The Ark of Hungerford Creek began thousands of miles away in Stettin, Germany, with the construction in 1906 of the passenger liner Kronprinzessin Cecilie for the North German Lloyd company. After a number of transatlantic voyages, the ship was interned in the United States after the outbreak of World War I in 1914 and eventually became the troop transport USS Mount Vernon. In 1927, the Mount Vernon was laid up in the Patuxent River and, with other ex-German passenger liners, formed the so-called Ghost Fleet. Around 1935, Episcopal minister Rev. Benjamin B. Lovett acquired this lifeboat from the Mount Vernon and had it hauled ashore at his weekend retreat on nearby Hungerford Creek. He created a miniature biblical ark by building a house on the lifeboat with a chapel in the bow section, while a guest room occupied the rest of the boat. Known as Faith Chapel–The Ark, it hosted a number of baptisms and a wedding onboard. Shortly before Rev. Lovett's death in 1943, the property was sold. Successive owners maintained the Ark for storage and as an office, and it remained a feature and curiosity on the shores of Hungerford Creek until 2016, when it was moved to the museum.