Rising from the ashes.

Lahaina was originally called Lele, meaning resting sun!

Once Home of Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii  

After nine years at O'ahu, Kamehameha made a lengthy tour of his kingdom and finally settled at Kailua-Kona, where he lived for the next seven years. His rise to power had been based on invasion,

Founded by Keōpuōlani, the mother of King Kamehameha II and III, it is the parish where Christianity began on Maui.

Lahaina became the official first capital of the constitutional monarchy that set the foundation for judicial and executive branches of government.

The Brick Palace was the first western-style structure built in the Hawaiian Islands for Kamehameha the Great to serve as the first Royal Palace. Lahaina became the seat of government for the Hawaiian Kingdom until 1845.

In 1802, King KaMehameha made Lahaina the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom. He built a brick palace there, along with residences and other royal buildings, and Lahaina served as the center of the Hawaiian government for over 50 years, until permanently relocating to Honolulu for its harbor.

Around 1794 King Kamehameha the Great conquered Maui and later named Lahaina the capitol of his kingdom. It remained the capitol of Hawaii until King Kamehameha III moved it to Honolulu in 1840. 

Deadly wildfires in August 2023 displaced thousands on Maui and tragically devastated much of the Valley Isle’s historic old town of Lahaina. The Maui wildfires, which killed at least 115 people and Fire resulted in an estimated total of 2,719 structures exposed, 2,207 structures damaged or destroyed, and 2,170 acres burned. 

The massive firestorms that tore through Lahaina gutted entire neighborhoods and housing tracts, and so many animals and pets.

wildfires in August 2023 displaced thousands on Maui and tragically devastated much of the Valley Isle’s historic town of Lahaina, including the 200-year-old Waiola Church among hundreds of structures destroyed in the Lahaina wildfires. Severe winds brought on by a strong area of high pressure north of the state and Hurricane Dora passing far south of the island brought about this tragedy, along with extremely low humidity and underlying drought. 

Lost is the final resting place for early members of the royal family of the Kingdom of Hawaii. The Lahaina Jodo Mission, a Buddhist temple, is also destroyed. Maria Lanakila Catholic Church’s wooden roof sustained some damage.

Lahaina, a national historic landmark, historic district, and former capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, holds some of the most historically significant cultural properties and highest-ranking sacred remains of Maui’s ancestors. There is so much history that will be forever lost, yet, perhaps it will rise from the ashes and once again be beautiful Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii.

According to Native Hawaiian Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey; Much is to be said as the thoughts and what have brought about this horrific disaster of home and life, “The fires of today are partly due to the climate crisis, a history of colonialism in our islands, and the loss of our right to steward our ‘aina and wai. today we have watched our precious cultural assets, our physical connection to our ancestors, and our places of remembering to go up in smoke.

The same Western forces that tried to erase us as a people now threaten our survival with their destructive practices”.

To the residents of old town Lahaina, it is everything that most of them know, once again in time, they will again have a place to live, a home called Lahaina 

Lahaina has also suffered damage to one of its most beloved symbols, the scorched and blackened banyan trees.