Lessons From A Big-A$$ Ark, With Pictures

The dinosaurs blew me away.

Ending our week of drinking whiskey across Kentucky, we waited in line to buy tickets for the Ark Encounter, a giant Noah’s Ark replica halfway between Lexington, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio. My brother grumbled, “I hear there’s a giant ball of string in Iowa, you want to go there next?”

“No,” I said, “But if I was driving by anyways then I’d sure as hell stop and look.” It turns out, of course, that the giant ball of string is in Weston, Missouri, not to be confused with giant balls of twine in Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin, Cawker City, Kansas, Darwin, Minnesota, or the nylon twine ball in Branson, Missouri. Twine-winding is apparently a thing in the mid-west.

I’m not a creationist, and the Ark Encounter didn’t change me, but it’s hard not to be impressed by the developer’s effort and attention to detail, used both to develop this paradigm and to construct this testament to their beliefs.

Here’s what I learned:

#1 It’s big. Really really big.

You can tell from the parking lot that the Ark is big, but just how big doesn’t hit you until you realize just how far away it is. Five hundred and ten feet long, eighty-five feet wide, and fifty-one feet high; they sound like just numbers. In building sizes, five stories tall and two and two-thirds of a football field is really not much. I've seen hundreds that big. But in ship size? It’s about half of a modern aircraft carrier. Or, if you are a cruiser or merchant seaman, it’s about half the size of a typical cruise ship, oil tanker, or container ship.

The hosts note that it isn’t really a ship, but a wood-framed building. I think I heard them claim it was the largest in the world, but that’s probably not true. It does, however, make the Popular Mechanics list of the twenty most impressive wood structures in the world.

#2 It’s not just an ark, it’s a theme park. But the ark is still the most impressive part.

After shelling out $49.95 each for a couple of adult tickets (plus $10 parking), we climbed aboard a bus for the ride over. It’s only about a mile but takes a few minutes since it’s a bus on a winding road. When you arrive, they don’t drop you off at the main attraction; it’s probably another quarter-mile walk.

In addition to the ark, the complex has a number of other attractions. There is a zoo/petting zoo where you can take camel rides. Zip-lines criss-cross the property. You can grab a bite to eat at the cafe. There is a playground for the little ones. And, possibly most impressive of the ancillary attractions, there is the Answers Center with a 2,500 seat auditorium for lectures, presentations, and conferences delving into biblical ideas.

News reports and press releases indicate that the Ark Encounter is ramping up plans to add their next great attraction, a Tower of Babel reproduction to fight against racism and reinforce the fact that we are all one great humanity descended from a common ancestor, Adam.

I wish them luck; it will be difficult to top the majesty of the giant wooden ark itself. The ark is what people come to see, the rest of it is add-ons. On the other hand, if there is a new big attraction I might be tempted to stop again next time I go on a whiskey pilgrimage.

#3 There were dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark.

The most stunning revelation on the tour was that Noah must have brought dinosaurs on the ark. If you are a strict creationist and believe that God created the Earth in seven days and the Bible is literally true, then how to explain the fossil record? One could, perhaps, argue that God created the sedimentary layer and the fossil record at the same time he created the planet/whole universe. Or, as apparently many creationists argue, you could believe that the sedimentary layers full of dinosaur fossils were laid down over a short period of time. Maybe it was the big flood?

If Noah’s flood lay down the rock layers that contain fossils, then they all must have been alive when Noah was building and populating the ark. The displays in the ark make the case that Noah didn’t have to bring every single species, just representatives of each ‘kind’ of an animal, of which they identify eighty-five ‘kinds’ of dinosaurs. So, Noah probably brought smaller examples of dinosaurs and brought juveniles if he absolutely had to bring a larger species.

Also, and the Ark Encounter makes it clear that this is only speculative, in the wicked pre-flood times the evil overlords of society may have made people battle dinosaurs in arenas for the amusement of the crowds.

#4 They built this because they had no choice.

The biggest nagging question during our three-hour trek through the guts of the ark was why? Weren't there easier ways to hoover up government tax subsidies than building a giant monument to a philosophy that sixty percent of Americans will dismiss out of hand? Maybe a casino or something with roller coasters?

The organizers, however, are obviously true believers guided by their faith. More than they, the edifice screams out their imperative: Prove that it could be done! I didn’t get it until I saw the sign about heaven and hell. The creators of the Ark Encounter view Noah’s Ark as a linchpin of the Bible. It is perhaps the most fantastic story in a book chock full of miracles. If one can prove that an Ark is technically possible, then maybe everything else in the Bible might be literally true. On the other hand, if this one thing is not true if it’s only an allegory or pirated copy from the earlier flood legends that populate the world, then what else in the Bible might not be true?

The Ark Encounter didn’t turn me into a literalist and strict creationist. It did, however, fascinate me for hours and give me new respect for the intensity of belief and effort needed to develop a logically consistent paradigm.

Was it worth the money? Yes. It’s a little pricey, and I probably wouldn’t buy a season pass, but I have traveled around the world and have not seen anything remotely like the Ark Encounter. Whether approaching the experience from a position of faith or a position of good-natured humor, one can’t help the feeling of awe, inspired by what might be the world’s largest scale model of anything.

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Brian E. Wish works as a quality engineer in the aerospace industry. He has spent 30 years active and reserve in the US Air Force, where he holds the rank of Colonel. He has a bachelor’s from the US Air Force Academy, a master’s from Bowie State, and a Ph.D. in Public and Urban Administration from UT Arlington. The opinions expressed here are his own. Check out brianewish.com. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.