History

Visitors to Pu`uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park experience history on a double-hulled canoe during the park's annual cultural festival in June.

In every national park in the Pacific Islands you will come face-to-face with history. Whether standing on the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor or at the foot of King Kamehameha’s mighty temple of war Pu`ukohola Heiau on the Island of Hawai`i, many world-changing events have occurred throughout the centuries at these special places. When you visit these parks you will come to discover not only the events that took place here but the people who made it all possible.

You will encounter figures like Saint Damien, who gave his life to help those individuals who were sent to live out the remainder of their days at Kalaupapa, all because they had contracted the much-feared Hansen’s Disease. At these parks you will hear the stories of other individuals, like the heroes of the Pearl Harbor attack at the USS Arizona Memorial.