Albemarle County supervisors are asking state officials to keep operating the historic Hatton Ferry until the county board can meet in July to appropriate funds to save it.
The county Board of Supervisors has agreed to guarantee the funding to keep the Scottsville-area ferry afloat. The Com-monwealth Transpor-tation Board voted earlier this spring to shut down the ferry, which has operated on the James River since the 1870s.
On Monday, Board of Supervisors Chair-man David Slutzky sent a letter to the Virginia Department of Transportation formalizing the proposal.
“The [county] board voted last week to fund the next fiscal quarter to keep the ferry operating, but VDOT needs a guarantee and we cannot do that until the supervisors meet on July 1,” said Lee Catlin, Albemarle County spokeswoman. “We just want to make sure the state doesn’t shut the ferry down before we can meet and approve the funding.”
Albemarle officials are hoping to keep the ferry running and are willing to guarantee money to the state for its operation. The county then hopes to find private funds to pay for the ferry, which runs on weekends between April and October when the river is neither too high nor too low. It may be the last poled ferry in the country.
Cutting the ferry is expected to save VDOT about $21,000, officials said. VDOT proposed the ferry cut among cost-saving measures that include layoffs, less mowing and closing 19 interstate rest areas.
Under the county’s proposed arrangement, VDOT would continue operating the ferry with funds provided by the county and community contributions. The ferry is expected to cost the county between $5,000 and $8,000 for the next three months.
“There’s a lot of interest in giving the ferry its best opportunity to stay working,” Catlin said. “If we can get the funding on line from private sources for the first quarter of the next fiscal year, we’ll be able to keep it going.”
Most river ferries nowadays are either powered by engines or pulled by cables. The Hatton Ferry is connected by a cable between the riverbanks, but crosses the river by a combination of current and the operator’s pushing a pole against the river bottom to move the flatbed ferry along. The mode of transport hasn’t changed since the ferry’s creation.
The latest snag isn’t the first time the ferry faced extinction. According to the ferry Web site, www.hatton
ferry.org, it was destroyed in 1972 by Hurricane Agnes and was saved by public donations and support. A new one was constructed by VDOT personnel and dedicated the next year.
Richard Thomas, who starred in the long-lived television series “The Waltons,” a folksy family drama depicting Depression-era life in rural Albemarle and Nelson County, helped with the dedication.
In 1985, misfortune stalked the ferry again as a record flood sank the boat. VDOT replaced it with a metal boat the next year.
This article was edited to correct a typo in the headline.
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