Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
operate the galleries as a cooperative. The entrance to the jail is outside, on the north side
of the building. Both galleries are open 9am to 5pm daily.
Banyan Tree Square
PARK
(cnr Front & Hotel Sts)
Marking the center of town, this leafy landmark sprawls across the
entire square and ranks as the largest banyan tree in the USA. Planted as a seedling on
April 24, 1873, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of missionaries in Lahaina, the tree
has become a forest unto itself, with 16 major trunks reaching across the better part of an
acre.
Most weekends artists and craftsmen set up booths beneath the tree's shady canopy.
Baldwin House
MUSEUM
(
www.lahainarestoration.org/baldwin.html
;
120 Dic-kenson St; adult/child 12 & under $7/free, incl
admission to Wo Hing Museum; 10am-4pm)
Reverend Dwight Baldwin, a missionary doc-
tor, built this house in 1834, making it the oldest surviving Western-style building in La-
haina. It served as his home and the community's first medical clinic. The coral-and-lava
rock walls are 24in thick, which keeps the house cool year-round. The exterior walls are
now plastered over, but you can get a sense of their original appearance by looking at the
Masters' Reading Room next door.
It took the Baldwins 161 days to get here from their native Connecticut, sailing around
Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America. Dr Baldwin's passport and a Baldwin
family bible are displayed as well as period furniture. A doctor's ʻscale of fees' states
that $50 was the price for treating a ʻvery great sickness' while a ʻvery small sickness'
cost $10. It's only a cold, Doc, I swear. Candelight tours are offered on Friday evenings
(6pm to 8pm).
Wo Hing Museum
MUSEUM
(
www.lahainarestoration.org/wohing.html
; 858 Front St; admission adult/child 12 & under $7/free,
incl admission to Baldwin House; 10am-4pm Sat-Thu, 1-8pm Fri)
Built in the early 1900s as a
meeting hall for the benevolent society Chee Kung Tong, this two-story temple provided
Chinese immigrants with a place to preserve their cultural identity, celebrate festivities
and socialize in their native tongue. After WWII Lahaina's ethnic Chinese population
scattered and the temple fell into decline. Now restored as a cultural museum, it houses
