On a sunny Saturday, cars are pulling onto the boat at White’s Ferry under the watchful eyes of the captain.Next are the bikes. Scott Lake and his friends use the ferry on their way to their triathlon training.“I love the ferry. It feels like it is a step back in time. You get to enjoy being close to the river while also cutting your ride back down to a manageable distance, ” he said.“The best thing is that it is nostalgic. It is not updated. It is a throwback ferry. It does its job,” said Kristen Wedemeyer, another bicyclist.Since it began running in 1786, White's Ferry has been a widely used means of crossing the river that separates Maryland and Virginia.It was a popular transit point for troops during the American Civil War in the 1860s.The boat, the General Jubal A. Early, is named for a Confederate commander in the Civil War.Over time, the ferry changed hands. Malcolm Brown’s family has owned it since 1946.“My father came home from the war, World War II, and he and some other fellows got together and bought the rights.And in 1972 when I came home from the service in the Army, they asked me to get involved with it and run it.I really didn’t want to, but I agreed to do it for a year. And it got busier and busier,” said Brown.As the business grew, so did the boat. The Browns' first ferry carried three cars.
