They told me I was too old to believe in ferries!
Billy Joel River of Dreams video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSq4B_zHqPM Rocky Hill ferry shown at the 1:40 mark.
State ferry page, needs some proofreading/updating: http://www.ct.gov/dot/cwp/view.asp?a=1380&q=259738
Local links with pretty pictures
http://blogs.courant.com/itowns_hfd/2008/06/ridin-the-ferry-on-a-lazy-day.html
http://transportationnation.org/2011/07/15/nations-oldest-ferry-to-close/
http://johnpaulus.com/blog/2011/07/17/budget-cuts-force-connecticut-to-close-nations-oldest-operating-ferry/
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Hill_%E2%80%93_Glastonbury_Ferry
Anderson Ferry has been going between the ‘westside’ (as it’s called) OH and KY (access to the airport without having to go toward downtown to get onto I 75/71S) since 1817 - has two or three ferries now (high was 6, I think) - all on their dime and paid for by those who cross ($3.00) what you save in gas more than makes up for that piddling little price. Not to mention having to deal with the Brent Spence bridge which is in the midst of such ‘financial’ wheeling & dealing that the damn thing will collapse before they figure out the cheapest, best and who is going to pay for it solution. It comes out slightly faster when you factor in the speed of one v the lights of the other - the down point however, is winter and flood season - no way you want to tackle those hills & curves in ice nor run your car through the water (which we did coming back from the airport in April) on a daily basis.
The ones in CT were private businesses until government took them over. I really think they should have remained private businesses, or should go back to being ones.
While it is nice that CT has run these as historic sites, that’s kind of a joke. The only really historic part is the location: get on here, get off there, since 1655. Everything else is fairly modern.
It would not amaze me to find out that a sweetheart deal had been cut in 1915 and that generations of a family had benefited from it, and the laws of unintended consequence are just now starting to bare their teeth.
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