Lava Tree State Monument

Lava Tree State Monument is a Hawaii state park in Puna on the island of Hawaii, southeast of Pāhoa, where a 1790 lava flow passed through a forest and hardened around tree trunks. When the trees were consumed by heat, hollow casts and standing molds remained, preserving the forest’s shapes in stone and giving the park its distinctive landscape. The land was once part of William Herbert Shipman’s ranch, and Rufus Anderson Lyman was among the first outsiders to identify the formations as the remains of former trees, though Native Hawaiians already understood their volcanic origin. The monument later closed during the 2018 Kīlauea eruption as lava approached the area.

Leilani Estates, Hawaii · United States