A dilapidated, raccoon-infested wooden yacht that was once the 'floating White House' for 8 US presidents is being restored - here's a look inside the USS Sequoia
The Sequoia is a 104-foot wooden motor yacht that was built in 1925 and served as an official mode of transportation for eight US presidents between 1933 and 1977.
The yacht was purchased by the US government in 1931 from a Texas oil tycoon. It was then used by each president from Herbert Hoover to Jimmy Carter to host events related to both work and leisure.
Source: Town & Country
Franklin D. Roosevelt installed an elevator in the 1930s to make the yacht more easily accessible for his wheelchair. Lyndon B. Johnson later replaced the elevator with a bar.
Source: Town & Country
In 1963, John F. Kennedy celebrated his 46th birthday – his last birthday – aboard the Sequoia with his family, friends, and a bottle of 1955 Dom Perignon.
Source: The Washington Post
Richard Nixon was on board when he decided to resign in 1974. The captain said he played "God Bless America" on the presidential piano following the decision.
Source: CBS News
According to CBS News, Nixon spent more time on the yacht than any other president. At one point, he even hosted Leonid Brezhnev, the fifth leader of the Soviet Union, there.
Source: CBS News
Jimmy Carter sold the vessel at auction in 1977 for $286,000, looking to maintain a less outwardly luxurious presidency.
In a 2011 interview with the JFK Presidential Library, Carter spoke about selling the presidential yacht: "People thought I was not being reverent enough to the office I was holding, that I was too much of a peanut farmer, not enough of an aristocrat, or something like that. So I think that shows that the American people want something of, an element of, image of monarchy in the White House."
After President Carter sold the boat, it was used for tours of the Potomac River and even $10,000 four-hour charters. It served that purpose through multiple owners.
It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987 and switched hands multiple times before becoming embroiled in a legal battle regarding its ownership in 2013.
The legal issues stemmed from two LLC investment groups debating ownership.
During legal proceedings, the yacht was left to decay in Virginia.
A Delaware judge ultimately ruled that one of the investment groups could acquire the Sequoia at "an adjusted price" of $0 in 2016.
In the ruling, the judge also wrote: "The Sequoia, an elderly and vulnerable wooden yacht, is sitting on an inadequate cradle on an undersized marine railway in a moribund boatyard on the western shore of the Chesapeake, deteriorating and, lately, home to raccoons."
The Equator Collection, the company that purchased the raccoon-infested yacht for $0, is a fund that aims to preserve "maritime assets that are significant to the history of the United States."
Source: The Equator Collection
It just barged the defunct Sequoia from Virginia to Belfast, Maine, where a lengthy restoration process is set to begin.
Source: French & Webb
After collaborating with Maine-based boatbuilders French & Webb to restore the Sequoia plank by plank, the Equator Collection intends to send the yacht back to the Potomac River as a kind of museum and educational tool.
Source: French & Webb
On its barge-supported voyage from Virginia to Maine, the Sequoia passed through New York City, under the Brooklyn Bridge ...
Source: French & Webb
The restoration process is expected to take several years, according to the boatbuilders' press release.
Source: French & Webb
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