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EAST
The Sites!
Lyman Mission House and Museum
276 Haili St, Hilo 96720 •
808-935-5021
When David and Sarah Lyman finished their Big Island home
in 1839, it was one of the island's most unique. The house's architecture is a
masterpiece of juxtaposition – the Lyman’s used hand-hewn, local koa wood to
build the New England-style home. (The tin for the roof, it should be noted, was
imported from Great Britain.) Over the years, the home received a variety of
famous guests, including Robert Louis Stevenson and Mark Twain. Today, the place
is a history museum and celebrates missionary life in Hawaii with interactive
exhibits, original furniture, tools, and the Lyman’s personal effects.
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Pacific Tsunami Museum
130 Kamehameha Ave, Hilo 96720 •
808-935-0926
On
the east coast of the United States, hurricane season runs from June to
November, and coastal residents keep track of weather systems while
meteorologists chart low and high-pressure systems. In Paradise, however, the
seasonal threat of tsunamis is something islanders live with daily. In fact, the
Big Island's largest town was almost completely leveled by tsunamis on May 23,
1960.This museum dedicates itself to educating locals and visitors about this
threat via oral history programs, pictorial displays, and scientific exhibits.
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Rainbow Falls
Rainbow Dr off W Waianuenue Ave, Hilo 96720
Just a short drive outside of downtown Hilo, the Wailuku River penetrates dense
tropical undergrowth and cascades more than 80 feet into a picturesque gorge.
The emerald green pool at the base of the falls used to be a popular swimming
hole, especially with daredevils who wanted to explore the cave behind the
falls; however, that's now against the law. Instead, visitors must make their
way down the slick, stone walkway to the overlook, from which they have a
terrific vantage point of this magnificent scene.
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Banyan Drive
93 Banyan Dr Hawai'i Naniloa Resort, Hilo 96720
Scenic Banyan Drive, which loops around Hilo Bay's Waiakea Peninsula, is named
for the 50-plus unique old banyan trees
that line its sides. The ground roots of these eerie hardwood trees extend like
Gothic snakes across the sand; meanwhile, long, spindly aerial roots dangle from
overhead, giving the banyans a cage-like appearance. The trees were planted by
the likes of Amelia Earhart, F.D.R., Cecil B. DeMille (who was here in 1933
filming Four Frightened People, Babe Ruth (his tree's in front of Hilo Hawaiian
Hotel), King George V, and Fannie Hurst,
and most of them date from the 1930s.
Also along Banyan Drive is Liliuokalani
Gardens, the largest formal Japanese garden this side of Tokyo. This 30-acre
park, named for Hawaii's last monarch, Queen Liliuokalani, is as pretty as a
postcard from the Orient, with bonsai, carp ponds, pagodas, and a moon-gate
bridge. Open: 24 hours. Free admission.
Coconut Island It's worth a stop along
Banyan Drive--especially if the coast is clear and the summit of Mauna Kea is
free of clouds--to make the short walk across the concrete-arch bridge in front
of the Naniloa Hotel to Coconut Island, if only to gain a panoramic sense of the
place.
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