homestead, and the reported location of a Russian trading-post. In addition, limited underwater survey was conducted of a stone wharf in the Waimea River adjacent to the fort. The underwater work was completed under the guidance of Jim Allan from U.C. Berkeley's Institute for Western Maritime Archaeology.

As usual, results of the first season's fieldwork provided many more questions than answers. Students worked doggedly in very compact sediments and extreme heat only to encounter a paucity of midden from test units surrounding the fort, suggesting that domestic activity outside the fort was limited. In the expected location of Kaumuali'i's compound, coastal midden was encountered that contained some early historical ceramics as well as cannonball fragments. Coral mortar, glass beads, and iron fragments were uncovered in the area of the missionary house, but no foundations were identified.

Underwater work helped map the construction techniques of the stone wharf and also identified a possible cavern entrance that has been purposely blocked with rubble. Many present day residents of Waimea relate that it used to be possible to swim into such a cavern and come up inside the fort. Another unexpected discovery above the water level was the identification of a crawl-space tunnel built through the fort's stone wall.

The second stage of fieldwork will focus on the fort interior which contains numerous stone foundations, one cellar hole, and a large foundation for a flagpole among other miscellaneous features. Since the Russian-American Company was only at the fort for two years and Hawaiians used the fort for nearly half a century, the majority of cultural material within the fort (and outside) is expected to reflect how this site was incorporated into Hawaiian culture after the Russian-American Company left. How this "Russian fort" was actually used, why it was built, and why it was located where it is may in fact reflect as much about native Hawaiian cultural agendas as it does about European expansionism.