Most of Lahaina’s surviving historical and cultural artifacts remain buried under ash and debris a month and a half after a horrific wildfire ravaged the center of the historic town.
“There are possibly dozens and maybe even hundreds of artifacts that survived the fire,” said Kimberly Flook, deputy executive director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation. “But we don’t know for sure.”
While the foundation and members of other history and archaeology groups are ready to retrieve the surviving items, they’ve been unable to because of other priorities associated with the ongoing rescue and recovery effort.
Meanwhile, the artifacts are potentially deteriorating while exposed to ash, soot, dust and debris, in possible combination with other chemicals.
At least there hasn’t been a significant rainfall since the Aug. 8 fire.
“If it rains, water and ash will make lye, and lye is a destructive chemical,” said Flook, an archaeologist by training.
Uilani Kapu and her husband, Ke‘eaumoku Kapu, operate the fire-destroyed Na ‘Aikane o Maui Cultural Center, which lost a treasure trove of old documents, maps, genealogy books, carvings and artifacts.
The building and its contents are estimated at $2 million, she said.
Kapu said she and her husband haven’t been allowed to return to sift through the ruins of the building, but there’s a chance poi pounders, adzes and other items survived.
“We’re hoping they’re still there,” she said. “But I’ve heard there’s a lot of looting.”
At least 97 people perished and more than 2,000 structures were destroyed by the wildfire that started in the former sugar cane fields above Lahaina and driven into town by gusts of 60 mph or more.
>> RELATED: Before and after: Many Lahaina landmarks, historic sites lost in Maui fire
The area in and around Front Street — designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962 — was leveled by the blaze, along with its historic buildings, landmarks and sites.
Lahaina was largely known as a tourist town, but its buildings were a reflection of its varied and colorful past — a history that included stints as the capital of the Hawaiian kingdom, a center for whaling, home to American missionaries and a place for those who worked in the sugar plantations.
The 60-year-old Lahaina Restoration Foundation is the steward of at least 17 old buildings, landmarks and historical sites, most of them destroyed or severely damaged in the fire.
Also lost in the blaze was the foundation’s office. Now working out of Central Maui, Theo Morrison, the foundation’s executive director, said she and her staff have been unable to check on the sites they manage.
“This is the biggest frustration about this whole process,” she said.
The status of each site and building, she said, is known only through photographs and other images of the burned area, or from word of mouth from those employed in the search and recovery effort.
The price tag to rebuild the historic structures is likely to reach into the many millions of dollars, she said.
With many of the sites open to the public, they were home to lots of displays of artifacts and furnished with period pieces from the different eras of Lahaina. Anything that was made of fabric, paper or wood is likely lost, said Flook.
That includes an original flag of the Hawaiian kingdom, last flown in 1898, when it was replaced with the American flag. The flag was on display in the Lahaina Heritage Museum, which sat in the gutted Old Lahaina Courthouse.
Also lost from the museum was a large antique piece of kapa, a delicate Hawaiian feather lei with bone pendant and the Baldwin family Bible, which belonged to the descendants of Dr. Dwight Baldwin, the missionary who arrived on Maui in 1836.
Likely destroyed at the Baldwin Home Museum were antique musical instruments, a Hawaiian land snail collection with extinct specimens and a sewing box that belonged to Charlotte Baldwin, wife of Dwight Baldwin.
At the leveled Wo Hing Museum, antique mahjong sets and abacus tools were undoubtedly lost, along with old donation records that shows the breadth of Lahaina’s former Chinatown.
On the positive side, many Native Hawaiian artifacts made of lava rock and stone may have survived, Flook said.
“We’ve also heard that some small ivory or whale bone survived in some locations,” she said.
A large wok appears intact in a satellite image of the fire-ravaged Wo Hing Hall.
“Is it cracked? Is its structure compromised? Hard to say, but its shape is still the same and it’s sitting there on its stand,” Flook said.
