Palapala Hoʻomau Church

Palapala Hoʻomau is a small Congregational church, cemetery, and ocean-facing grounds on a point in Kīpahulu. Visitors come for the simple white church, the quiet graveyard, and Charles Lindbergh’s burial place. It makes a thoughtful short stop if local history interests you; this is also a place of worship and burial, so keep voices low and leave the grounds undisturbed.

From Hāna, the church is about eight miles south, just beyond mile marker 41. Watch for the church and Maui Stables signs: the turn can be easy to miss. The access drive is unpaved and forks near the end; keep left for the small parking area. Interior visits depend on the church being open, and visitors are asked to leave its furniture and objects alone.

Missionaries who traveled overland from Lahaina built the church in 1864 from coral limestone and lava rock. Its name is translated as roughly “Church of Enduring Scriptures.” Thick white walls, a peaked roof, and a bell tower give it a plain, sturdy shape. When the doors are open, look inside for the returned original pews and organ and a stained-glass image of a Polynesian Christ wearing chiefly feather capes.

As Kīpahulu’s community diminished, the church was abandoned and overtaken by weather and vegetation. Sam Pryor found it in 1964 and led the restoration. A Thanksgiving Day service in 1965 was the first there since the 1940s.

The graveyard holds generations of local Hawaiian families and Chinese workers from a nearby sugar plantation. Charles Lindbergh, the aviator, is buried on the church grounds; he died on Maui in 1974. Some graves are barely marked, so stay on clear paths and watch where you step.

The church sits on a coastal point overlooking the ocean. From a safe place well back from the exposed edge, a photo with the low grave in front and the white church behind it captures what makes this stop distinctive. The church’s grounds reach a cliff, so keep away from the edge.