Historic museum showcasing Hawaiian artifacts, missionary-era furnishings, and archival collections within a 19th-century seminary building.
General Information
Closed Saturday to Monday and major holidays
Gift shop and museum hours may vary slightly; check ahead for updates
Seniors (65+): $8
Students (with ID): $5
Children (5–18): $4
Children under 5: Free
Kamaʻāina (with valid Hawai‘i ID): 50% off
Admission includes access to virtual tour guide app
How to Get There
From Kahului, HI (5 mi): Drive west on Kaʻahumanu Avenue (HI-32), continue onto Main Street into Wailuku, and the museum will be on your left just before the entrance to ʻĪao Valley.
Overview
Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House (Bailey House Museum) in Wailuku is a museum of Hawaiian history and art run by the Maui Historical Society, at the mouth of ʻĪao Valley within the former royal residence of Kahekili II. Built in 1833 as one of Wailuku’s first western-style houses, it is part of the Wailuku Civic Center Historic District and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
What to See
- First floor: pre-contact Hawaiian tools, utensils and weapons; more than a hundred landscape paintings of 19th-century Maui by Edward Bailey; a wooden statue of the demigod Kamapuaʻa, the only wooden statue on Maui to survive the 1819 purge of the native religion, hidden in an upcountry cave for over a century; a Hōkūleʻa model; and part of a land snail shell collection.
- Second floor: the Monarchy Room, with artifacts from the Hawaiian Kingdom, and the Koa Room, with a large four-poster bed and furnishings made entirely of koa.
- Grounds: Duke Kahanamoku’s 1919 redwood surfboard, the 33-foot koa fishing canoe Honaunau, and gardens of native and endangered Hawaiian plants.
- A gift shop of locally made artisan items.
History
The house began as a mission and became the Wailuku Female Seminary in 1837, a boarding school run from 1844 by Caroline and Edward Bailey, who bought the property in 1850. The Maui Historical Society opened it as a museum on July 6, 1957.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Bailey House Museum", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
