 | |
| Waterway | St. Johns River |
|---|---|
| Transit type | Barge |
| Route | Florida Black Bear Scenic Byway |
| Carries | Automobiles |
| Operator | Fort Gates Fish Camp |
| Began operation | 1853 |
| Travel time | 10 minutes |
| Yearly vehicles | 2500 |
| Route ID | 764039 / 764043 [1] |
The Fort Gates Ferry is an auto ferry that crosses the St. Johns River in Florida, downstream of Lake George and just upstream of Little Lake George, at Fruitland Cove. The oldest operating ferry in Florida, it acts as part of the Florida Black Bear Scenic Byway.
The Fort Gates Ferry, also known as the Gateway Ferry, [2] connects Fort Gates Ferry Road near Pomona Park on the east bank of the St. Johns River with Forest Service Road 43, leading to Salt Springs in the Ocala National Forest, on the west bank. The ferry first entered service in 1853, [3] and it is the oldest ferry service still operating in Florida. [4] It was operated as a military ferry by the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. [5]
The current ferry began operation in 1914, [6] and is one of four still operating in the state of Florida. [4] The ferry, part of the Florida Black Bear Scenic Byway, [7] consists of a barge pushed by a tugboat converted from a 1910 Sharpie sailboat. [8] It has a weight limit of 15 tonnes (15 long tons; 17 short tons). [7] The tugboat, named Too Wendy, [9] is 18 feet (5.5 m) long and is powered by a 65 horsepower (48 kW) diesel engine. [10] Hurricane Gladys sunk the ferry's tugboat in 1968; service was suspended until it could be raised. [11]
In 1972, an automobile commercial featuring Paul Newman was filmed on the Fort Gates Ferry. [4] In 2009 the ferry was part of a route named the "World's Worst Commute" in a contest run to promote a brand of motor oil. [12]
The ferry, with a toll of $10, [7] is one of four in Florida. [4] Operating daily except Tuesday during daylight hours, it has an estimated annual traffic load of 1,500 vehicles per year. [4] The ferry takes ten minutes to cross the one mile (1.6 km) span of the river; [4] it can carry two to four pickup trucks, a dozen motorcycles, or 38 dirt bikes or bicycles. [10]
The ferry is privately operated by the Fort Gates Fish Camp, and is funded by Putnam County as a public transportation service; the subsidy was set at $10,000 per year in 1995. [10] Putnum County is planning on replacing the ferry landings with new structures. [13]
The passage of Hurricane Irma in 2017 damaged the ferry and ferry landing, forcing the temporary suspension of the service; by February 2019 repairs had not yet been conducted. [14] In October 2019 the Putnam County Commission authorized funds for repairing the ferry landing, [15] but by late 2020 the ferry had not been repaired, and local residents believed it would never return to service. [16]
Putnam County is a county located in the northern part of the state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 73,321. Its county seat is Palatka.
The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganization of the minor leagues. The league temporarily operated for the 2021 season as the Low-A Southeast before reassuming its original moniker in 2022.
Palatka is a city in and the county seat of Putnam County, Florida, United States. Palatka is the principal city of the Palatka Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is home to 72,893 residents. The city is also home to St. Johns River State College, St. Johns River Water Management District Headquarters, and Ravine Gardens State Park. The area is well known for its local festivals, most notably the Florida Azalea Festival and the Blue Crab Festival. The population was 10,446 at the 2020 census.
Hurricane Dora was the first tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the Atlantic coast of North Florida at hurricane intensity. The sixth tropical storm and second hurricane of the 1964 season, Dora developed from a tropical wave near the coast of Senegal on August 28. The depression intensified into Tropical Storm Dora late on August 31. It then curved northeastward and continued to strengthen. By late on September 2, Dora became a Category 1 hurricane. Intensification slowed somewhat, with Dora becoming a Category 2 hurricane on September 4 and then a Category 3 hurricane on next day. Deepening further, the storm briefly peaked as a Category 4 with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (215 km/h) on September 6. Dora soon weakened to a Category 3 hurricane and then a Category 2 hurricane while curving westward early the following day.
The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida, currently owned by Grupo México.
The Ocklawaha Valley Railroad, originally the Ocala Northern Railroad, was a railroad running from Silver Springs Junction, Florida to Palatka, Florida, running roughly parallel to the Oklawaha River. Except for the southernmost part, from Silver Springs Junction to Silver Springs, which was leased from the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, the railroad never had any corporate relationship with larger railroad companies.
The Orlando metropolitan area, also known as Central Florida, Greater Orlando, Metro Orlando, as well as for U.S. Census purposes as the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, is a metropolitan area in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. Its principal cities are Orlando, Kissimmee and Sanford. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget defines it as consisting of the counties of Lake, Orange, Osceola, and Seminole.
The Silver Palm was a daily passenger train route operated by Amtrak between Miami and Tampa in the U.S. state of Florida. Service began in 1982 and ended in 1985.
The Jacksonville Metropolitan Area, also called the First Coast, Metro Jacksonville, or Northeast Florida, is the metropolitan area centered on the principal city of Jacksonville, Florida and including the First Coast of North Florida. As of the 2020 United States census, the total population was 1,605,848. The Jacksonville–Kingsland–Palatka, FL–GA Combined Statistical Area (CSA) had a population of 1,733,937 in 2020 and was the 34th largest CSA in the United States. The Jacksonville metropolitan area is the 40th largest in the country and the fourth largest in the State of Florida, behind the Miami, Tampa, and Orlando metropolitan areas.
Fort King was a United States military fort in north central Florida, near what later developed as the city of Ocala. It was named after Colonel William King, commander of Florida's Fourth Infantry and the first governor of the provisional West Florida region.
State Road 19 is a Florida State Road in Putnam, Marion, and Lake counties. It runs from Groveland to Palatka through Ocala National Forest. Along with SR 33, SR 19 provides a mostly rural north-south corridor through central Florida from Lakeland to Palatka.
The Florida Southern Railway was a railroad that operated in Florida in the late 1800s. It was one of Florida's three notable narrow gauge railway when it was built along with the South Florida Railroad and the Orange Belt Railway. The Florida Southern was originally chartered to run from Lake City south through central Florida to Charlotte Harbor. However, with the influence of Henry B. Plant, it operated with two discontinuous segments that would be part of the Plant System, which would later become part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.
The Drayton Island Ferry is an auto ferry that crosses the St. Johns River in Putnam County, Florida, connecting Georgetown on the eastern bank with Drayton Island, located in the middle of the river at the north end of Lake George. It provides the only public access to the island.
The Indian Removal Act provoked many Seminole Indians and their allies to revolt against being forcibly relocated from their lands and homes in the Florida Territory to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. After the Dade Massacre on December 28, 1835, the Second Seminole War was escalated with armed skirmishes and guerilla warfare. Early in the Second Seminole War, the strategically located town of Palatka, Florida Territory was attacked and burned by a group of Seminole Indians and their allies. Most surviving white settlers and black slaves fled to St. Augustine for safety, and the area was mostly abandoned except for free roaming groups of Seminole Indians and their allies. Realizing the importance of a militarily protected and efficient supply line along the St. Johns River General Walker Keith Armistead ordered the main depot moved from Garey's Ferry on Black Creek to Palatka where the U.S. Army built Fort Shannon.
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's High Springs—Croom Line was a historic rail line in northern Florida. The line dates back to the late 1800s and was used for both passengers and freight.
Crossings of the St. Johns River | ||||
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