Kilauea and its Halemaʻumaʻu caldera were recognized as the sacred home of Pele, the volcano goddess. Because of the gentler eruptions of Hawaii than those of most of the volcanoes on Earth, the edges of active vents are accessible, and people are allowed to come pay their respect to Pele. The early Hawaiians respected her and made offer to please her anger. In 1823, missionaries William Ellis and Asa Thurston were the first Westerners to visit Kīlauea’s boiling lake of lava. Mark Twain, wrote about Kīlauea after his visit to Kīlauea in 1866 “Here was room for the imaginary work!” (Dwight Hamilton). The publisher of the Honolulu Pacific Commercial Advertiser, Lorrin Thurston, began to make this area become a public park in 1906. However, his plan was not effective until 1912 after he joined with Dr. Thomas A. Jaggar, the director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observation. After ten years, the effort of Thurston and Jaggar paid off. The area became the country’s national park. The park at first consisted of the summits of Kilauea, Mauna and Haleakala. After that, it consisted of the forests of Mauna Loa, the Ka’u Desert-the site of ancient warrior footprints, the rain forest of Ola’a, and the Kalapana-an an archaeological area of the Puna/Kaʻū Historic District. Haleakala became a separate national park in 1961.
There are several historic places that are located within the park including 1790 Footprints, Kilauea Crater, Puna-Ka’u Historic District, Volcano House and Whitney Seismograph Vault #29. The 170 Footprints refer to the set of fossil footprints of men, women, and children founded near the Kīlauea volcano in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. Historians and Hawaiians believed that the footprints were belong to the warriors of Keoua Kuahu’ula or to the group of relatives of Keoua’s army. Puna-Ka’u Historic District is another historic site within Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. There are over 300 sites, including village complexes, cave shelters, coastal trails, petroglyph fields, and temple sites, within the Puna-Ka’u Historic District. The human occupation of the district for nearly 600 years is represented by many archeological-historical remains. Another historic place within the National Park is the Whitney Seismograph Vault #29. It is 18 feet by 18 feet underground room, which is covered by concrete walls and concrete slab roof. Since the walls and the floor directly contact with natural steam cracks, the room becomes hot and humid. The Whitney Seismograph Vault #29 represents the study of the earth’s volcanic and seismic activity at Kilauea and Mauna Loa Volcanoes by American scientists.
Because of its scenic and scientific values, in 1980, the UNESCO recognized Hawai’i National Park as an International Biosphere Reserve. The park is now a home for surviving native plants and animals including carnivorous caterpillars, the largest dragonfly in the United States, endangered sea turtles, happy face spiders and colorful Hawaiian honeycreepers. There are 23 species of endangered vascular plants including 15 species of endangered trees within the Hawai’i Volcanoes Park. Hawai’i National Park is also well-known for its biologic landscapes. The Hawaiian Archipelago is the most geographically isolated group of islands in the world. Located at a latitude of 19 degree north, Hawai’i Volcanoes Park preserves one of the important ecosystem on the Hawai’i Islands.
Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park is one of the tourist attractions in Hawaii as well as the United States because of its well-known for volcanic significance, biologic landscape, and diversity of ecosystems. According to the report of Hawai’i Tourism Authority, “a total of 9,382,986 visitors came to Hawai’i in 2017, surpassing the 2016 record of 8,934,277 visitors by 5 percent.”. The park is also an important volcanic, cultural and historic site of the United States. Because of its importance in volcanic landscape and ecosystems, it is now used for international ecological, environmental study, research and training.