Kona123.com
The 123 list for a Big Island visit
Your Visitor Friendly People & Places
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You are now on kona123.com Click "map" for all about the Big Island. Things to do & see... .......................................................... places to sleep, eat and shop.
South Kona
Gardens, Coffee Farms, the sacred Place of Refuge and some great snorkeling
Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park
The history of old Hawaii comes alive at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau. Walk along the ocean, past Keone’ele Cove where once only ali'i (chiefs) were allowed to go. Imagine the Kapu breakers fleeing their pursuers as they swim across the bay to the safety of the pu'uhonua. Marvel at the engineering accomplishments of the Hawaiians as you pass along the great wall and heiau. The people and places here have left many stories waiting to be told.
Paleaku Peace Gardens
Located in Captain Cook on the Big Island of Hawaii, Paleaku Gardens is a seven acre botanical garden that facilitates educational, spiritual, and cultural programs. Our mission is to offer a sanctuary for the advancement of individuals toward peace and harmony.
Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden
Located on the rich slopes of South Kona, the garden is 22 miles south of the Kona airport, this 15 acre garden is devoted to the study of the Hawaian people and their plants. Over 200 species of plants are exhibited that grew on the traditional farms and native forests of Kona before Captain Cook arrived in the late 18th century.
Most self-guided visitors spend a half-hour to an hour in the Garden.
Hula Daddy Kona Coffee
(808) 327- 9744
Get 100% premium pure Kona coffee - not a blend of quality beans mixed and matched with lesser varieties. The sun, the soil, the warm sea breezes and gentle rains all come together in Kona to create a gourmet coffee bean producing paradise.
Open seven days a week (except for major holidays) from 10 am to 4 pm for free coffee tasting, tours of the orchard and tours of the roasting room.
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Holualoa Kona Coffee Company
We are committed to using only organic farming methods for the health of our trees, ourselves and our planet. All coffee cherry skins and parchment husk produced by our mill as by products are composted and returned to the orchards to build new soil. Only organic fertilizers and naturally occurring soil amendments are used. Green waste is trucked in for mulching and weed control as
no herbicides or pesticides are used in our orchards.Come for the free tours and coffee tasting.
(808) 322-7304 orders@konalea.com
Kona Historical Society
Come experience the 1880’s in the H.N. Greenwell Store Museum where the shopkeeper will help you gather your supplies for your trip up Kona mauka. The mingled aromas of coffee beans and oranges blend together again, just as they did over 100 years ago when goods were sold here in the heydey of Kona ranching.
Stroll through the award-winning Kona Coffee Living History Farm that tells the story of Kona’s coffee pioneers during the years 1926-1945. It is America’s only living history coffee farm where you may “talk story” with costumed historians and discover the history behind Kona’s gourmet crop. You won’t leave this place without feeling you have experienced a rare glimpse into Hawai`i’s colorful past.
Painted Church
Overlooking beautiful and historic Kealakekua Bay, St. Benedict's Painted Church is a fascinating place to visit on your journey to the Big Island of Hawaii. Located in the famous Kona coffee growing region, it is the jewel of South Kona.
This present church was erected in 1899 by Father John Velghe. He was a Belgian and a member of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Society, familiarly known as the Picpus Fathers. Father Damien, the Leper Priest, was a member of this Society. Without any professional training and using house paint on ordinary wood he beautified the church with his paintings. In those days few Hawaiians could read and so he taught with pictures-most successfully. He spent over four years with saw and brush to complete the structure and was then recalled to Belgium where he died in 1939.