Ten minutes from the Kahului Airport is a place that will take you back a century to the days when sugar was king in the islands. Once the plantation manager's home, the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum is located in Pu'unene. The museum gives its visitors an understanding of Maui's geography and water system, and the people and events that helped to shape the island's history. Here you can take a look at life within a sugar plantation village and how sugar cane is grown and processed in Hawaii.
Photo murals and artifacts dating back to 1878 are on display, as well as authentic scale models of the factory's machinery.
Near the museum, the Pu'unene Sugar Mill's smoke stacks tower over what remains of the village. The mill is owned by Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar, a division of Alexander & Baldwin. HC&S also owned the Pa'ia sugar mill, which closed in October 2000 after 120 years of operation.
