Ferries Perform Service, Provide Views

Ferries take passengers around scenic coasts and sometimes the passengers are visited by dolphins or other wildlife.

The Staten Island Ferry provides breathtaking views of Manhattan's skyline. Photo courtesy of Ekatarina Hashbarger/ Dreamstime

In 1683, Talbot County, Maryland, authorized establishment of a ferry service for “Horses and Men” across the Tred Avon River, connecting the tiny towns of Oxford and Bellevue. A man named Richard Royston was given 2,500 pounds of tobacco a year, worth about $25, to operate the ferry.

Three years later, Royston was convicted of forgery and received a public whipping. He was followed by a series of other ferry captains that included a woman named Judith Bennett. In the early 1700s, she had three husbands, each of whom operated the boat that she ran by herself when she was between spouses.