Central City, Pennsylvania -
Ship of the Alleghenies - Gone

Lincoln Highway's Ship of the Alleghenies Burns
A Pennsylvania landmark -- a ship-shaped building perched high in the mountains -- was destroyed by an early morning fire on Friday. For 79 years, the Noah's Ark (aka the Ship Hotel, and "The Ship of the Alleghenies") had been a popular tourist pull-off along Route 30 (Lincoln Highway), east of Central City, although it had been closed and deteriorating for several years.... [10/27/2001] Complete News Story

Central City, Pennsylvania - Ship Hotel - Vague Recollections

I stopped at the Ship Hotel (also known as Noah's Ark) around noon on a Saturday in June 1989. It had been open just three days before and we had gone in to look around. But on this day there was no sign of life. My two buddies and I walked around the parking lot, stretched our legs, and took some pictures of the three states and seven counties that are visible. I suppose we'd been there around 15 minutes when my friend picked up a nearly empty Windex bottle in a long line of trash along the road. At that moment, a voice came screeching from out of the "Ark," filled with obscenities and threats. My buddies and I headed to the car but not fast enough to prevent a Grizzly Adams type character from coming after us and punching me in the face. As we were firing up the car, he ripped off my windshield wiper blade, bent up my antenna, and kicked in the side of my car door. [Joseph B. Cox, 08/11/2001]

[RA: Other more recent visitors haven't shared similar experiences... ]