By Adam Pagnucco.
County Executive Marc Elrich has announced that the State of Maryland, Montgomery County and the Town of Poolesville are offering a $3 million incentive to the warring parties who own White’s Ferry and the ferry’s landing site in Virginia to restart ferry service. The ferry has been closed for more than four years due to a dispute between the parties over landing rights in Virginia. The closure has damaged the economy of western MoCo and caused significant transportation dislocation for commuters.
Elrich is calling this a “final measure.” Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo, who has worked for years to reopen the ferry, says that if the subsidy does not work “we will walk away knowing we did all we could.” According to Fraser-Hidalgo, the parties must reach an agreement by July 1, 2026 to get the funding.
The county’s press release is reprinted below.
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For Immediate Release: Friday, April 11, 2025
$3 Million Public Subsidy Offered as a Last Chance Incentive for White’s Ferry Reopening
Officials from the State of Maryland, Montgomery County and the Town of Poolesville are offering a $3 million incentive to the owners of White’s Ferry and Rockland Farm to reach an agreement to re-open White’s Ferry.
White’s Ferry, a historic Potomac River crossing linking Poolesville, Maryland, and Loudoun County, Virginia, has been closed since December 2020 due to a dispute over the landing rights at Rockland Farm on the Virginia side. Prior to its closure, the ferry carried an estimated 600 to 800 vehicles across the river daily and was considered an essential transportation link for recreation, errands and commuting between the two states.
Re-opening the crossing will have an estimated economic impact of more than $9 million annually, according to a 2021 White’s Ferry Operations Study by the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) and the Loudoun County Department of Transportation and Capital Infrastructure. The economic impact is calculated from estimated travel time savings, travel cost savings, safety savings, the value of emissions avoided and the value of trips not currently taken.
Libby Devlin of Rockland Farm, LLC, in Virginia, and Chuck and Stacy Kuhn of Potomac Crossing, LLC, ferry owners since 2021, have been unable to reach a financial agreement despite regional efforts to bring them together to negotiate.
Montgomery County has been working with Maryland legislators, the Town of Poolesville and Loudoun County to try to help resolve the dispute that has kept the ferry closed for more than four years.
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich wrote a letter today, addressing both the White’s Ferry owners and the Virginia landowner. The letter details a financial incentive to work together to get the ferry running again as a last effort to propel progress.
“I am proposing a financial incentive for the two of you to work together to get the ferry running again as a final measure to initiate momentum,” wrote County Executive Elrich.
The $3 million public subsidy was amassed from several agencies and offered to encourage both entities to work together to come to an agreement to restart White’s Ferry. State aid recommended by Maryland Governor Wes Moore and approved by the Maryland General Assembly in the state’s FY26 budget accounts for $1.5 million. Another $1.5 million came from a Montgomery County capital improvement amendment put forward by County Executive Elrich and supported by the County Council that also includes a pledge of cooperation and financial engagement by the Town of Poolesville.
Contingent on Montgomery County Council approval and appropriation, the funds may be used for property rights, equipment purchase, or other capital investment needed for the ferry. To receive the funds, a set reopening date for the ferry must be established, and the private entities, Potomac Crossing, LLC and Rockland Farm, LLC, must reach a binding agreement before July 1, 2026. If an acceptable agreement is presented to Montgomery County by then, a grant agreement will be structured to disburse the funds.
Maryland State Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo is a key supporter of the state funding.
“If and when a deal is signed between the private parties, the funds will become appropriated with a deadline of July 1, 2026,” said Delegate Fraser-Hidalgo. “If an agreement cannot be reached by that date, we will walk away knowing we did all we could. The County, State and leadership of Poolesville have worked diligently with all parties involved over the past four years on getting White’s Ferry back up and running. It’s disappointing that a settlement that supports the overall public interest has not been reached. It will require both sides to come to the table with an open mind and a willingness to be flexible.”
Montgomery County acknowledges in the letter that the County and the State of Maryland have no jurisdiction or authority to make a deal between the two private parties and hopes the funds will incentivize them to compromise.
The letter also addresses Mr. Kuhn’s previous offer to donate the ferry equipment to the County. Mr. Kuhn’s offer stipulated that his donation did not include the land, also under his ownership, that would be required to access and operate the ferry. County Executive Elrich noted that the compensation requested for the land use drove the cost significantly higher than would be feasible for Montgomery County taxpayers to shoulder.
The lengthy closure of White’s Ferry has caused additional complications to the re-opening efforts. The grandfathered zoning exemption that allowed the ferry to operate in Loudoun County has since expired. A framework to compensate Rockland Farm for the use of the ferry landing was advanced, only to find that Virginia’s zoning regulations were likely to prevent it from moving forward unless the regulations were modified, which would be a significant effort that would take some time.
The Town of Poolesville has suffered an economic downturn since the ferry closed in 2020.
“Our local businesses depend on visitors, and our commercial zone has suffered a 20 percent decline in traffic since the ferry closing,” said Poolesville Town Commission President Jim Brown. “It has caused a substantial loss to the region. We need White’s Ferry to reopen, not just for our economic stability, but for the quality of life of so many people, including commuters, in this region. White’s Ferry was a critical connection point since it opened in 1786 and was the last of about 100 ferries along the Potomac. When it was operational, the ferry carried nearly 800 daily users between Maryland and Virginia.”
The letter encouraged the private parties to meet soon, offered MCDOT’s assistance, and reiterated that this would be Montgomery County’s last attempt to restart White’s Ferry.
“We’ve done everything we can do as a government to get this ferry reopened because we understand how much it means to the people who live and work in this region,” said County Executive Elrich. “This offer is about giving the private parties one last opportunity to find a workable solution. We can’t force an agreement, but we are putting real money on the table to help make one possible. If this doesn’t get resolved now, it won’t be for lack of effort from the County, the State, or the Town of Poolesville.”
Read County Executive Elrich’s letter to the White’s Ferry owners and the Virginia landowner.