The History of White's Ferry

During 1828 (or before) a ferry business began operating at White's Ferry, then known as Conrad's Ferry for its initial owner who pulled passengers and cargo from Virginia to Maryland across the Potomac River.  Ferryman Earnest Conrad also had a post office named after him which was located on the Maryland shore and owned a warehouse on the Virginia shore which he used to store grains for profit.  For a one way crossing he charged six and one-fourth cents per man, mule or horse, three cents for a head of cattle, and riding carriages were a steep price of six and one-fourth cents per wheel!

After the Civil War, Elihjah Veirs White bought the ferry franchise and warehouse.   Col. White 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.  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 paper 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 by Charles Rollison in 1890 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 '30's, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes took the ferry to Loudon 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 Williams' ran the ferry until the flood of 1942 when it 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 has only been increasing and so in 1988 he bought a 15 car barge,  with the latest expansion to a 24 car ferry.

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.