White's Ferry Reopening Pushed By MD County With 'Last Chance Incentive'

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — A Maryland county says it's providing a "last chance incentive" to resolve a dispute over White's Ferry to allow the ferry service to reopen to and from Loudoun County.

Montgomery County announced on Friday a $3 million incentive from the county, state and Town of Poolesville. The incentive was presented to Libby Devlin of Rockland Farm and ferry owners Chuck and Stacy Kuhn, who have been in a dispute over landing rights and have not reached an agreement to reopen the ferry.

The $3 million package includes $1.5 million in the approved Maryland budget, $1.5 million from a Montgomery County capital improvement amendment and a pledge of cooperation and financial engagement by the Town of Poolesville.

There have been attempts to reopen White's Ferry, a link between Poolesville, Maryland, and Loudoun County, Virginia, since it closed in December 2020 over the landing rights dispute. Before it closed, the ferry carried an estimated 600 to 800 vehicles daily across the Potomac River and provided an alternative to the busy American Legion Bridge and Point of Rocks routes.

A 2021 White’s Ferry Operations Study by Montgomery County's transportation department projects a more than $9 million annual economic impact from reopening the ferry.

"With each passing year, the connections between the communities served by the ferry have weakened, local businesses have suffered, family connections have been strained, and thousands of additional miles of travel have been required by those who need to travel between eastern Loudoun County, Virginia and western Montgomery County, Maryland," wrote Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich in a letter to Devlin and Kuhn. "Also, with each passing year, the barriers to restarting service increase as new regulatory hurdles emerge, operating expertise is lost, equipment ages, and people learn to live without the service."

The service ended because former owner Herb Brown could not reach an agreement with the owners of Rockland Farm, which hosts the Virginia landing site for the ferry. The Kuhns of JK Land Holdings purchased the ferry service in 2021 and last offered to donate the ferry service to Montgomery County in April 2024.

In a new statement, JK Land Holdings said it was disappointed by Montgomery County's new incentive. The company said it "has never asked for or expected any funds from the taxpayers of Montgomery County."

"The donation had been accepted verbally, and plans were moving forward—to the point that ferry staff were given generous severance packages and introduced to the county for potential re-employment," said the statement. "The whole goal in offering to donate the operation to Montgomery County last April was to get it open in the most expeditious manner possible."

JK Land Holdings indicated it was reviewing the county's incentive proposal and plans to have more discussions with Rockland Farm and officials in Loudoun and Montgomery counties. However, it noted new zoning regulations on the Virginia side present a new hurdle.

The Rockland Farm owner has been seeking an agreement to receive a fee for every car using the White's Ferry service in each direction. Devlin provided a statement to WTOP thanking the Maryland locality for its incentive proposal and said it would continue negotiations for "a fair agreement which gets a ferry running as soon as possible."

Elrich's letter noted the proposals both sides have offered for not feasible. He noted that framework to pay Rockland Farm for the ferry landing's use had progressed, but the new zoning regulations affecting the Virginia side "will likely prevent this from moving forward without significant and lengthy efforts to modify them."

As for the Kuhns' donation offer, Elrich said it covered ferry equipment but not the landing access that is in dispute. The county executive said the compensation for the landing access from the county would have raised ferry service costs "even higher to a point that was not feasible for our taxpayers to shoulder."

Elrich called the incentive the county's "last attempt" to resolve the disagreement over the ferry landing rights. He said the county's transportation department would be able to provide technical assistance and facilitation services as needed until July 1, 2026.

"I hope the $3 million of public funds sufficiently incentivizes you to come to an agreement and I encourage you to meet as soon as possible," Elrich wrote. "By working collaboratively, you can greatly impact the regional connectivity and vitality that White’s Ferry has historically fostered, and that impacts so many regional travelers. It will require both sides to be flexible."