Frommer's Kauai - Jeanette Foster [148]
Kauai Museum The history of Kauai is kept safe in an imposing Greco-Roman building that once served as the town library. This great little museum is worth a stop before you set out to explore the island. It contains a wealth of historical artifacts and information tracing the island’s history, from the beginning of time through Contact (when Capt. James Cook “discovered” Kauai in 1778), the monarchy period, the plantation era, and the present. You’ll hear tales of the menehune (the mythical, elflike people who were said to build massive stone works in a single night) and see old poi pounders and idols, relics of sugar planters and paniolo, a nice seashell collection, old Hawaiian quilts, feather leis, a replica of a plantation worker’s home, and much more—even a model of Cook’s ship, the HMS Resolution, riding anchor in Waimea Bay. Vintage photographs by W. J. Senda, a Japanese immigrant, show old Kauai, while a contemporary video, shot from a helicopter, captures the island’s natural beauty.
4428 Rice St., Lihue. 80 8/245-6931.www.kauaimuseum.org. Admission $10 adults, $8 seniors, $3 students 13–17, $1 children 6–12; free for children 5 and under.. Mon–Fri 9am–4pm; Sat 10am–4pm. First Sat of every month is “Family Day,” when admission is free.
Kauai Plantation Railway The first new railroad to be built in Hawaii in 100 years opened in 2007 after 5 years of work, 6,000 ties, 30,000 hand-driven spikes, and 480,000 pounds of iron rail. The Kauai Plantation Railway is part scenic tour, part-cultural tour, part agricultural tour, part educational tour, and 100% fun for the family. The train, consisting of two refurbished diesel engines and four custom (hardwood floors) passenger cars, travels along a 3-mile figure-eight track through the grounds of Kilohana (see below). The 40-minute tour is narrated by very knowledgeable guides dressed in green palaka print shirts like those traditionally worn by plantation workers. They not only weave in Kauai’s history but also point out the more than 50 different crops that have been planted along the train route, everything from Hawaii crops like sugar, pineapple, and taro to fruit trees to fragrant plants (ginger, gardenia, plumeria), vegetable plants, and even hardwood trees (milo, koa). The train stops briefly at the “animal farm,” where some pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, and cows are available for petting. Coming are a train/hike adventure into Kahuna Nui Valley and a “Gourmet Deli Lunch Tour.” Check the website for details.
Kilohana, 3-2087 Kaumualii Hwy., Lihue. 80 8/245-RAIL.www.kauaiplantationrailway.com. Admission $18 adult, $14 children 2–12. Mon–Sat 10am–2pm.
Kilohana Plantation This 35-acre Tudor-style estate sprawls across the landscape in Puhi. The best way to see the grounds is on the Kauai Plantation Railway tour (see above). The mansion, built by sugar baron Gaylord Parke Wilcox in 1936, is an architectural marvel that houses a sprinkling of galleries and shops () as well as Gaylord’s restaurant (). It’s worth a stroll around the house to admire the original furnishings and architecture even if you’re not interested in shopping or dining here. Kilohana also hosts a luau on Tuesday and Friday (see “A Hawaiian Feast: The Luau”).
Kilohana, 3-2087 Kaumualii Hwy., Lihue. 80 8/245-5608.www.kilohanakauai.com.
Menehune (Alekoko) Fishpond Just outside Lihue and Nawiliwili Harbor, on the Huleia River, lies a mystery that still can’t be explained: the handiwork of the menehune (see “Discovering the Legendary ‘Little People,’” below). The pond, called Alekoko (“rippling blood”) and today known as the Menehune Fishpond, was an aquacultural feat constructed hundreds of years ago. The builders of this 2,700-foot-long stone wall (that cuts off a bend in the river) were believed to be the mythical people who inhabited Kauai before the Polynesians arrived. The fishpond is located in the Huleia