The Lyman Museum began as the Lyman Mission House, originally built for
New England missionaries David and Sarah Lyman in 1839.
The original Lyman House was a "Cape Cod" type with a high,
steep pitched thatched roof with dormers making up the second floor. The second floor was divided into sleeping
quarters for some of the Lyman's eight children.
The house kitchen was a semi-detached building at the rear of the house
with an open fireplace and oven constructed out of rough stones, bricks being
then unknown to Hawaii.
The majority of the first floor interior is hand hewn koa (Hawaiian
Hardwood).
Major renovations in 1856 added a new wing to be used as a study and
library for Rev. Lyman. A new second
story was added at this time with an attic.
Northwest pine was substituted for koa on the second floor.
Reverend David Belden Lyman and his wife, Sarah Joiner Lyman arrived in
Hawaii in 1832, members of the fifth company of missionaries sent to the
Islands by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
The Lymans lived in a variety of homes, from a Hawaiian style thatched
house to a "Cape Cod" prefab, before they built their own house in
1838.
In the late 1830s they built the Lyman House as a family home. The Hilo Boarding School, a school for young
Hawaiian men, founded by the Lymans, was built nearby.
Although Rev. Lyman spent the majority of his time working with and for
the students of the Hilo Boarding School, he did substitute as pastor for Haili
Church when Rev. Titus Coan was on extended tours.
The Rev. and Mrs. Lyman were also founding members of the First Foreign
Church, a church established in 1868 for the foreign residents of Hilo.
Over the years, the house became a place to raise their children and
host guests, including many of the Hawaiian Ali‘i (royalty) and other notables,
such as Mark Twain and Isabella Bird.
The Lymans never returned to their native New England, but lived out
their long lives in Hilo.
The Lyman Mission House is the oldest standing wood structure on the
Island of Hawai`i and one of the oldest in the State.
Nearly 100 eventful years later, in 1931, the Museum was established by
their descendants. Today, the restored
Mission House is on the State and National Registers of Historic Places and may
be visited by guided tour.
The Lyman Museum building, next door to the Mission House, houses a
superb collection of artifacts, fine art, and natural history exhibits, as well
as an archives, special exhibitions and a gift shop.
Visitors touring the two facilities can see the old Mission House and
life as it was 150 years ago, as well as state-of-the-art exhibits on many
aspects of Hawaiian natural history and culture…a rare and well-rounded view of
the real Hawai`i, as it was, as it is today, and where it may be in years to
come.
Docent-guided tours of the Mission House convey a sense of what it
meant to live 5,000-miles and a 6-month journey away from your original home
and family in a house without electricity or running water, as well as the
difficulty of a decidedly different language and culture from your own, while
being driven by a sense of duty to bring Christianity and Western-style
education to the Hawaiian people.
The Museum and Mission House are open Monday-Saturday 10 am - 4:30
pm. House tours at 11 am and 2 pm.
Closed Sundays, January 1, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and
December 25.
Admission: Lyman Museum members are admitted free. Group rates, special tours and workshops must
be arranged in advance. The current fee
schedule is $10 Adults, $8 Seniors over 60, $3 Children 6-17, $21 Family (2
adults with children under 17), $5 University Student with current ID.
Kama`aina rates available, please ask.
The image shows the mission house; in addition, I have added a couple
other images of the mission house and museum in a folder of like name in the
Photos section on my Facebook page.
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