The Pioneer Inn

Three weeks back, I wrote here about the devastating Lahaina fire on Maui and having traveled there several decades ago with deeply fond memories. The town, I said, "had a sense of the past and world culture that seemed to be living all around you."  I particularly singled out the Pioneer Inn, where I stayed and remembered with great affection, all the more so since it was destroyed in the fire. 

"But most of all, I loved staying at the Pioneer Inn.  It permeated the Old World with simplicity and warmth, and I soaked it all up, reveling in knowing not only how it fit into the whaling past, but that people like Mark Twain had stayed there.  Its wood structure painted white, with wonderful wood slats in the windows, and a Polynesian sensibility crossed with New England sturdiness."

I had such fondness for the Pioneer Inn that I'd kept matchbook keepsake from my time there, and embedded photos of it.  I had wanted to post a photo of the place itself, but didn't think I had access to a photo I'd taken of the Pioneer Inn -- but happily I was able to find it.

I've added it in the originally article.  And as an homage, since I figure most people here aren't going to be going back to read it, I include it below