Dansie-Ruffin Ferry

King William County · dedicated 2023 · Rte. 30, at intersection with Sweet Hall Rd.

The Virginia General Assembly authorized Capt. Thomas Dansie to establish a ferry on the Pamunkey River 1.5 miles south of here in 1754. Robert Ruffin acquired the ferry and Dansie’s nearby tavern ca. 1768. By the 1770s, the ferry had become an important link in the road network between northern Virginia and Williamsburg. George Washington often used it while he served in the House of Burgesses (1758-1775). The Marquis de Lafayette crossed at Ruffin’s twice in Aug. 1781 while monitoring British activities at Yorktown, and Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau crossed here on their way to Yorktown in Sept. Ferry service had ceased here by 1926 when a bridge was built at West Point.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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