San Francisco Bay Ark

The San Francisco Bay Ark, also known as the Lewis Ark, located near the entrance of Hyde Street Pier.

NPS

 

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This little houseboat, referred to locally as an ark, was one of several dozen boats moored out as summer hideaways for San Francisco families in Belvedere Lagoon, near Tiburon in Marin County during the early 1900s.

Reputedly built for the McGinnis family sometime prior to 1900, this ark was hauled ashore about 1923 and passed through several hands before being donated to the park in 1969.

Summer aboard the arks was an idyllic time. The boats were brightly painted, and glowed at night with colorful Japanese lanterns. Evenings were spent visiting between boats in neatly finished Whitehall rowboats.

The San Francisco Bay Ark is a wooden houseboat, 44 feet long, 25 feet wide, with a rounded, barge-like bottom and a two-foot draft. The builder and date are unknown, but it was probably constructed between 1890 and 1900. This ark is typical of the ark common around the turn of the last century in the San Francisco Bay and was mostly berthed in a cove near Belvedere, CA.

The interior is panelled with a dark wood. In the front room, or parlor, is a brick and iron fireplace. Sliding doors lead to two bedrooms with built-in beds. A narrow hallway leads to the rear of the ark.

The ark is open for visiting during park hours free of charge.

 

The ark Minnehaha near Belvedere Island. Guests gather under an awning and a sailing Whitehall boat is ready alongside.

"Here a bath is a matter of stepping off the porch, a stroll is taken in a boat, and the splash of oars announces butcher and baker."
Albert S. Hunt, in "Houseboats and House Boating," 1905.

NPS B12.233321

 

A houseboat near Alviso, CA around 1915. Alviso is located in the far South Bay, near San Jose. The Bay tends to be very shallow in this area so one hopes the woman on the right was just pretending to dive.

NPS SAFR B11.22.072

 

Here is an older picture of the Lewis Ark (top of photo on the right) when she was still afloat. The houseboat was modified over the years.

NPS SAFR B11.28,506