WILLIAMSTOWN, Ky. (AP) — In a rolling Kentucky pasture, the first few wooden ribs of a giant Noah's ark tourist attraction have begun to sprout up.

For now, there's only a foundation, some concrete pillars and the ribs. But the Christian ministry building the ark says the public will be awe-struck by the size of the 510-foot-long ship when it's finished next year.

"This is going to be huge attraction just for the structure itself," said Ken Ham, founder of the Kentucky-based group, Answers in Genesis.

On Thursday, journalists were allowed to tour the site for the first time — following a hard rainfall, as it turned out...

"Most people don't really understand the size of the ark, and we're going to answer questions like, how could he fit all the animals on board," Ham said at the construction site Thursday.

Ham's ministry opened the Creation Museum in 2007 a few miles from here. It has drawn criticism from science educators for exhibits that challenge evolution and promote a view that the earth is about 6,000 years old.

TV star and educator Bill Nye, who suggests the tourist-friendly ark could divert young people away from science, debated Ham on evolution at a widely-seen event at the Creation Museum last year. Nye said if Noah's ark had actually been built, it would have been destroyed by the sea.

The big boat project took another hit last year when the state of Kentucky withdrew a tourism sales tax incentive that would have meant about $18 million for the attraction after it is up and running.

State officials said in December that tax incentives shouldn't be used to "fund religious indoctrination." Answers in Genesis disagreed and filed a federal lawsuit to get back into the incentive program, saying they should not be excluded because of their religious beliefs. The state has asked a judge to dismiss the suit, and a hearing is scheduled for next week.