Huliheʻe Palace

Huliheʻe Palace stands in historic Kailua-Kona, on Aliʻi Drive, on the island of Hawaiʻi. It was a vacation home of Hawaiian royalty and is now a museum run by the Daughters of Hawaiʻi, with furniture and artifacts on display.

The palace was built of lava rock by John Adams Kuakini, governor of the island of Hawaiʻi, during the Hawaiian Kingdom. In 1885 King Kalākaua had the outside plastered to give the building a more refined look. The palace is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

When Kuakini died in 1844, he left the house to his hānai (adopted) son, William Pitt Leleiohoku I. It then passed down the family until it reached Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani, who made Huliheʻe her chief residence for most of her life, though she preferred to sleep in a grass hut on the grounds. She invited every reigning monarch, from Kamehameha III to Liliʻuokalani, to vacation here. She left the palace to her cousin Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop.

It was later sold to King Kalākaua and Queen Kapiʻolani. Kalākaua renamed it Hikulani Hale, "House of the Seventh ruler," referring to himself as the seventh monarch of the line begun by Kamehameha I. After his death it passed to Kapiʻolani, who left it to two nephews. In 1927 the Daughters of Hawaiʻi, working with the Territory of Hawaii and the palace custodian, restored it and turned it into a museum. The 2006 Kiholo Bay earthquake left slight cracks in the walls and ceiling.