White’s Ferry - Dickerson MD
Posted by: 
Don.Morfe
N 39° 09.284 W 077° 31.043
18S E 282476 N 4336966
Farmers from Virginia used the ferry to get their crops to market in Washington, D.C., and Maryland via the C&O Canal.
Waymark Code: WM16G7Y
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 07/26/2022
Views: 1
TEXT from the historical marker:
White’s Ferry
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park
— National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior —
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.
Group that erected the marker: National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link]
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
24801 Whites Ferry Road
Dickerson, MD United States
20842
|
Visit Instructions:
Take a picture of the marker, preferably including yourself or your GPSr in the photo. A very detailed description of your visit may be substituted for a photo. In any case please provide a description of your visit. A description of only "Visited" or "Saw it while on vacation" by anyone other than the person creating the waymark may be deleted by the waymark owner or the category officers.