Prehistoric Glen, Foster Botanic Garden

With the words “I kinohi hana ke akua I ka lani a me ka honua” (in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth), Hawaii’s most influential and widely known clergyman, Reverend Akaka, blessed the first stage of the Prehistoric Glen at the Foster Botanic Garden in 1964. Historical records of this land date back to 1853 when Queen Kalama leased 5.5 acres to a young German doctor William Hillerbrand who built a house and planted trees before moving back to Europe. The property was sold to Captain Thomas Foster and wife Mary who continued to care and add to the garden. Mary Foster bequeathed the 5.5 acre property to the city and county of Honolulu and the garden opened to the public in 1931.

The Prehistoric Glen created a living laboratory of primitive plants and the Founders Fund Award in 1968 made it possible to double the size of the garden with 100 tons of lava boulders, mounds of steamy soil and specimens of plants whose ancestors flourished millions of years ago and now provide coal, oil and petroleum product derivatives. On display are ferns and selaginellas from the Paleozoic Period including Equisetums (the first plants to develop roots, stems and leaves) and Lycopodium which grew to over 90 feet in Prehistoric times. These are found alongside many varieties of very rare ancient Cycads.

In the heart of downtown Honolulu, Foster Botanic Garden is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.