ʻāina laʻa hawaii: Bishop Museum

Acacia koa on display from the Bishop Museum herbarium.

If you only have time to visit one place on all of Oahu, consider Bishop Museum. There are many great resorts, beaches, and shopping malls on this island and across the globe, but only one Bishop Museum. Give yourself as much time as you have available to uncover the unique story of Hawaii. You can easily spend the whole day here and leave wanting to return.

The museum was founded by Charles Reed Bishop in 1889, five years after the death of his wife, Princess Ke Ali'i Bernice Pauahi, to honor her and preserve the priceless Hawaiian artifacts she, her cousin Ruth Ke'elikōlani, and Queen Emma had acquired.

Bernice Pauahi (1831-1884) was the great granddaughter of King Kamehameha I. Her parents had planned that she would marry her classmate (who became Kamehameha V). When she married Charles Reed Bishop instead, her parents did not attend the wedding but later made peace with their decision. Pauahi later turned down King Kamehameha V's request to succeed him to the throne upon his death.

Bernice Pauahi Bishop. Photo credit: Wikipedia.

Charles Reed Bishop, right, with William Little Lee, 1846. Photo credit: Wikipedia.

Charles Reed Bishop (1822-1915) was a New Yorker who had a layover in Hawaii while enroute to Oregon and remained in the islands. He became a trusted advisor to five Hawaiian monarchs, founded the first bank west of the Mississippi (I believe that's what I heard), and fulfilled his wife's wish of founding Kamehameha Schools. After the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown in 1893, he moved to San Francisco in 1894, and sold his bank, which would later become First Hawaiian Bank, in 1895. He was buried near Pauahi at the Royal Mausoleum on Nuuanu Avenue. Bishop Street nearby in Downtown Honolulu was named after him.

Bishop Museum opened in 1891, the year Lili'uokalani took the throne (or 1892, depending where you look), with just three rooms of exhibits. Bishop intentionally sited the museum on the grounds of Kamehameha Schools (the school later relocated nearby), and commissioned two additional buildings shortly after the museum's opening. These original buildings utilized locally sourced bluestone ("dense basaltic lava", according to an exhibit at the museum) chiseled into building blocks by skilled Portuguese masons. Charles Dickey was among the architects Bishop worked with.

Bishop Museum, undated. Is this Hawaiian Hall covered in creeping fig? Photo credit: Hawaii State Archives.

Bishop Museum, undated, with addition. Photo credit: Hawaii State Archives.

Hawaiian Hall, one of the original buildings, walks visitors through all of Hawaii history, from pre-contact (first floor) to the end of the Hawaiian monarchy and beyond (third floor). You will learn about all aspects of life in early Hawaii and see artifacts like ancient weaponry, fishing implements, tools, kapa, feather cloaks and helmets, and more. Right now, the feathered cloak and helmet that Hawaii Island chief Kalani'ōpu'u gave to Captain Cook in 1779 upon his arrival is on loan from Te Papa, the Bishop Museum of New Zealand.

Learn about other Polynesian cultures in Pacific Hall, view authentic kāhili in the aptly named Kāhili Room, and view and hear the calls of endangered or extinct endemic Hawaii birds in the temporary exhibit "Lele O Nā Manu". The Castle Building currently houses the temporary exhibit "Sweet: A Tasty Journey" where you can watch videos of how different candies are made, learn about their inventors, engage in interactive displays, and marvel at artworks made of candy. The Richard T. Mamiya Science Adventure Center provides a fun, interactive introduction to oceanography and volcanology, among other things. At certain times there are live demonstrations of melting rock in the Science Adventure Center, and tours of the night sky at the Planetarium. There is also a native ethnobotanical garden where you can view up close some of the plants whose uses are discussed in the museum exhibits.

Bishop Museum also hosts educational presentations by scholars, eclipse viewing events, and the annual Grow Hawaiian Festival, among other events.

Interactive wave exhibit on the ground floor of the Richard T. Mamiya Science Adventure Center at Bishop Museum.

Photo credit: Hawaii State Archives.

(Sources: Bishop Museum, Wikipedia.)