White's Ferry

White's Ferry (HM4K8)

Location: Dickerson, MD 20842 Montgomery County
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Country: United States of America
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N 39° 9.284', W 77° 31.043'

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Inscription
Before you is the last operating ferry on the Potomac River. Early settlers recognized these relatively still waters would provide an ideal location for a ferry. The first known ferry operation here was Conrad's Ferry in 1817. After the Civil War, former Confederate soldier Elijah White purchased and made many improvements to the service. He named his ferry boat in honor of his former commander General Jubal Early.

More than a convenient river crossing, the ferry provided a place of commerce between the canal and surrounding community. Farmers from Virginia used the ferry to get their crops to market in Washington, D.C., and Maryland via the C&O Canal. In the days before modern refrigeration, a farmer's access to reliable transportation meant the difference between prosperity and watching a year's worth of work rot in storage. Together the canal and the ferry shortened the time it took farmers to get goods to market. Today White's Ferry continues to serve the needs of its community by providing a safe river crossing and a living link to the past.

(Sidebar) To assist farmers in getting their crops to market, White built a granary along the canal to store grains until they could be loaded and shipped via the canal.
Details
HM NumberHM4K8
Series This marker is part of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal series
Tags
, ,
Placed ByChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Sunday, October 26th, 2014 at 5:48pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18S E 282476 N 4336966
Decimal Degrees39.15473333, -77.51738333
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 39° 9.284', W 77° 31.043'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds39° 9' 17.04" N, 77° 31' 2.58" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)301
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 4901-4903 Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath, Dickerson MD 20842, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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