So this is unfortunate: White’s Ferry has shut down over a property dispute. While the impact on drivers means less than zero to me, the ferry connects two major cycling routes: The C&O Canal Towpath and the W&OD Rail-Trail. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/whites-ferry-closed/2020/12/28/80ddac0e-4938-11eb-9025-57b4c8818a4a_story.html

White’s Ferry has operated more or less continually since the 1780s between Poolesville, Md. (Montgomery County) and Leesburg, Va. (Loudon County), and is the only Potomac River crossing in the 40+ mile stretch between the American Legion Bridge and Point of Rocks.

A bike ride from home to the ferry, across the river and back is exactly a hundred miles: 50 miles of gravel and 50 miles of pavement. That 50/50 ride is my preferred check ride for a newly-built touring bike, owing to much of my touring being on unpaved routes.

(The C&O half of the route is technically 15 miles of pavement to get to the C&O and then 35 miles of gravel, but we round up to 50 because within minutes of the pavement-to-dirt transition, it feels like you’ve been grinding gravel for hours.)

It is also well-positioned for bike touring. The C&O is a straight 184.5-mile separated route from Washington, DC to Cumberland, Md., where you can then catch the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) trail, a 150-mile route straight into downtown Pittsburgh, Pa.

The ride from DC to Cumberland is a seminal mid-Atlantic bike tour, sustaining the discipline since the 1960s, with the completed GAP being still a relatively new thing (completed in 2013), making a DC → Pittsburgh ride the ~380-mile first trial-by-fire for locals.

Seriously, if you ever ride the C&O with touring panniers, even right in DC, dozens of passersby are going to shout 'You going to Pittsburgh!?'

This ride is also a national standard for 'basic bike tour.' It's long and safe, with lots of cheap lodging along the way (including totally free primitive campsites on the C&O), and it's 'no cars' BUT unpaved varying from 'fine' (crushed limestone) to 'hell' (rutted two-track).

Take the C&O and GAP to Pittsburgh, stay at the Hampton Inn in the Strip district, and eat every meal at Primanti Brothers (they can serve you Iron City after 2am).

Over on the other side of the river, the W&OD Rail-Trail is a 45-mile trail from Arlington, Va. to Purcellville, Va., along a rail line that went defunct in the 1960s and has been a growing rail-trail since the early 1970s.

The trail has been point-to-point complete since 2002, with major improvements coming every year (tunnels, overpasses, improved at-grade crossings, etc.). Breweries and bike shops dot the entire route.

From BCC HQ, it is 9 miles on two trails to the W&OD trailhead, then 45 the length. A full out-and-back gets to a hundred with just a neighborhood lap or two at the end.

The end of the W&OD is also the gateway to a different branch of the east coast bike tour circuit. You can go north to Harpers Ferry and Brunswick (and back on to the C&O), or you can go west to Front Royal (gateway to Skyline Drive) or southwest to Harrisonburg.

So what's the point about White's Ferry? For cyclists (and I guess pedestrians, but the Virginia side is a loooong way from downtown Leesburg), the ferry is a way to cross between these routes.

With COVID wrecking my big bike tour plans for 2020, I did two C&O out-and-backs for three overnights and a 50/50 gravel ride for a pair of ferry crossings. (I also did a three-day, two-night ride to Harrisonburg for a composite normal six-day, five-night 2020 tour season.)

From Alexandria, White's Ferry is almost exactly 50 miles. There are four hiker-biker campsites (three in effect) before White's Ferry, and three (four if you want to pay) in the 20 miles after.

So whatever your touring ability or interest, there is a 70-mile stretch of towpath with eight campsites. There's something in there for everyone.

The S24O for someone of my persuasion is a 40-ish mile ride to any one of three campsites within ten miles of the ferry. Next morning you can putter to the ferry and get home 50 miles on the road.

In the reverse direction, I have met touristas that were coming in from the west on the W&OD and wanted their entrance to DC to be on George Washington's C&O river survey route (pre-rebel George Washington worked for Lord Fairfax as a prospector). The C&O ends in Georgetown.

So notwithstanding automotive traffic, about which I care nothing, White's Ferry is a big deal for people on bikes.

The core dispute is over land rights, and if you love super old cases, this is one for you.

Rockland Farms apparently owns the riverfront on the Virginia side, a fact established for at least 200 years. *BUT* White's (formerly Conrad's) Ferry has operated with permission and/or license since at least the Civil War.

