Kohala Coast Vacation Rentals

Touching History at Anna Ranch’s New Education Center

By Marie Fellenstein Hale

Many people going through Waimea notice the bright white buildings of Anna Ranch, set off by the blue and white awnings and stately palm trees. And when the brilliant red poinsettias begin to bloom, the whole town knows that Christmas is coming.

Now, in this serene setting, students can have a hands-on historical experience of their community with programs at Anna Ranch Heritage Center. The Education Center, a new addition to the ranch, along with an on-site blacksmith and a saddle maker, gives students a glimpse of what it was like to live a rough and challenging ranch life.

“My goal is that every single child on this island can visit and learn about our ranching history,” said Kay Kammerzell, Executive Director of Anna Ranch Heritage Center.

Kammerzell told how Anna Ranch received Richard Smart Grant funds through Hawai’i Community Foundation which helped the ranch to complete new educational areas and add exhibits. Educational programs tell the broad, ranging history of Anna Ranch, which is also the history of Waimea and North Kohala’s ranching and paniolo roots. (Called paniolo, from Espanol, by the Hawaiians, Mexican vaqueros taught local Hawaiians how to ride horses and rope cattle.)

“The Richard Smart Grant allowed us to transform the barn area into a new Educational Center,” explained Kammerzell. “We used the money to build work benches and tables, purchase leather stamping and leather working tools, and for educational wall displays.”

Historic photos from the ranch archives were enlarged and framed, and large, clear captions were added. The names in the captions are like a Who’s Who of Waimea: Andrade, DeSilva, Lindsey, Bergin, among many others.

One of the first groups to explore the new facilities were students from Parker School on Make a Difference Day. One Parker School student saw a photo and said it was her uncle and told Kammerzell about a project she did where she interviewed her uncle about ranch life. The students were there that day to both learn about Anna Ranch and to help with some of the chores on site.

Anna Lindsey Perry-Fiske wanted to leave a legacy that would teach about the paniolo history of Waimea and Kohala. Today Anna Ranch Heritage Center, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is both a restored home and a museum with active learning centers.

During a tour of Anna’s home, remarkable in that it has been preserved exactly as it was used as a home, students entering the dining room can see a portrait by Diana Neville of Anna dressed as a pa’u rider.

“Disdaining the ‘side-saddle’ position, Hawaiian women preferred long, full riding skirts (pa'u) which enabled them to straddle their horses,” according to Herb Kawainui Kane. “They would often spur their mounts to full gallop to make a dramatic arrival at a party.”

This description suits Anna, an award-winning pa’u rider, who is described in her biography as “a tough, shrewd, hardworking cowboy and, at the same time, a strikingly beautiful, elegantly groomed great lady.” The biography, written while Anna was still living by Ruth M. Tabrah, is out of print, but a few copies are available in the Anna Ranch Gift Shop and tell of Anna’s remarkable place in ranching history of the Big Island.

“She is both indomitable and assuredly feminine, surpassing most men with her stamina, gutsiness, and courage,” according to her biography. “At an age when most women and men sit back in retirement, this incredible Anna is still a ranch owner, ranch boss, cattle buyer, business woman, and glamourous hostess.”

Visitors to the ranch learn about her expertise as a rider and rancher, as well as seeing rooms in the home that tell other stories, such as the study of her husband, Lyman Perry-Fiske, who also worked on the ranch. There are photos throughout of Anna riding horses, and even a photo of her riding a Brahma bull on a dare.

“Daily she rides miles, checking fences, counting herds, moving calves and sometimes riding through thick forest lands following the tracks of cattle that get lost when fences are broken,” according to a reporter in 1969. But during that time, she was also caring for her ailing husband and doing her own housework. She told the reporter, “If I haven’t found trouble I’m usually back by 3:30 in the afternoon. But sometimes not until after dark.”

Anna led a very active life, including being a rancher until in her eighties, the story of which is told well by the staff on site. There is also furniture made from native woods, such as koa, art by local artists, and costumes that would rival Elvis from Anna’s riding competitions. In other rooms there are ranching items and saddles, and in others, china and glassware for her elegant entertaining.

The displays and her home make history come alive through both words and chances to do what the cowboys did. Students can watch blacksmith and saddle making demonstrations and do hands-on leather crafting. Eventually the ranch hopes to offer a Hawaiian saddle making workshop.

“It seems nearly everyone finds ranching and the use of horses, dogs and cattle fascinating,” said Albert Moniz, traditional Hawaiian saddle maker, now doing custom saddle work and repairs on site. “It is a wonderful way to capture children’s attention and motivate them to be interested in learning.”

The Mexican vaqueros brought their skills with creating riding gear, which the Hawaiian paniolo adapted in their own way. They would take a piece of bone and carve it to be used for leather tooling. Rather than the complicated and ornate Western-style saddles, those of Hawaiian paniolo are simple and elegant. Hawaiian saddle making is a way to blend functional work with artistic expression.

Parker School students helped with one of the restoration projects. Some leather saddles were dry and brittle, so the students needed to wipe the leather, then treat it by spraying with oil to get into the fiber of the leather. As they learned about restoration and preservation of leather, they were saving a bit of history with their efforts.

As part of Make a Difference Day students also helped out with weeding in the garden and clearing brush.

Mar Tagudan, Jr. is a third generation gardener on the property. His grandfather worked for Anna, taking care of the grounds, as well as helping with her personal care toward the end of her life.

Students worked alongside Tagudan, weeding among the many different plants in the gardens and the ever-present red salvia, which was Anna’s favorite and was planted throughout the property.

The other red accent shows up once a year in the poinsettias planted along the road in front of the ranch.

“It’s like a tourist attraction,” said Tagudan. “A lot of people stop on the road to take pictures. People donate their poinsettias after Christmas and we plant them on the property and take care of them.”

Along with her ranching work, Anna raised money for many charities. She demonstrated a life full of work, activity and giving to others.

“I find this a great venue to motivate and show students that if you work hard enough, you can succeed,” said Moniz.

Anna Ranch needs docents to lead tours, as well as volunteers to arrange work parties, which can be community service projects for organizations.

For more information about school group programs, or if you would like to help or contribute to the educational programs at Anna Ranch, contact Kay Kammerzell at 885-4426.

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