Last week we highlighted the impact the sugar industry has had in our Lahaina community for more than a hundred years, this week we continue the “sugar” theme with the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum. Located on the outskirts of Kahului, just off the road to Kihei in Puunene, the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum stands right across the street from the largest operational sugar mill in Hawaii: the HC&S Sugar Mill. Established beneath the sugar mills shadow in the early 1980’s, the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum stands today as one of the few remaining original structures of the once bustling town of Puunene. As Hawaii’s importance in the sugar industry has been increasingly diminished since it’s heyday one hundred plus years ago, the A&B Sugar Museum has become one of the few places keeping inventory of the historic relics of the sugar industry in Hawaii.
Many of these artifacts from times past are currently on display at the Sugar Museum; cane haulers, trench diggers, vintage tractors, cane grabbers, and other heavy equipment utilized for harvesting sugar cane throughout the years. In addition, the Sugar Museum has on exhibit many smaller items from early plantation workers, including photographs, maps, and other important documents which chart the history of Hawaii as seen through their unique perspectives. All of this fantastic history can be seen housed in a renovated plantation building built in 1902! Best of all, the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum is open daily to the general public, between the (extended through December 31st) hours of 9:30am to 4:30pm.
If you too would like to learn more about the wonderfully diverse history outside the doorstep of your Kapalua condo or West Maui home, take a trip to the Sugar Museum for a sweet stroll through an important part of Maui’s history.
