Saturday, July 11, 2020

Sistersville ferry, 7/5/20


When the folks in Sistersville, W.Va., posted on Facebook on July 2 that the ferry was back in operation for the first time in about 20 months, I had to get up there and ride. The fact the Waterways Journal had asked me to do a story about the ferry helped the decision. Their request came before the coronavirus hit and messed up everything, but by Sunday, July 5, the ferry was running and I had money for fuel.



The ferry is like others on the Ohio and is attached to its barge on a pivot. When the ferry leaves one side for the other, it backs out and swings around 180 degrees, leaving an oval wheel wash like this.


A few more photos, including one of Crounse Corp.'s M/V Debi Sharp coming by while we were on the Ohio side. That's Bo Hause, the captain of the ferry, up in the wheelhouse, by the way.








Sunday was hot and almost cloudless. The air temperature on shore was in the 90s, and it must have been 105 or more on the barge.

Soon enough it was time to leave. The heat had left me pretty tired and I wanted to get back to Huntington before dark, so I left sooner than I had wanted to. But I had other stops to make on the road home. Photo opps, you know.



While I was up that way I was able to get a look at a couple of historic (to me, at least, sites that I will write about soon.

The ferry alone made it a good day. The other stuff made it better.




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My father in law was captain on the Sistersville ferry for a while after his retirement. He trained someone to get their captains license while he was there. I believe it was the early 90's