Ferry preparing to cross to Wiscasset, Westport Island, 1925
Item 105125 info
Westport Island History Committee
"I saw the first automobile come on the island, and I wish I knew the day.
We had our first ferry when I was eight years old. It was a flat bottomed scow which took two cars and was pulled across the river by a wire cable. The cable was attached to iron posts on each side of the river. On the one side of the scow were wheels on rails called "gins" which the cable went through. First it was pulled by hand. Then they used a motor boat to push it across. They did not make regular trips.
The boat was kept on the Westport side – [the] ferryman lived there also. When you got to the landing you blew your horn. He would take you across. Blow your horn if you were on the Wiscasset side and he would come and get you. The ferry was established in 1899."
Verlie Greenleaf, 1987
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