Wednesday (I think) we drove to Lahaina to see the fabled banyan tree that covers 2/3 of an acre and has its own park.

Yes, that is all one tree. It has, I believe, 12 trunks, because the branches grow downward and eventually take root.

The photo above shows one of those individual trunks. Below is the momma trunk herself:

Need another view?

The Japanese tourist shows the massive scale of this thing. It was eight feet tall when it was planted (I forget by whom) in 1873 to celebrate 50 years of Protestant missions in Hawaii. I have mixed feelings about that, of course, because so many missionaries eradicated native culture in the name of Christianity. I haven’t read enough Hawaiian history to know the extent to which they did that here, although I have learned that hula was driven underground because the missionaries thought it was too seductive. Anyway, I digress.

As you can see above, some of the branches are so heavy that posts with leather harnesses have been rigged to support them.

The old courthouse also stands in Banyan Tree Park

surrounded by all sorts of flowers.

There are also remains from an old fort built of coral blocks.

Stay tuned, because eventually (in two or three more entries) I’m going to swim with sea turtles!