Lahaina Town

Our Local Expert Says:

Interested in Asian history? This old home showcases religious artifacts brought here by Chinese plantation workers and their mail-order brides.

Description:

The Chinese, who first arrived in Maui in 1788, worked on the island's plantations and as laborers building tunnels in the West Maui Mountains. This temple, which was built in 1912 and restored in 1984, was originally a meeting hall of the ancient Chee Kung Tong society. Now it is a museum of Chinese-Hawaiian history and culture. Exhibits include hundreds of artifacts, antiques, a shrine room and a cookhouse. Guests can view films of Hawaii made by Thomas Edison in the early 1900s. There is no charge to enter, but donations are gladly accepted.

Description:

World-famous artist Wyland, painter of magical underwater scenes and seascapes, has a gorgeous gallery on Front Street in downtown Lahaina. Prints and originals are available. In addition to Wyland's work, artwork by several other well-known painters and sculptors is on display. Featured artists include Jim Warren, Scott Hanson and Milan. Wyland's work is vivid and magical, a blend of fantasy and reality. His gallery is a must-see for visitors to Maui.

Description:

Maui artist Curtis Wilson Cost followed in the footsteps of his famous father (James Peter Cost) more than 20 years ago. Now in his mid-40s, the artist has established a reputation all his own in art circles worldwide. With two Maui galleries (the original studio is upcountry) he continues to create works that the media have called examples of heightened reality at its finest. Both originals and glicees are sold at the Lahaina showroom. (Glicees, for the uninitiated, are a French term for iris prints, high quality computer-generated prints on canvas.) Mr. Cost is often present on Friday evenings.

Description:

Dr. Dwight D. Baldwin was many things to the island of Maui. He was renowned for his educational advances, his prodigious medical crusade against leprosy and smallpox on the island, his efforts to weaken the grip of alcohol and tobacco on island dwellers, and his amazing knack for horticulture. Many things in Maui bear his name, and his home, thought to be the oldest building in Lahaina, was fully restored and turned into a museum. Furnished with period antiques and accented with information on the great man, the home is open to the public every day.

Description:

The Banyan Tree is the virtual center of Lahaina town, where everyone gathers for meetings, craft shows, entertainment, Halloween and much more. Located in Courthouse Square, it was brought to Maui from India and planted to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Lahaina's first Christian mission in 1873. It now measures 50 feet tall and over 200 feet from side to side. Go anytime and spend a while being part of the "ohana" or Lahaina family.

Description:

Originally used as a Customs House and Courthouse, this island landmark was built on a $7,000 budget with stones from the Hale Piula. It was also used as a center for royal festivities and celebrations until 1898, when Hawai'i became a United States territory. Major renovations added a modern veneer to the historic building. The Courthouse is no longer the center of government activity on the island, as Wailuku is now the county seat. Instead, it is a visitor attraction and historic landmark, housing a gift shop and information center.

Description:

Tucked away on the shore, north of Lahaina town, on Ala Moana Street, lies the surprisingly serene Lahaina Jodo Mission and its huge statue of the Amida Buddha, largest outside Asia. Made of copper and bronze, it measures twelve feet high and weighs three and a half tons. This Great Buddha was completed in June, 1968, in commemoration of the centennial of the immigration of the first Japanese to Hawai`i. The Mission's other marvel, the largest temple bell in the state of Hawai`i, is rung eleven times each evening at eight o'clock.

Description:

Most of the people who got tossed in this squat little prison were sailors who had downed one too many drinks while on shore leave. It was not a pleasant spot to sleep off a drunk, either; locals called it Hale Pa'ahao or stuck in irons. These days, anyone can enter-and exit-this historical building at will. This is a Lahaina Restoration Foundation site, and while there is no charge to enter, donations are appreciated.