Center for Wooden Boats, Seattle

The maritime history of the Pacific Northwest is preserved and documented in a unique museum in Seattle called the Center for Wooden Boats. Boat enthusiasts and other visitors can not only view the wooden boats but touch the boats, row, paddle or sail in the collection of classic wooden boats at the museum.

Architect Dick Wagner designed the Center for Wooden Boats at Waterway #4 at South Lake Union and the first campus opened in 1981. The events and exhibits at the first museum gained great popularity and in 2008 a new campus was rented by the Center at the Cama Beach State Park, north of Seattle. The facilities of the CWB have over 100 small boats including sailboats, rowboats and tugboats. Historical boats and larger steamboats are also on display. Two steam launches take visitors around the wooden boat exhibits.

Admission to the Center for Wooden Boats is free and visitors are invited to make donations to support the organization. Free public rides on boats are arranged on weekends. Sailing competitions and special maritime exhibitions are held at the campuses. The annual wooden boat festival held by the Center draws crowds of boating enthusiasts to Seattle every year.