Lāhainā is a town on the west coast of the island of Maui, and it is also one of the island’s centers of culture and urban history. In the early 1800s, Lāhainā was the capital of the then Kingdom of Hawaii in the period 1820-1845, and later in the same century the city was a hotspot for whaling. During this time, 400 ships with 1,500 sailors set out from Lāhainā, and one of them was Herman Melville, who immortalized the time with the short story Moby Dick.

Today, Lāhainā is a beautifully situated city with around 11,000 inhabitants and with the possibility of many activities. The whaling of earlier times has been replaced by whale watching, where you can experience humpback whales in the waters off the coast. Lāhainā is also well-visited with its old town, which exudes art, history and coziness. A good starting point for a hike in Lāhainā’s history is the so-called Lāhainā Historic Trail. The tour starts on Front Street, which is the city’s street along the sea.

The Master’s Reading Room is one of the old houses on Front Street. It was originally a place for missionaries, but in 1834 a group of whaling ship captains acquired the house and converted it into an officers’ club for sailors and their families. The name Master’s Reading Room comes from the reading rooms on the 1st floor, which were arranged to be able to retire in peace and quiet. The Baldwin Home Museum is located immediately next to The Master’s Reading Room, and the building is one of the oldest in Lāhainā. The house was built by Rev. Ephraim Spaulding in 1834. Spaulding died in 1836, and Rev. Dwight Baldwin used the house from 1836 to 1868 as a residence and for his work. Today the site is a museum of Baldwin and his time in Lāhainā.

Richards House was the residence of Rev. William Richards, who was the first Protestant missionary to come to Lāhainā. Richards was a supporter of Hawaiian independence, and he helped write the kingdom’s constitution. Richards also traveled as an adviser to the king of Hawaii. The house was the first in Hawaii to be built of coral stone, but it has since perished. The position of the house is marked and William Richards himself is buried at Wainee Cemetery in Lāhainā.

In the water off Lāhainā you can see the stone Hauola Stone, which was historically used by the native Hawaiians as a healing place. In the now undeveloped area between Market Street and Hauola Stone there used to be a building called The Brick Palace. Built in 1798 from locally produced bricks, The Brick Palace is believed to have been Hawaii’s first Western-style construction. The mansion was initiated by King Kamehameha I as the residence of Queen Kaahumanu.

Along the water a little south of The Hauola Stone you can see the Old Lāhainā Lighthouse. Built in 1840 by King Kamehameha III as Hawaii’s first lighthouse, it was supposed to guide whaling boats into Lāhainā by light. The lighthouse burned with locally produced whale oil and was raised in 1866. In 1905 it took on its present appearance. Facing the sea and by the Old Lāhainā Lighthouse you can see the Pioneer Inn. The Pioneer Inn was built as a hotel in 1901 and was the only hotel on West Maui until the 1950s. The place still functions as a hotel, and the facade has been preserved from its opening in 1901.

As a sort of center of Lāhainā, The Old Courthouse is located on Wharf Street. In its original appearance and design, the courthouse was the residence palace of King Kamehemeha III in the early 19th century, but a devastating storm put an end to that. After the storm, the mansion was rebuilt as a courthouse, post office and other public offices. The Old Courthouse is known as the site where Hawaii’s flag was lowered for the last time in 1898, and where the United States flag was then raised to mark the American annexation of the Pacific archipelago. Today, Hawaii’s last officially used flag can be seen on display in the courthouse.

Immediately next to The Old Courthouse you can see a small recreated ruin of Lāhainā’s old fort. The fort was built of coral stone and was completed in 1832. It was built due to attacks from ships whose captains protested various restrictions imposed by missionaries in Lāhainā. The fort was also used as a prison, and it was in operation until 1854, when the building materials were used for the town’s new prison on Prison Street.

In the green area by The Old Courthouse and Lāhainā’s old fort you can see a colossal and very beautiful banyan tree. The tree was planted in 1873 to mark the 50th anniversary of the city’s Protestant missions, and today the tree has spread to the entire area between Wharf Street and Front Street. The banyan tree is the largest in the United States, and it stands as one of Hawaii’s best-known landmarks from the island’s cities. From an original height of 2.4 meters in 1873, it is today about 18 meters high, and the central trunk has been supplemented by countless trunks around the original tree. These strains occur on banyan trees when roots from the tree’s branches reach the ground and then grow stronger.

A little away from the waterfront is The Old Prison, which was built in the mid-1800s using coral stone from Lāhainā’s former fort. The prison walls still stand, and a walk in the green area behind the walls is quite atmospheric. In the same area as The Old Prison is the church Wainee Church, whose official name today is Waiola Church. The church was built 1828-1832 as the first stone church in the Hawaiian Islands. Next to the church is a cemetery, which was established in 1823. In the cemetery, several well-known people are buried, such as Queen Keopuolani, who was the wife of King Kamehameha I and the mother of King Kamehameha II and Kamehameha III. The Queen was the first royal Hawaiian to convert to Christianity.

After a walk in downtown Lāhainā, continue north along Front Street. After 500 meters you can visit the Wo Hing Temple Museum, and after another 500 meters is the US Seamen’s Hospital Museum. Wo Hing was built in the early 1900s as a temple for the Chinese congregation, while the US Seamen’s Hospital was built in 1833 to care for sick sailors.

Lāhainā was unfortunately hit by catastrophic wildfires in August 2023, which caused loss of life and great destruction. Most of Lāhainā burned, and thus one can no longer experience the city as it is described.