The Lyman Museum combines an excellent natural history collection with one of Hawaii's oldest surviving wooden buildings — the 1839 Lyman Mission House, now a National Historic Landmark. The main museum building has well-organized exhibits on Hawaiian geology (particularly volcanic processes), the island's ecosystems, and the cultural history of the diverse ethnic groups who settled the Big Island — Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Portuguese, and Korean immigrants all have their stories here.
The mission house next door is the more atmospheric half: a New England-style frame house that looks startling against the tropical setting. The furnished rooms give a vivid sense of what missionary life looked like in 1840s Hawaii. Docent tours run on the hour. Allow two hours for both buildings.