Hulihee Palace Expands Hours For Holidays

Kona’s Hulihe‘e Palace, the “grand dame of Ali‘i Drive,” is expanding hours for museum tours to include weekend evenings during the holiday season.

Beginning Oct. 18, the palace will be open 5 to 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through Jan. 31, 2014, offering docent-guided and self-guided tours during the new hours.

“We want to open our doors to the dinner crowd and kamaaina families who are looking to do something different on the weekends,“ says docent coordinator Casey Ballao in a release. “The only exception to the evening hours is if we have a private function, then we will be closed.“

The palace is also open for these tours 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays with the exception of the Monday following the monthly Kokua Kailua Village stroll. On that Monday, the palace is open 1 to 4 p.m. to accommodate the palace’s new monthly Wilhelmina’s Tea at 10 a.m.

Dates for the tea in 2013 are Oct. 21, Nov. 18 and Dec. 16. Wilhelmina’s Tea is limited to 20 guests and non-refundable reservations are required. Call 808-329-9555.

Hulihe`e Palace was completed in 1838 by the second governor of the Island of Hawaii, John Adams Kuakini, and became a favorite retreat for Hawaiian royalty. During the reign of King David Kalakaua, the palace was extensively remodeled, and in 1925 Hulihe`e Palace was purchased by the Territory of Hawaii to be operated as a museum by the Daughters of Hawaii.

Today the Daughters oversee a collection of ancient Hawaiian artifacts and personal memorabilia of Hawaiian royalty.

Palace admission for a self-guided tour is $8 for adults, $6 for kamaaina, military and seniors, and $1 for keiki 18 years and under. Docent-guided tours are available upon request. Call 329-1877 or visit www.daughtersofhawaii.org.