White's Ferry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
White's Ferry is a ferry service operating across the Potomac River, north of Leesburg in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. Located six miles west of Poolesville, Maryland it is the only ferry still operating on the Potomac River. The General Jubal A. Early carries cars and passengers between Maryland and Virginia.
In 1828 (or before), a ferry business began operating at White's Ferry, then known as Conrad's Ferry for its initial owner: Ferryman Earnest Conrad. Conrad had a post office named after him, located on the Maryland shore, and also owned a warehouse on the Virginia shore that he used to store grains for profit. For a one-way crossing, he charged six and one-fourth cents per man, mule or horse, and three cents for a head of cattle. Riding carriages crossed for the steep price of six and one-fourth cents per wheel.
After the American Civil War, Elijah Viers White bought the ferry franchise and warehouse. Colonel White, a veteran Confederate cavalryman, was a prosperous attorney and sheriff of Loudoun County. He owned 357 acres in Loudoun County, a dry goods store in Leesburg, and Stoney Castle in Montgomery County, Maryland. In 1871, the minutes of the Loudoun Court forgot the name Conrad and the site became known as E.V. White's "Landing at White's Ferry."
In 1872, the rope that guided the boat was replaced with a metal cable. A newspaper ad in the Leesburg Washingtonian newspaper proclaimed: "Grand Success of the Wire Rope, at White's Ferry. Crossing at all Hours, and at Every Stage of Water. Prices Reduced." The following year, the same paper noted that a new boat was in operation.
William Rollison was the next ferryman, followed in 1890 by Charles Rollison, who ran the ferry until 1918. In 1920, Waterford's Charles Ashby Williams, owner of White's Ferry for two years, put a Model T gasoline engine in a row boat besides a new skiff built by Williams in 1919. Prices increased to fifty cents for a one-way trip and seventy-five cents for a wagonload of produce, the most common cargo. During the 1930s, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes took the ferry to Loudoun on a jaunt from Washington. He was to return that evening and casually asked, "What would you do if I didn't have a dollar? "If you don't have a dollar, mister," Williams replied, "you don't belong in Maryland."
The Williamses ran the ferry until the flood of 1942 destroyed the old wooden barge. In 1946, Edwin Brown of Poolesville purchased the defunct business, and obtained and used a wooden army surplus barge that could carry three cars. In 1953 he replaced the wooden barge with a six-car steel barge that was built in Baltimore and powered for a short while with a jet engine. In 1972, his son Malcolm Brown took over the operation. Business increased and in 1988 he bought a 15-car barge, with the latest expansion to a 24-car ferryboat.
Today, this boat is still in operation, named after the Confederate Civil War General Jubal A. Early and propelled by a diesel tug named Early's Aid. The back-up tug is named the General's Pusher.
On September 13, 2006, the U.S. Coast Guard ordered White's Ferry to be shut down, because the operator is unlicensed and because of unspecified safety concerns. The ferry is continuing to operate in spite of this order. [1] Subsequently, the Coast Guard chose to allow White's Ferry to remain open pending appeal of said safety violations, but the Ferry risks an $8000 fine. *[2]
