Stand at Hilo Bay with the ocean at your back and you face empty green fields that were once busy village streets, shops and homes. Those neighborhoods were smashed in the 1946 and 1960 tsunamis, leaving empty spaces that were eventually transformed into playing fields for children.

Farther north on a roadside in rural Laupahoehoe is the former home of a train station agent, a curious remnant of the old railroad network that hauled heavy loads of plantation sugar over the creaking, towering bridges that spanned the deep gulches of the Hamakua Coast.

Traces of the tragedies, achievements and aspirations of the people of Hawaii County dot its landscape, and those stories are preserved in large and small museums scattered across the island.

At Keahole in Kona is the space museum named for Ellison Onizuka, the local hero and astronaut who died in the Challenger space shuttle explosion in 1986.

On the Kailua shoreline is Hulihe’e Palace, which was once a vacation home for kings and queens of Hawaii and now houses their stories and royal possessions.

Waimea offers tours of the ranch house that once belonged to Anna Lindsey Perry-Fiske, a fiercely independent cowgirl and jockey who became known as the "First Lady of Ranching" in the tough, male-dominated world of Hawaiian cowboys.

Dinnie Kyser, president of Destination Hilo, describes the scattered sites as "gems." Her organization hopes Hawaii island will eventually become known as a museum mecca where people come to learn about pre-contact culture, plantation history, and the county’s emerging role in the study of astronomy and natural sciences.

But after a years-long economic slump, few of the museums can afford to aggressively market themselves to the public. Tourists may pass by without a glance, and even local residents may be unfamiliar with some of them.

To boost the profile, attendance and fortunes of the network of museums, Destination Hilo has launched a low-cost Big Island Museum Discount Pass that provides discounts at 10 institutions. The $8 pass is sold online through the Destination Hilo Web site, www.destinationhilo.com.

The idea is to promote educational and cultural tourism and at the same time help the museums preserve the island’s multi faceted legacy.

Jeff Harman, marketing manager for the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii in Hilo, said each of the museums has its own website, but the new pass program serves as a clearinghouse to help people find them.

The pass also encourages people interested in history or the natural sciences to engage in a kind of islandwide treasure hunt.

The hope is that visitors and residents will plan one- or two-day driving adventures, following the map of museums around the island and "making that kind of discovery the focus of their experience," Harman said.

"Each one provides a unique perspective on life in Hawaii that just paints such a rich picture for the visitor," he said.

1. ANNA RANCH HISTORIC HOME AND HERITAGE CENTER
65-1480 Kawaihae Road, Waimea; 885-4426; www.annaranch.org
The restored ranch house, built around 1910, and outbuildings contain antique koa furniture; paintings by Lionel Walden, D. Howard Hitchcock, Martha Greenwell and Herb Kane; ranching gear; and Anna Lindsey Perry-Fiske’s holoku, parade costumes and trophies. The center also is a working ranch where visitors can talk story with blacksmith Ethan Froney and master saddle maker Albert Moniz, and there’s a Wednesday farmers market.

2. ASTRONAUT ELLISONS. ONIZUKA SPACE CENTER
Keahole-Kona International Airport, Kailua-Kona; 329-3441; www.hawaiimuseums.org/mc/ishawaii_astronaut.htm
Examine a moon rock, Apollo 13 spacesuit and meteorites as you learn about the inspirational legacy of Hawaii’s first astronaut, Ellison Onizuka, who perished aboard the Challenger mission in 1986. The center’s interactive exhibits and videos tell the history of manned space flight, physics and daily life in space.

3. LAUPAHOEHOE TRAIN MUSEUM
Highway 19 (near mile marker 25); 962-6300; www.thetrainmuseum.com
Located in the old station agent’s home on the site of the old train stop, this museum honors the history of the trains that serviced the sugar plantations, with a focus on the Hilo Railroad that ran from 1899 until the railroad tracks and facilities were irreparably damaged by the 1946 tsunami. Displays include full-scale and model trains and an area where kids can play with wooden train sets.

4. HULIHE’E PALACE
75-5718 Alii Drive, Kailua-Kona; 329-1877; www.huliheepalace.net
Built in 1838 as a home for High Chief Kuakini, Hulihe’e Palace showcases Victorian artifacts from the era of King Kalakaua and Queen Kapiolani. The collection includes koa wood furniture, portraits, kapa, feather work and Hawaiian quilts.

5. PACIFIC TSUNAMI MUSEUM
130 Kamehameha Ave, Hilo (along Hilo’s Bayfront); 935-0926; www.tsunami.org
Talk story with survivors of the Hilo tsunamis, learn about tsunami science and see a model of Hilo town before the devastating 1946 tsunami. The museum serves as a living memorial to tsunami victims and promotes public education about disaster preparedness.

6. MOKUPAPAPA DISCOVERY CENTER
308 Kamehameha Ave., Suite 109, Hilo; 933-8181; www.papahanaumokuakea.gov
Opened in 2003, this museum focuses on the natural science, culture and history of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and surrounding marine environment. Exhibits include a 2,500-gallon saltwater aquarium and a mock-up of Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory’s Pisces V submersible with working robot arms.

7. LYMAN MUSEUM AND MISSION HOUSE
276 Haili Street, Hilo; 935-5021; www.lymanmuseum.org
Tour the restored Mission House built in 1839 for missionaries David and Sarah Lyman. Next door, the Lyman Museum houses Hawaiian, missionary and ethnic artifacts, Chinese and Hawaiian art, and vast seashell and mineral collections that include a 200-pound amethyst geode and glow-in-the-dark rocks.

8. AMY GREENWELL ETHNOBOTANICAL GARDEN
82-6188 Mamalahoa Highway (Highway 11), Captain Cook; 323-3318; www.bishopmuseum.org/exhibits/greenwell/greenwell.html
Part of Oahu’s Bishop Museum, the garden supports Hawaiian cultural traditions of land use and plants, and conserves more than 200 plant species used in those traditions. Blooming here is the endangered Kokia cookei, a small deciduous tree that has been called the rarest plant in the world.

9. ‘IMILOA ASTRONOMY CENTER OF HAWAII
600 Imiloa Place, Hilo; 969-9700; www.imiloahawaii.org
Opened in 2006, the center intertwines Hawaiian culture and science to tell the story of human exploration through exhibits and presentations.
Imiloa’s state-of-the-art 120-seat, full-dome planetarium was the first in the nation to have 3-D capabilities.

10. KONA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
81-6551 Mamalahoa Highway (Highway 11), Kealakekua; Greenwell Store, 323-3222; Coffee Farm, 323-2006; www.konahistorical.org
The H.N. Greenwell Store Museum is a restored 1890s general store where bread is baked Thursdays in the Portuguese stone oven in the lower pasture. Visitors to the Kona Coffee Living History Farm can talk story with costumed historians about the area’s coffee pioneers.