Explore Lahaina, Maui. If you like shopping for t-shirts. Front Street is where life begins in Lahaina. The city is more often known as a whaler port that became a T-Shirt and Art Gallery magnet.

Tourist goodies and historical references aside, Lahaina is a remarkable journey. Assuming…

...you’re bored stiff with mountains, beaches, sun tanning, surfing, wind surfing, kayaking, luau’s, biking treks down Mt. Haleakala, scuba diving, and snorkeling. And you’re completely out of T-Shirts.

Don’t get me wrong. If you need a T-Shirt, if you want a T-Shirt, if you’re a T-Shirt fetishist (there’s no red line under the word in my Spell Checker, so there), and absolutely, positively MUST have a T-Shirt you can’t find anywhere else—well, Lahaina is waiting for you.

T-Shirt shops abound. Some of the best include the popular Crazy Shirts stores.

“So, what else does Lahaina offer besides T-Shirts that tell everyone that you’ve been to Lahaina?”Otherwise, you’ll find T-Shirts available at nearly every store, most restaurants (hey, it’s free advertising for them and they get you to pay for it), and everything in between. Come to think of it, I did NOT see T-Shirts on sale at the local Shell Gasoline Stations (Lahaina must have one on every other block) or at McDonald’s.

Maybe there’s a shortage.

So, what else does Lahaina offer besides T-Shirts that tell everyone that you’ve been to Lahaina?

Plenty.

Front Street starts your journey. Neaby is the Baldwin Home. The Home was built, only four rooms, back in 1834. Yes, I know you didn’t know they had T-Shirts back then. They were probably darker in color.

The Rev. Ephraim Spaulding built the home of coral and stone. The walls are 24 inches thick. Spaulding later went on to become a sports equipment tycoon. Baseball gloves, bats, balls, basketballs. I think.

Notice that the Baldwin Home was built by a guy named Spaulding? Well, he fell ill and the house was inhabited by the Rev. Dwight Baldwin and his wife. Maybe she served Spaulding some bad tea and crumpets. Who knows? Spaulding left, the Baldwin’s moved in, stuck a shingle on the door, and called it their place.

I’ll bet they were glad those walls were 24 inches thick. Back then, Lahaina was a seaport. Sailors tend to get a little rowdy when taking on keggers of rum (my wife told me that) and the noise could be awful.

The Baldwins, being missionary type folks, produced a bunch of little Baldwins (that’s what happens when couples go missionary) and had to expand the size of their home. They added a second story in 1849. Presumably, Rev. Baldwin kept the key to the second floor so his daughters would be safe.

“Next door to the Baldwin Home in downtown Lahaina is another two story house built around the same time; 1834.”Remember, Lahaina was a seaport and the sailors were mostly thirsty and, uh, well, looking for ways to, uh, quench their thirst, when they docked.

Today, the first floor of the Baldwin Home is open to the public. Yes, the Baldwin’s are gone now. But their legacy lives on. If you’re a sailor, they still won’t let you up to the second floor.

Mrs. Baldwin, or, rather, Mrs. Rev. Baldwin, did the furnishings in the late 1830s and 40s and 50s. And a wonderful job she did as most of the furniture remains in the Baldwin Home, donated by the remaining Baldwin family. It seems they found more contemporary furniture at C. S Wo and Homeworld and moved to a condo in Waikiki. Or so the story goes.

Next door to the Baldwin Home in downtown Lahaina is another two story house built around the same time; 1834. It, too, was used for various missionary purposes, although historical records don’t indicate anything about daughters, sailors, or second floor lock outs.

Quite the contrary, the second floor of this structure, which came to be known as the Masters’ Reading Room, was designed to accommodate sailors visiting Lahaina.

Uh huh.  Sure.

Think about it. Like sailors who’d been traveling the seven seas for months on end (having hours, days, weeks to read the Bible end to end) would run upstairs to catch up on back issues of Life, Time, and Reader’s Digest—instead of venturing over to the Baldwin family fortress and checking out the staircase to the second floor.

Sounds like revisionist history to me.

The Baldwin Home
Front Street
Lahaina, Maui
808-661-3262

Pros: Very easy to find. If you’re on Front Street and get lost, ask someone. A slice of Hawaii’s history dating back to the mid 1800s, before the T-Short Clone Wars.

Cons: Small. Surprisingly old looking. Dusty. Museums tend to be that way, I guess. No daughters on the second floor. I checked.

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