Alexander and Baldwin Sugar Museum

The Sugar Factory is a hard place to miss on Maui. Driving from the Kahului Airport to just about anywhere on the island you'll see steam belching from the stacks and the stained and rusty buildings. If you look closely as you pass you'll see a sign that says, "Sugar Museum" and may wonder, "what's that all about?"

Well we finally had to stop and have a look. What we found was a thoroughly interesting journey through Maui's past. The Museum's six rooms of artifacts document how sugar changed the face of the island. For instance sugar led to the construction of Maui's vast (though mostly invisible to the visitor) irrigation system. Maui's ethnically diverse population is due in large part to laborers immigrating to work in the cane fields. In part the politics of growing and selling sugar led to Hawaii becomming a US Territory.

Most importantly the museum exhibits give a face to the people involved in this enterprise, whether they be the sugar barons or the lowly laborers. Did you know that Alexander and Baldwin, childhood friends, started with only 12 acres to plant or that Japanese immigrants signed "labor contracts" which in effect made them indentured servants?

The Sugar Museum doesn't have the flash and glitter of a modern facility, but is well worth the $5 admission fee.

It's located at 3957 Hansen Rd, Pu'unene. Where's Pu'unene? Well if you'd been to the Sugar Museum you'd know it's an old sugar town that's mostly gone today. It's just off highway 311 between Kahului and Kihei, just look for the steam coming from the stacks.

Sugar Museum Website

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