Heritage Gardens, Kepaniwai Park, Wailuku

The setting where the public park, Kepaniwai Park or Heritage Gardens, is located is magnificent. High mountain ridges add a mysterious, incredible feeling. Here, amid tropical trees by a stream, dwellings represent the many cultures that are found in Maui. There is a Portuguese house with colorful tilework around the window, an outdoor oven and a statue of Mary on an octagon planter of blue tiles, a New England missionary saltbox house on a mound, a Hawaiian grass-roof hale (being rebuilt), a Korean pagoda, a Chinese pavilion with green rooftiles and dragon statues, a Japanese teahouse and pond, and a Filipino bahay kubo (nipa hut) surrounded by palms. Alongside the dwellings are statues and plaques describing the history of Maui. There are also plaques about Puerto Rican immigrants and African-Americans in Hawaii, such as Barack Obama.

The walk around the grounds is lovely, with footbridges over a pond, and a path through a bamboo forest. 
People came from around the world to work in the sugar plantations of Hawaii around the turn of the 20th century. The first to come were Chinese (one third of Hawaii's population), then Portuguese (many from Madeira and the Azores which also had sugar industries), Japanese, Puerto Rican (following a hurricane), Korean, and lastly, Filipino. They made long journeys by boat, and sometimes boat and railroad in the case of the Puerto Ricans. Coqui frogs, responsible for melodic mating calls late in the evening, were transported to Hawaii in potted plants brought by the Puerto Ricans. 
In the Chinese garden is a sculpture of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Republic of China. He attended Iolani School and Punahou School (called Oahu College at the time) in Honolulu. In the Filipino garden is a sculpture of Dr. Jose P. Rizal, author of novels that inspired the Phillipine Independence Movement. He was executed by the Spanish colonialists on December 30, which is now Rizal Day in the Phillipines. 
There are eight picnic pavilions with BBQ pits and grills, making this a popular location for large, smoky family gatherings on the weekend.
After visiting Heritage Gardens, continue on a few minutes and visit Iao Valley State Park. There is an upper path to views of the Iao Needle, and a lower path to the river, a magical area of boulders and large tropical trees. Both paths are short and easy. NOTE: Onine reservations are required at least a day ahead for non-residents to enter Iao Valley State Park. 
Iao Valley can get warm, so cool off with a swim at Kanaha Beach Park, or a lay on a blanket in the strong wind in the ironwood forest that flanks the beach. It is a 19 minute drive east.
For a picnic, buy some butter mochi at Foodland Kehalani in Wailuku. It is delicious! It is a ten minute drive east then south.

Directions

Heritage Gardens or Kepaniwai Park is located at 870 Iao Valley Rd, Wailuku, HI 96793. 
Open daily 7am-5:30pm. 
Free to enter.

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