The Lahaina Restoration Foundation has received over $20,000 from the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative to pay for personal protective equipment and tools to deal with the retrieval and rehabilitation of the surviving artifacts. The foundation’s staff also has received specialized training for the safe handling of the objects in the burn zone.
Flook said she’s hoping to find poi pounders, fishing sinkers, ulu mika (game pieces), adzes and other stone tools — items made from the fire of Hawaiian volcanoes.
“These are really important artifacts, and there’s a good chance for their survival,” she said.
But when they can be retrieved remains uncertain. Authorities have started letting homeowners into the burn area, and it appears that the Front Street properties may be among the last to be allowed to enter.
Flook said officials should allow those who need to retrieve cultural treasures onto their properties sooner rather than later, and especially before the rainy season.
Items remain at risk if they are not cleaned and stabilized, she said, and there’s also a concern that the objects are not secure.
As for the damaged and destroyed structures, experts need to inspect them up close to determine if anything can be salvaged for restoration.
“It will take years. It will take tens of millions of dollars, but there’s no doubt it is the path to go,” Flook said.
The nonprofit’s board met last week and they expressed their commitment to move forward with the restoration effort.
With Lahaina’s Banyan tree showing signs of life and a $100,000 donation from Hawaiian Island Creations, the foundation’s fire restoration fundraising campaign is off to a good start.
“The beauty of this community is when it comes together,” Flook said. “We have a chance to do something really amazing. We have the opportunity to do things better than before. But it will be a long road.”
PIECES OF HISTORY
The following is the assumed status of the sites owned and managed by the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, followed by the status of a few other historic and cultural sites in town:
>> Agawa Home, a sugar-era wooden plantation style home — destroyed.
>> Old Lahaina Prison museum, a Kingdom of Hawaii-era structure now a museum. Stone prison walls — damaged but still standing; wooden gatehouse and cellblocks — destroyed.
>> Hale Aloha, a missionary and Kingdom of Hawaii-era site used for collections care and storage. Walls — damaged, but still standing; all else lost.
>> Old Lahaina Courthouse, a museum, art gallery and visitor center dating back to the Kingdom of Hawaii. Walls — damaged but still standing; all else lost.
>> Baldwin Home Museum, a structure from the missionary and Kingdom of Hawaii eras. Walls — damaged but still standing; all else lost.
>> Masters’ Reading Room, a retail and meeting space that dates back to the missionary and Kingdom of Hawaii eras. Walls — damaged but still standing; all else lost.
>> Kindergarten Building, a sugar-era building — destroyed.
>> Wo Hing Museum and Cookhouse, a structure from the sugar era — destroyed.
>> Plantation House, a sugar-era building used for offices — destroyed.
>> Seaman’s Hospital, a Kingdom of Hawaii-era building. Walls — damaged but still standing; all else lost.
>> Pioneer Mill office, a sugar-era building. Walls — damaged but still standing; all else lost.
>> Pioneer Mill smokestack and locomotives, sugar-era structure and now a museum — intact with wind damage and minimal fire damage.
>> Hale Pa‘i, a structure now used for museum and archival storage — intact.
>> Plantation Museum in the Lahaina Cannery Mall — intact.
>> Banyan Tree Park — Some damage but benches intact; tree showing signs of hope; other trees lost.
>> Apuakehau Cultural Park — trees damaged and lost.
>> Campbell Park — trees damaged and lost.
Other key sites:
>> Waiola Church, the latest version of the missionary-era structure, Church Hall — walls damaged but still standing; Community Hall — destroyed. Cemetery — decent shape.
>> Holy Innocent Church and School — destroyed.
>> Lahaina Hongwanji Mission — destroyed.
>> Lahaina Shingon Mission — destroyed.
>> Lahaina Jodo Mission. Wooden structures — destroyed; Buddha statue and bell — intact.
>> Maria Lanakila Church — intact but school severely damaged.
>> Na ‘Aikane o Maui Cultural Center — destroyed.
>> Hui O Wa‘a Kaulua, Mo‘olele Canoe — destroyed.
