The Family Tree Searcher - RootsWeb

“Steaming” on Gloucester Rivers
payment to the ferrymen to be made by the commissioners where the ferry is kept, and
where one creeke parts two counties, then each of them to contribute towards the
maintenance…” All passengers whether strangers or others should be freed from payment
otherwise then by the leavie…” The free ferries were short -lived for in 1647, the Assembly,
citing injustice to those who did not use the ferries, granted powers to county courts to
authorize paying ferries and to set the rates.
Turks Ferry
This ferry was established by order of the Colonial Council on September 23, 1664.
The record reads, “Ferry to be kept at Piankatank.” This may have been the place of an
Indian crossing where the narrow Dragon Swamp widens quite suddenly to become the
Piankatank River. The marsh extends out into the water offering a shallow footing and
easy access to the opposite shore. It was at this point on the north shore of the river that a
fairly large Indian village of perhaps 200 persons was located. Deed books reveal that Turk
was a family name in the Turk’s Ferry area, and the name was in common use by the end of
the 17 th century for it appears in Acts of the Assembly by that time. Rates for ferriage were
fixed by an Act of Assembly. In Middlesex County they set the Turks Ferry crossing price
for a man at three pence, and for a man and a horse six -pence. George Washington is said
to have traveled to Williamsburg from his Westmoreland County home, crossing the
Rappahannock River, proceeding through Middlesex to cross the Piankatank at Turks Ferry,
and through Gloucester to Longbridge Ordinary.
Bits & Pieces:
In 1690 the Kingston Parish (Mathews County), ordered that Daniell Hunter be paid
500 pounds of tobacco and cash
for building a bridge at the head
of the North River. This indicates
that maybe a ferry was there
before.
An act of the General
Assembly in 1702 established the
charge for a ferry in York County
from York Towne to Tindals Point
(old name for Gloucester Point) at
one royall for a man and two for
a man and a horse. By 1705 the
charge was 15 pence for a man
and horse (see below for details
on this ferry).
Capahosic to Williamsburg.
A ferry was established in the
eighteenth century. This allowed
folks to go to the big city and
shop at the fine stores of
Williamsburg.
Gloucester-Yorktown Ferry
A settler began operating the
Turks Ferry in colonial era
Photograph courtesy of Middlesex Museum
1900 Rates
Buggy, 1 horse ............................................20 cts.
Buggy, 1 horse, round trip same day......25 cts.
Buggy, 2 horses ..........................................25 cts.
For each person in double vehicle ............5 cts.
Walkers...........................................................5 cts.
Vol. 5, No. 2 26 December 2001