Since the late 1780s, thousands of commuters have crossed from horses to cars via White’s Ferry. Then, in November 2020, it all came to a halt over a land dispute between the owners of the Ferry and the owners of the Virginia property it lands on. A community rally in December 2025 continued to show support for the long-overdue opening of the crossing.
Then, in April this year, more attention arrived as the election season approached. County Executive Marc Elrich offered hope, and perhaps even a bit of optimism, at his weekly press conference that a deal could be reached by the current July 1 deadline.
“It looks like we have a path to get it done,” said Elrich. ” Once we get an agreement, and I do believe we will, if not in the next month, a reasonable length of time, get a deal to get this open.”
That timeline was set in April of 2025, when Montgomery County and the state of Maryland pooled $3 million to help finalize the negotiations.
The governments on both sides of the Potomac are serving as representatives to reach a final deal on behalf of Chuck and Stacey Kuhn, who own the ferry, and Rockland Farm’s Libby Devlin, who owns the land on the Virginia side of the river, and have until July to come to an agreement to restart the service.
“Even with an agreement, it will take time to rehab the ferry and prepare it for operation again. It won’t happen overnight,” said Elrich.
