The Arques School of Traditional Boatbuilding opened its doors in June of 1996. It is a small school dedicated to developing craftsmen skilled in the art of building wooden boats in the traditional plank on frame methods.
The school owes its existence to an endowment provided by the late Donlon Arques who laid the groundwork for the school prior to his death in 1993.
At the end of his life, Don Arques defined the purpose of the nonprofit corporation he founded as:
"a school and center for the restoration and replication of small wooden boats that have had historical significance in the greater San Francisco Bay Area."
The school has kept these purposes as the core of its program. The building of the historic gillnet boat and the restoration of the West Coast's oldest sailing yacht, the Freda, are examples of this. In addition, a number of traditional wooden boats from other parts of the United States and Canada have been built at the school.