Whitehaven Ferry

The Whitehaven Ferry has carried travelers across a narrow stretch of the Wicomico River since the 1680s, making it one of the oldest continuously operating ferry crossings in the United States. Today the Wicomico County Department of Public Works runs the crossing free of charge, linking the small riverside village of Whitehaven, in Wicomico County, with the Mount Vernon area of Somerset County on the opposite bank. The trip covers barely a quarter mile of open water, guided along a fixed cable rather than steered like an open boat, which is why locals often call it a cable ferry. There is no ticket booth, no reservation line, and no printed departure grid: the ferry simply shuttles back and forth continuously during its posted operating hours, crossing whenever a car or pedestrian is waiting at either landing. Wicomico County publishes four separate daily-hours brackets that repeat every year rather than a single year-round time: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. from March 1 through May 15, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. from May 16 through September 15, back to 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. from September 16 through October 31, and a shorter 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. window from November 1 through the end of February. No crossings depart after the posted closing time, so drivers pulling a trailer should plan around the limited turnaround space at each landing rather than arriving right at the cutoff. The ferry and its sister crossing, the Upper Ferry, together handle roughly 200,000 trips a year, and both close on the same twelve county holidays, from New Year's Day and MLK Day through Thanksgiving, Native American Heritage Day, and Christmas. Each ferry is limited to six passengers and 20,000 pounds, a limit reached after a full overhaul and refurbishment completed in 2017 and 2019. For live delays or unusual closures, the county's ferry hotline answers seven days a week.

Two practical limits the county publishes and that catch people out: each ferry takes six passengers and 20,000 lb, and there are no crossings at all after the posted closing time. If you are towing and arrive to a closed ferry, the county warns there is only a limited area to turn a trailer around.