I found this interesting gravy boat at a yard sale this weekend. Restaurant ware 1930s made by Warwick China for Joseph Horne Co. Pittsburgh, PA. No chips, nicks or repairs. The ship on the front was nothing like I’d ever seen before but the words beneath it, “S.S. Grand View Point” gave me something to “Google” to find out more about where it came from.
What I discovered is The S.S. Grand View Point Hotel, also known as the Ship of the Alleghenies, was Herbert Paulson’s vision and quite the roadside attraction on the Lincoln Highway in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Built in the shape of a steamer ship, the Grand View Point Hotel officially opened on May 29, 1932, five floors with dining and sleeping quarters and a “grand view” of three states and seven counties from the observation deck – and docked on an Allegheny mountainside. In the late 1970s, Herbert Paulson died and it was sold, renamed Noah’s Ark and eventually fell into disrepair. The ship shaped building burned down to the ground in 2001.
Be sure to check out this website: http://roadsidephotos.sabr.org/LH/grandview.htm
The Grand View Ship Hotel Tribute Pages
Honoring the “Ship of the Alleghenies,” 1932-2001
And there’s a book!
http://www.amazon.com/Ship-Hotel-Grand-Lincoln-Highway/dp/0811736318/