Wawona
Type: Ships
Owner: Northwest Seaport Maritime Heritage Ctr
Phone: 206-447-9800
Designation*: WHR NR City
Built: 1897
Location: 860 Terry Ave. N., Seattle
Map and directions (Courtesy Google Maps)
Hours: Contact owner
Admission: Donation

*DOE=Designated eligible; NR=National Register of Historic Places; NHL=National Historic Landmark; WHR=Washington Heritage Register; City=Local city; County=Local county; N/A=Not applicable

Comments from site users
10/6/2007 4 out of 5
The Wawona is going to be dry-bethed as an exhibit at Lake Union Park. You can read all about it on the Northwest Seaport website.

9/17/2007 5 out of 5
A beautiful ship, but you can't get on it. Is is going to be saved?

The three-masted, fore-and-aft schooner Wawona sailed from 1897 to 1947 as a lumber carrier and a fishing vessel based in Puget Sound. She was built in Humboldt Bay, Calif. by H.D. Bendixsen, one of the most important west coast shipbuilders in the late 19th century. From 1897 to 1913, she carried lumber from Grays Harbor and Puget Sound ports to California. One of her captains, Ralph E. “Matt” Peasley, inspired a series of popular novels.

From 1914 until 1947, except during World War II, Wawona sailed to the Bering Sea with a crew of 36 to fish for cod. In 1935, her captain, Charles Foss, died at the wheel during a storm in the Aleutian Islands. Sixteen years after her retirement, a group of Seattle citizens formed Northwest Seaport and purchased the vessel as a museum ship. Wawona is 165 feet long with a 35-foot beam. Her masts are 110 feet tall. Restoration work on Wawona continues today.