Find History at Lahaina Roads Condos
Monday, January 12th, 2009Welcome to Lahaina
Book some time at Lahaina Roads Condos and find well preserved history in an adorable port town.
Lahaina may, at first glance, seem like just another sleepy harbor, but this breathing postcard is teeming with history. At any time of year, Lahaina is a site you should not miss and will certainly never forget. How would you like to visit a town where parking is probably the biggest problem?
Lahaina started as a fishing village in ancient Hawaii. Due to its natural harbor, Lahaina became a popular stop once westerners started arriving in the early 1800’s. Much of the surviving architecture and a good deal of the area’s history revolves around those early years.
Lahaina Palace
The Lahaina palace was constructed at the turn of the seventeenth century by two ex-convicts
from Australia (the giant continent was once used as a prison by the British Government). The palace was probably the first design of western origin in all of the islands. The Palace measured 40 x 20 feet and had two stories, partitioned into four separate rooms. Assembled from locally manufactured bricks, the palace was built by command of King Kamehameha I (he was fascinated with Western buildings built from mortar).
An observation tower and a “long house” were attached to the palace, which was used as a storehouse and residence until the 1850′s. The cornerstone and foundations have been recently excavated and are now on display.
Canal Street in Downtown Lahaina
These crumbled ruins are the final remainders of a fort that stood just slightly south of the courthouse, overlooking one of the longer canals of Lahaina. It is now a paved street, built to protect the town after unruly sailors fired a canon at one of the houses.
The missionaries living on the island viewed the womanizing and drinking of the whaling sailors as a threat to the city of Lahaina. Rev. Richard convinced the king to establish a ban, keeping all the island women from the ships. This sparked the incident.
Years passed and visitors to the island thought the fort looked like it was more for show than force. It was finally ripped apart in 1850.
Front Street Lighthouse
There is a breathtaking lighthouse located at the base of Pioneer Inn. It was built in 1840 to help navigate the whaleboats as they came toward the shore. The Front Street Lighthouse is the first lighthouse in Hawaii, predating any lighthouse on the West Coast of the United States.
These are just three of the many wonderful pieces of history you can explore after booking your stay at Lahaina Roads Condos.