Rocklands Farm used to be a thing, as the current owner, who claims a 200-year lineage on the property, will tell you. Now, it is a 'venue,' mainly used as a cyclocross course, for glamping, or for other stuff. The WaPo in the linked story above calls it a 'former wedding venue.'

The lawsuit leading to the ferry shutdown was initiated in 2009, and the yada yada is the White's Ferry people and the Rocklands Farm people decided White's Ferry should not be able to build indiscriminately on the part of the route they don't own. This seems perfectly reasonable

There have been active licensing agreements in the past, but when old properties like these are involved, the legal stuff gets weird.

Without ascribing motives to the parties, in question, here is the deal: White's Ferry is a thing and Rocklands Farms has a fringe claim tangible enough to shut the ferry down. But we know what will happen.

Rocklands Farm is making a play to get paid or get control. They asked for a $200,000 annual licensing fee for access to the landing spot in Virginia for which the ferry operating company may have paid no more than $5 a year (granted in olde tyme dollars).

If we stipulate that daily traffic on the ferry is 600 cars, at $5 a car, 365 days a year, that's not even $1.1 million. Factor in bikes and pedestrians and factor out weather and holiday closures and we can guesstimate $1 million revenue.

Folks, that's a small business. There are only six full-time people working for the ferry. Economics tells us the fee meets the usage at full demand. Acceding to Rocklands Farms $200,000 license fee for the thing the ferry has has since the 1700s is business suicide.

Rocklands Farms, whose only internet presence appears to be on Facebook, is going *way* out of their way to tell anyone who cares that it was *the ferry's* decision to cease operations in the pre-decision face of this legal case.

Now I do not know anything about anything, but I do know the White's Ferry folks are deadly serious about providing a service available to area travelers since Washington and Jefferson were dining together. Of course, that intent does not trump the law.

But here is where we are: A Potomac River crossing between wealthy areas in Maryland and Virginia, taken for granted by all living people and their regional ancestors, has been canceled by an equally-old property for no meritorious purpose.

On the one hand, we have a dedicated family, operating a small business along a 240-year tradition, on what has become a de facto indispensable regional commute route.

On the other hand, we have a 'venue' arguing property rights.

Here is how it will play out:

An influential person, maybe an elected official, maybe Leesburg landed gentry, will call Rockland Farms and tell them, You really need to work out a fair deal, and soon.

Or else the eminent domain fairies will come visit you.

This of course brings it back to driver supremacy, as these things always do. As a cyclist, bike tourist, and non-motor vehicle traveler, I *need* that river crossing. The only way I am going to get it is if it is also a car crossing.

And the Maryland and Virginia governments, wicked pro-car at the local, state, and federal levels, are going to shine a thousand-watt bulb on Rocklands Farms, asking, WHY DO YOU FEEL ENTITLED TO PROFIT OFF DRIVING?

If Rocklands Farms does not negotiate a fair rate for White's Ferry (basically zero dollars, and White's Ferry maintains the Virginia landing in consultation with property owner), Loudon County or the Commonwealth of Virginia are going to take it and write the owners a check.

The Virginia side is leased back to the ferry operator, and thus we go into another indefinite public-private partnership in the administration of public goods.

An old pedestrian bridge crossing or pedestrian/cyclist-only ferry in a property dispute: Fuck you guys property rights for the win.

A minor car commuting route for the wealthy that offers overpriced services for pedestrians and cyclists incidentally: WE WILL TAKE YOUR LAND

Have a look at the map. When you exit the ferry on the Virginia side, you ride a narrow road and make a 90-degree turn to get to US Rt 15. https://goo.gl/maps/rvXVFtX6zWvGYAVUA

These Rocklands Farms folks better be careful what they wish for. If the state or county comes in and sets the standard, we may accidentally get a better road with improved bike facilities.

Over-under: This is resolved before spring equinox, and Rocklands Farms gets effectively nothing.

Detail on the story from WTOP, which you will read in @AugensteinWTOP's voice. https://twitter.com/AugensteinWTOP/status/1343597123527467008

Agreed, a new bridge between Maryland and Virginia is needed, however with the state of national infrastructure and existing bridges that need replacing, my guess is such a public work is not coming any time soon. https://twitter.com/ricktillery/status/1343821921985523712

Even if the new administration is all infrastructure, all the time, there will only be a few new projects, strategically placed to highlight progress, and the DC area is not politically important enough to put one there.

Much more likely political and economic forces coalesce around maintaining the historic ferry in a way that protects it as national heritage. All the White's Ferry folks want is to run the ferry.