Horeke is a picturesque little port town to the north of Taheke, with its houses built on piles. A shipyard was established here around 1827-8, but by 1830 its Australian owners had run out of money.
A Wesleyan mission station was established to the west of Horeke around 1838. The Wesleyans had started their missionary work 10 years before with the support of Chief Eruera Patuone, who is believed to have had some contact, as a small boy, with members of Captain Cook's crew. One of the missionaries, John Hobbs, had good relations with the natives and spoke Maori, and later he was able to act as Governor Hobson's translator during the negotiation of the Treaty of Waitangi. When the population of the area moved south the mission station was transferred to Auckland (1855). The old mission church has gone but the churchyard with its gravestones remains. The Mission House, furnished in period style, is run by the Historic Places Trust.
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