I’d like to first give a shout-out to the OUTSTANDING staff at this museum. They were very kind and informative. I lost my sunglasses somewhere in the museum and when I asked the cashier if they found any she was very proactive about calling the other employees and took down my phone number in case they found them. Luckily, they found the sunglasses and called me before we left the parking lot! You don’t get that kind of hospitality and genuine helpfulness everywhere you go, so it was much appreciated!

We’re a properly nerdy museum family so we were excited to stop by and take in some Kaua’i history here. The museum is housed in a historically significant building representing an attempt to blend traditional western architectural features with local Hawaiian forms and materials. The collection is diverse and thorough, including artifacts from pre-colonization Hawaiian history right up through Kauai’s rich surfing tradition. Our teenage daughters seemed a little bored at times, but they enjoyed a few things and hopefully picked up on some of what makes Hawaiian culture special.

We also found a good podcast about Hawaiian history (not affiliated with the museum) called Offshore that helped supplement some of our Hawaiian cultural education. One we really liked (season 4, episode 4) explored the invention and propagation of the steel guitar: a significant Hawaiian contribution to many types of American music.

This museum isn’t huge, so you can speed run it if you need a quick fix or spend an hour admiring the intricacies of local hat weaving practices like I did (sorry kids). Definitely go and support your local cultural institution if you need a little break from the sun and beach 🌸