Art & Inspiration Crossing the James River, Old School

https://www.visitcharlottesville.org/directory/the-hatton-ferry/

 

The upper James is a scenic one for sure. Used to do a yearly canoe float from the dam at Lynchburg to Bent Creek. Bridges have replaced most of the ferries on the river now. I believe in addition to that one are the ones at Presquile Island and Scotland Wharf/Jamestown, which are both on the lower James.

 

There may be other ferries but this is the only pole driven (non-motorized) ferry in the US. The Captain was able to use the current on our trip over, he said he would pole the ferry on the way back.

 

Hello,

What an adventure, a pole powered car ferry!!! When my wife and I were in Europe one Summer, we were on one side of the Danube River on our way to Vienna, from Linz. We had no idea how we were going to cross the river. But, the locals said there was a ferry up ahead closer to Vienna that takes cars and trucks across. The odd thing was, it had no motor or power of any kind.

What? So, we are going to drift across and hope for the best? Well, there was a captain and he was responsible for moving the tiller against the fast flowing Danube River. That way, he could guide us all across the vast river. But, to make it safer and not have a runaway ferry, there was a cable running across the whole river. The captain's job was to turn the tiller or wheel to make the rudder angle, to move the ferry across the current.

“The cable ferry is located between Spitz and Durnstein. The ferry has no motor or sail. It is powered by a rudder against the river current. The ferry is anchored to a cable above the river. The captain uses the rudder to guide the ferry against the current.”

It was strange that there was no motor, but at least we got across. There was an old Ford Truck, of all things, on the same ferry loaded with boxes of vegetables and fruits. He was so loaded up that the car behind him had to be left behind on this trip. Something about floatation and ease of powering across with the current.

Jnaki

The Danube is not a trickling river, but one that takes small boats with motors and large passenger ferries with large motors up and down the river to certain ports. We needed to get to the other side to finish our road trip to Vienna.

After a night's rest, then we motored to Venice through some steep mountains.