New sign recognises one of Napier's oldest streets

Visitors to Main St in the Corunna Bay/Onepoto Gully area can find out more about its history after a sign was erected to recognise the back story of one of Napier's oldest streets.
About 40 people gathered at the corner of Main St and Corunna Bay for the unveiling of the sign on Saturday.
"The unveiling was held at the spot which was previously the foreshore of Corunna Bay before the [1931] earthquake," Hawke's Bay branch committee of New Zealand Historic Places Trust chairman Denis Pilkington said.
"It's a very old sector of Napier and it's quite self contained and quite isolated.
"It's a place people can go into to get a snapshot of the early history of Napier.
"It's quite fascinating that a little piece of history is just sitting there pretty much intact, that's why we thought it was important to put a sign there."
The sign was researched and half funded by the Hawke's Bay branch committee, and the rest of the money came from an Historic Places Trust grant.
History of the area depicted on the sign begins in c.1200 AD with the Maori who lived and gathered food in Onepoto (once a beach, now known as Main St).
It ends with information about how in 1938 the railway was moved from its original route and a new road was formed (now known as Hyderabad Rd).
Already the committee have plans for other projects to promote Hawke's Bay's heritage throughout the district.