Builders of $100M Noah’s ark forecast a flood of visitors
WILLIAMSTOWN, Ky. —A 510-foot-long, $100 million Noah’s ark attraction built by Christians who say the biblical story really happened is ready to open in Kentucky this week.
Since its announcement in 2010, the ark project has rankled opponents who say the attraction will be detrimental to science education and shouldn’t have won state tax incentives.
“I believe this is going to be one of the greatest Christian outreaches of this era in history,” said Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis, the ministry that built the ark.
Ham said the massive ark, based on the tale of a man who got an end-ofthe-world warning from God about a massive flood, will stand as proof that the stories of the Bible are true. The group invited media and thousands of supporters for a preview yesterday, the first glimpse inside the giant, mostly wood structure.
“People are going to come from all over the world,” Ham said to thousands of people in front of the ark.
The ark will open to the public tomorrow and Ham’s group has estimated it will draw 2 million visitors in its first year, putting it on par with some of the big-ticket attractions in nearby Cincinnati.
The group says the ark is built based on dimensions in the Bible.
Inside are museum-style exhibits: displays of Noah’s family along with rows of cages containing animal replicas, including dinosaurs.
The group believes that God created everything about 6,000 years ago — man, dinosaur and everything else — so dinosaurs still would’ve been around at the time of Noah’s flood. Scientists say dinosaurs died out about 65 million years before man appeared.