05/23/2026
This week we’re Long on the Valley View Ferry; the slowest shortcut in Central Kentuckyand one of the most quietly remarkable pieces of working history in the country.
🕕 Hours: Mon–Fri 6a–6p | Sat–Sun 8a–8p
On February 11, 1785, seven years before Kentucky achieved statehood, the Virginia General Assembly granted a “perpetual and irrevocable” franchise to John Craig, a Revolutionary War veteran who had acquired land along the Kentucky River through a military grant for his service in the American Revolution. Governor Patrick Henry signed the charter himself.
The Valley View Ferry has been crossing the river ever since.
Connects Madison and Jessamine counties via KY-169
Operated as a private enterprise for 206 years across seven different families
Acquired in 1991 by Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and the counties of Jessamine and Madison for $60,000
Free to ride today, three cars at a time, on the same stretch Daniel Boone, Henry Clay, and Ulysses S. Grant are said to have used
Movie buffs may recognize it from the 1967 George C. Scott film The Flim-Flam Man
Still carrying more than 14,000 passengers every month
Some infrastructure doesn’t need to be replaced. It just keeps moving.
