Historic Hawaiian church built in the 19th century featuring New England-style architecture and bilingual worship services.
General Information
Tours by appointment only
Donations welcome
Contact for guided tour availability
How to Get There
From Kahului, HI (2 mi): Drive west on Kaʻahumanu Avenue, continue onto Main Street into Wailuku, then turn left onto High Street; the church is on the right.
Overview
Kaʻahumanu Church in Wailuku is a New England–style Gothic church built in 1876 by Wailuku Sugar Company manager Edward Bailey. It honors Queen Kaʻahumanu, who in 1832 asked the Congregationalist mission to name a permanent church after her after seeing services led by Jonathan Smith Green. Sunday services are still held with hymns and invocation in the Hawaiian language.
What to See
- Town Clock: the bell and three clock faces, from the Seth Thomas clock works, were brought around Cape Horn in 1884 and donated by the Bailey family. Maui County designated the clock the “Town Clock” in 1964.
- Chandeliers added in 1892.
- Grounds: a rock retaining wall on High Street is the only remnant of the previous church. Honoliʻi, one of the first Native Hawaiians educated in New England, who returned on the Thaddeus, is buried in the cemetery.
History
Green first held services in a simple shed on land granted under Kamehameha III. In 1834, as the congregation grew to as many as 3,000 worshippers, a thatched second building replaced it. The current church is the fourth on the site. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (1975) and the Hawaii State Register (1981).
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Kaahumanu Church", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
