Jamestown-Scotland Ferry — Local services in Williamsburg

We were headed to Fredericksburg, Virginia on North I-95 and wanted to go to Williamsburg to eat at Pierce‘s Barbecue. I looked at the map and saw there were no roads going East without having to go all the way up to Richmond and come back down. I noticed there were no roads because of a river with no bridges. I looked at the name of the river and it was the James River. Then I saw dotted lines printed across the river on the map. I also saw the name of the town Jamestown and then knew that the dots on the map were for the Jamestown Ferry and we could take it. I’ve always wanted to take the Jamestown Ferry ever since Tanya Tucker came out with her song titled Jamestown Ferry in 1972. And it wasn’t a hot day in January as the song says. Take exit 31 off of I-95. The ferry is free and runs 24 hours a day. Charley Crockett does a current day version of the song Jamestown Ferry. We are thrilled that we accidentally found the ferry. We ate and stayed at the Surry Seafood Co. just several miles from the ferry. That made it very convenient for us to spend the night and get up the next morning so that we could take the ferry in...

I've always liked the Jamestown Ferry, ever since I rode it for the first time, back when I was around 6-8 years old, with my dad, when I was on a school field trip to Jamestown. In the past 20+ years, I've only rode it 3 times, and it's been a pleasant experience each time (once as kid, in elementary school, and the other 2 within the past 2 years, after I was married). The trip across the river is peaceful, the view is always beautiful no matter what time of the day you go (especially if you go during the Autumn season), and you get to see some wildlife as an added bonus (the seagulls fly near the ferry as it goes, and are all over the pylons in the water). The awesome part, is that it's all for free! That's right, there's no charge to ride the ferry, at all (at least not any of the times I've ridden it, there wasn't). So, even if you're not going to Jamestown or wherever, pick a day, preferablly a nice one, and just take a ride on the...

Three ships, Godspeed, Discovery and Susan Constant set sail from England on Dec 20, 1606 with about a 100 people on board. They arrived at Virginia on May 13,1607 after 5 months of sailing. Thus the first permanent settlement of the US was set in motion in Jamestown by the James river. The Jamestown Settlement now recreated takes you back in time and includes the Fort, and the two ships. The original site of the settlement is about a mile away by the river’s edge.

The history museum @ The Visitor Center will take an hour to cover fully to get a complete perspective of the story of the Settlement. The beach on the river is worth a time spend as also the Ferry service to Surry nearby.

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