Lahaina’s rich historical and cultural heritage is well known to just about everyone on Maui–resident and tourist alike. A great deal of the credit for that goes to the non-profit Lahaina Restoration Foundation (LRF), which oversees 11 historic structures in town including the Baldwin House, the old Lahaina Prison and the Wo Hing Museum. Sure, the LRF’s old Carthaginian II, a German freighter remade into a replica whaling vessel, is now sitting at the bottom of the ocean off Puamana as a kind of submarine tourist attraction (it was a victim of both age and less than adequate maintenance) but for the most part the LRF does wonderful work preserving Lahaina Town’s old look.
Though many of the beneficiaries of LRF’s work are visitors, we sometimes forget that the organization also helps people who live here. On Sept. 14, for instance, the LRF provided their ninth annual historical tour of Lahaina for new Westside teachers. This year, they took 16 teachers from six Westside schools around Lahaina’s various historical sites.
“We have continued to reach out to our schools to provide primarily new teachers this educational tour,” said Andy Kutsunai, LRF’s Community Education Committee chairperson, in a Sept. 21 LRF press release. “It really makes us appreciate the positive impact this makes on them as they take the time from their busy schedule to participate in this program.”
According to the press release, Kutsunai and LRF committee member Karee Carlucci took the teachers to 30 sites around the Westside, including the Hui O Wa‘a Kaulua canoe, Moku‘ula, Waiola Church, Lahaina Hongwanji Mission, the Baldwin Home and that new Lahaina Heritage Museum on the second floor of the old Lahaina Courthouse.
For more information, call the LRF at 808-661-3262 or go online to Lahainarestoration.org.
Photo of Baldwin Home in Lahaina from 1966: Jack E. Boucher/Wikimedia Commons
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