The United States of America is a federal union of 50 states and a capital district. The state of Hawai'i occupies an archipelago of islands in the central North Pacific Ocean. Previously an independent Polynesian kingdom, the islands were annexed by the United States in 1898 and became the 50th state of the Union in 1959. The largest and easternmost island is also named Hawai'i but residents usually call it the Big Island. Honolulu, the capital and only large city, is on the island of O'ahu. Maui, Moloka'i, and the smaller islands of Lāna'i and Kaho'olawe lie between the Big Island and O'ahu, while Kaua'i lies to the west. All the islands are of volcanic origin, with active volcanos on the Big Island. On the coastlines sandy beaches extend between precipitous rocky headlands. The official spelling of the state name is Hawaii, but many Hawai'ians prefer the spelling with the apostrophe representing the Polynesian glottal stop. Hawai'ian is an official language in the state in addition to English. The Hawai'ian phrase for a lighthouse is hale kukui; mokopuni is an island, kai kūʻono is a bay, ʻaʻa is a reef, and awa is a harbor. Navigational aids in the United States are operated by the U.S. Coast Guard and the lights in Hawai'i are maintained by the Fourteenth Coast Guard District based in Honolulu. Ownership (and sometimes operation) of historic lighthouses has been transferred to local authorities and preservation organizations in many cases. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume G of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. USCG numbers are from Volume VI of the U.S. Coast Guard Light List.
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Hawai'i County (Big Island) Lighthouses
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Napo'opo'o Light, Kona, 2003 photo copyright Michael Boucher; used by permission |
Maui County Lighthouses
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O'ahu (Honolulu City and County) Lighthouses
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Diamond Head Light, O'ahu, September 2008 ex-Flickr Creative Commons photo by KMJ Photography |
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Barbers Point Light, Kalaeloa, June 2007 ex-Flickr Creative Commons photo by Adam Theo |
Kaua'i County Lighthouses
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Kīlauea Point Light, Kīlauea, May 2013 Wikipedia public domain photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Adjoining page: South: U.S. Pacific Remote Islands
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Posted May 2001. Checked and revised September 25, 2023. Lighthouses: 33. Site copyright 2023 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.