If you thought you saw a church floating down the St. Johns River on Thursday, your eyes weren’t deceiving you.
There it was, floating on the river, between the Mathews and Hart bridges during the lunch hour, a picturesque white building with a slanted blue roof, steeple and stained-glass windows, making its way towards the heart of downtown.
It was the latest floating oddity to pass beneath the city’s iconic bridges on its way to a permanent home elsewhere. In April 2013, the last of NASA’s orange Space Shuttle external fuel tanks was transported from the Kennedy Space Center through downtown Jacksonville and on to Green Cove Springs.
Here’s what we know about the building that sparked some attention on social media.
Chapel by the Bay is a former wedding venue that was located on Florida’s West Coast
Known as Chapel by the Bay, it was originally designed as a floating wedding chapel and underwent a $1.3 million renovation transforming it into a livable houseboat, according to an Architectural Digest.
It’s been docked in Palmetto on Florida’s west coast. That is until recently.
Chapel by the Bay sold, moving to new location
The unusual house went on the market earlier this year for just under $700,000.
It was listed with Special Finds, which has “unique homes for sale.” The price dropped significantly before it recently sold for $250,000.
The 1,800-square-feet building no longer resembles a church on the inside. The pews are gone, replaced with two bedrooms, a modern kitchen and a spiral staircase leading to a loft area.
Remnants of the church remain with the stained-glass windows and a 30-foot steeple. The sale price included all the furnishings.
If the new owners want to move, not a problem. They can just fire up the home’s two Cummins Diesel engines and off they go.
Who bought Chapel by the Bay and where is it going?
The former floating chapel is headed to Palatka in Putnam County.
Its journey from west to east coast went south to Fort Myers, across Lake Okeechobee, up the Intracoastal to Jacksonville and then south to Palatka. The trip is expected to take about 20 days and cost roughly $20,000.
It’s expected to be parked at Crystal Cove Marina & RV Resort by Labor Day. Mary Costello, a professional executive search recruiter living in New Smyrna Beach, is the boat’s new owner.
She’s renamed it The Archangel and plans to turn it into a floating bookstore where she can offer story time for children. There also are plans to host wellness renewal retreats for “mind, body and spirit.”
There is interest in people wanting to stay in the home, especially by couples who were married in it when it was a chapel. Costello said she will likely offer it as a rental home at some point.
While Costello enjoys water, she told FLORIDA TODAY she is “not a boat person at all.” She found the unique dwelling when she was helping her pastor search online for a church.
“This whole process has been a bit overwhelming, but the Lord put it on my heart to buy this boat, so I did,” Costello said. “God is on the move.”
Spitzer is a Trending Reporter. She can be reached at [email protected]. The Times-Union contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Chapel by the Bay houseboat floats down St. Johns in Jacksonville
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