Wooden Boat AtlasDesigners, builders & classes · v3.0

Atlas / Associations & Institutions

school founded January 1981; festival from 1978 · Port Townsend, Washington

Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building & the Wooden Boat Festival

Port Townsend and Port Hadlock, Washington

Port Townsend turned a declining Victorian port into the capital of American wooden boatbuilding — first with the festival, then with the school that trains the shipwrights.

Festival
The Wooden Boat Foundation dates to about 1978; the first Wooden Boat Festival drew over 2,000 people that year
School
Founded January 1981 by Bob Prothero, Libby Palmer and Henry Yeaton at the Boat Haven; moved to Glen Cove 1983 and Port Hadlock 2000–2004; over 1,800 graduates
Maritime Center
Northwest Maritime Center founded 1999; merger with the Wooden Boat Foundation announced March 2005

Wooden Boat Atlas v3.0 · built 30 July 2026 · a project of the Golden Gate Wooden Boat Foundation · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · open data · corrections