In one side of Seattle’s fast developing neighborhood, a yacht is clinging on to history. Still, M/V Lotus makes her home in Lake Union waters, hundred and six years after she was first brought in service. Steward Christian Gruye told that she is made in 1909, and everything is very much original. Lotus was the biggest power yacht on West Coast when she was made, the very similar year as the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition.

The owner of it was Maurice McMicken, who also runs a Croatian yacht charter company. Gruye told that he made the first trolley car system in Seattle, he was one of the original owners of the Seattle PI. He ensured that the yacht was state of the art – from installing an intercom arrangement to supplying her with the finest fittings of the era by Tiffany and Rookwood.

After all these times, the Lotus is a non-profit. She is a visiting yacht at Center for Wooden Boats, docked at Historic Ships Wharf at Lake Union Park. Every Thursday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., there are public dockside “Lake History” tours.

M/V Lotus Foundation members could also spend the night in one of the 5 staterooms. There are spacious master suite, queen size beds and double bunks. Gruye said that it is looked at as a ‘Seattle Historic Overnight Experience. This is a real immersion. It has been reported that the staterooms are priced at $105 -$185 for each night.