Te Wairoa

"The buried village"

The 1886 Tarawera eruption buried the tourist village of Te Wairoa, including McRae's Hotel (Rotomahana Hotel). The village has been excavated and is now open to the public. During the euption, some houses, with their inhabitants still inside, were buried. Other houses were left empty as their owners fled the village. One of the two buildings to survive the eruption was the whare of a Maori guide, Sophia. More than 60 people sheltered there during the night. The other building was the runanga or meeting house. At the Rotomahana Hotel, the inhabitants had to first leave one room when the roof collapsed under the hail of ash, rocks and mud, and then the entire hotel. One guest died when the hotel veranda collapsed but others made it to safety in the guide's whare. The schoolteacher and five of his family were buried under tons of mud and ash. Others in the house managed to escape and sheltered for the rest of the night in a chicken house.

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Te Mu Parsonage at Te Wairoa after the eruption