The Ark Encounter, a life-sized replica of Noah’s Ark as described in Genesis, has topped a list of the most popular tourist attractions.
The website Bet Kentucky recently listed the top 10 “most popular Kentucky attractions in 2023,” with the Williamstown-based, Answers in Genesis-affiliated attraction topping the list.
Bet Kentucky organized the list on the basis of rankings on Trip Advisor’s 25 best things to do in Kentucky, then combined it with Google search volume data over the last 12 months.
The Ark Encounter got first place with around 60,000 searches on Google, followed by Churchill Downs of Louisville in second place with about 50,000 searches, and Mammoth Cave of Brownsville coming in third with 36,000.
Standing 10 stories tall and 510 feet long, the Ark Encounter attraction is overseen by Answers in Genesis, a Christian apologetics ministry that professes a Young Earth Creationist view of life’s origins.
Considered a “sister attraction” of the Creation Museum, the Ark Encounter was officially opened in July 2016, with a reported 1.1 million people visiting the giant replica within a year of its launch.
In early 2020, the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum were voted by readers of USA Today as the top religious museums in the United States out of 20 options chosen by travel experts.