Museum sights in Maui
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Whalers Village Museum
In Kaʻanapali, visit the evocative Whalers Village Museum in the Whalers Village mall.
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Wo Hing Temple
The two-story Wo Hing Temple opened in 1912 as a meeting hall for the Chinese benevolent society Chee Kung Tong. It provided Chinese immigrants a place to preserve their cultural identity, celebrate festivities and socialize in their native tongue.
After WWII Lahaina's ethnic Chinese population spread far and wide and the temple fell into decline. It was restored and turned into a museum in 1984. Inside you'll find period photos, a ceremonial dancing-lion costume and a Taoist shrine.
Whatever you do, don't miss the tin-roof cookhouse out back, which holds a little theater showing fascinating films of Hawaii shot by Thomas Edison in 1898 and 1906, soon after he invented th…
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Bailey House Museum
The 1833 home of missionary Edward Bailey has been converted into the Bailey House Museum highlighting local history. The second storey remains much the same as it was in missionary days, decorated with antiques and some of the works that Bailey, an accomplished engraver, created.
But it's the Hawaiian section on the ground floor that's the real prize. The museum boasts a superb collection of handcrafted bowls made from native woods and other ancient artifacts, including stone adzes, feather lei and tapa cloth. There's also a display of spears, shark-tooth daggers and other weapons similar to those used in the bloody battles at nearby 'Iao Valley. Don't miss the 10ft redw…
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Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum
Pu'unene's main attraction is the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum, an intriguing little collection in the former home of the mill's superintendent. Exhibits give the skinny on the sugarcane biz and include a working scale model of a cane-crushing plant.
Most interesting, however, are the images of people. The museum traces how Samuel Alexander and Henry Baldwin gobbled up vast chunks of Maui land, how they fought tooth and nail with an ambitious Claus Spreckels to gain access to Upcountry water, and how they dug the extensive irrigation systems that made large-scale plantations viable. Representing the other end of the scale is a turn-of-the-20th-century labor contract f…
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Hale Kahiko
The three thatched houses at Hale Kahiko replicate part of an ancient Hawaiian village. The location at the back of a shopping center isn't without its irony, but the site nonetheless offers an insightful glimpse of Hawaiian life before Western development swept the landscape.
The buildings are authentically constructed of ohia-wood posts, native pili grass thatch and coconut-fiber lashings. The grounds are planted in native flora that Hawaiians relied upon for food and medicinal purposes. Each hale (house) had a different function; one was used as family sleeping quarters, one as a men's eating house, and the third as a workshop where women made tapa. Inside you'll find …
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Baldwin House
The oldest Western-style building in Lahaina is the Baldwin House, erected in 1834 by Reverend Dwight Baldwin, a missionary doctor. It served as both his home and Lahaina's first medical clinic. The coral and rock walls are a hefty 24in thick, which keeps the house cool year-round. The exterior walls are now plastered over, but you can get a sense of how they originally appeared by looking at the Masters' Reading Room next door.
Think your flight to Hawaii was long? It took the Baldwins 161 days to get here from their native Connecticut. These early missionaries traveled neither fast nor light, and the house still holds the collection of china and furniture they brought w…
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Hale Pa'i
The cottage at the side of Lahainaluna High School, Hale Pa'i, housed Hawaii's first printing press. Although its primary mission was making the Bible available to Hawaiians, the press also produced other works, including the first Hawaiian botany book and, in 1834, Hawaii's first newspaper. Heavily used, the original Ramage press wore out in the 1850s, but several of the items printed from it are still on display.
Should you want to try your hand as a 19th-century pressman, a replica of the original equipment can be used to hand-press your own copy of a page from the first Hawaiian primer. Reprints of amusing 'Temperance Maps' (around US$5) drawn by an early missionary t…
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Hale Pa'ahao
Hale Pa'ahao (Stuck-in-Irons House), Lahaina's old prison, was built in 1852 by convicts who dismantled the old harborside fort and carted the stones here to construct the 8ft-high prison walls. Inside one of the whitewashed cells you'll find an 'old seadog' mannequin spouting a recorded description of 'life in this here calaboose.'
Another cell displays a list of arrests for the year 1855. The top three offenses were drunkenness (330 arrests), adultery and fornication (111), and 'furious riding' (89). Other wayward transgressions of the day included profanity, lascivious conduct, aiding deserting sailors and drinking 'awa (kava moonshine).
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Hana Cultural Center
Absorb a little local history at the down-home Hana Cultural Center displaying Hawaiian artefacts, wood carvings and quilts. And don't miss the four authentically reconstructed thatched hale at the side of the museum, which can be seen even if you arrive outside of opening hours.
The grounds also contain a three-bench, c1871 courthouse. Although it looks like a museum piece, the court is still used on the first Tuesday of each month; a judge shows up to hear minor cases, such as traffic violations, sparing Hana residents the need to drive all the way to Wailuku.
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Lahaina Heritage Museum
The inspired Lahaina Heritage Museum, operated by Lahaina Town Action Committee volunteers, displays changing exhibits that celebrate Lahaina's culture and history. The focus could be on anything from ancient Hawaiian society to 19th-century whaling, but whatever it is it's well worth the climb to the 2nd floor to check it out.
reviewed
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