San Souci Ferry A hidden gem on the Cashie River

Story & PhotoS by LeWiS hoggard

TThe San Souci Ferry has transported cars and trucks for more than eighty years in Bertie County across the Cashie River.

A cable-driven two-vehicle ferry is not a common sight. Only two other similar ferries remain in operation in North Carolina - Parkers Ferry and Elwell Ferry. These ferries are not part of the state ferry system, but rather under the auspices of the local North Carolina Department of Transportation offices.

The location of the San Souci Ferry is on North Carolina secondary road 1500 if approached from west to east, the road is known as Woodard Road. Once the Cashie River is traversed by ferry on said road it becomes San Souci Road.

To drive by roadways from one side of the river to the other side covers around twenty miles and driving through or around Windsor. By ferry, it only takes about five minutes which includes loading and unloading onto the ferry and provides a shortcut to Williamston in one direction and to Edenton or Plymouth in the other.

One of the local ferry operators is Darrell Bond.

Bond stated the ferry is scheduled to run everyday but Christmas. The ferry operator works for a private company with whom the North Carolina Department of Transportation contracts the operation of this ferry and the Parkers Ferry. Bond says that traffic on the ferry can be in the single digits on a slow day or go to double digits on a busy day.

The trip across the river is only a few hundred yards, if that far. The river is not big enough to create any wave action to make the trip across a very smooth leisurely ride.

The actual ferry has changed from a wooden boat to the current barge-like conveyance with an engine on top to pull on the cable to go back and forth. The ferry does not cost anything to cross, but there is no fishing from the ferry.

Now weather and mechanical issues can keep the ferry from running every day. Both low and high water may prevent the ferry from crossing the Cashie River. Additionally, if bad storms are happening or if winds get too high the ferry will not run because of safety reasons.

The Cashie River is actually deep, reportedly being as much as eighty feet deep in a turn near where Roquist Creek empties into the Cashie farther upriver from this site. The river is consistently over twenty feet deep until you arrive near the mouth at the Albemarle Sound.

Boaters and water sport enthusiasts are common sites in the summertime from the ferry.

When one approaches the banks of the river, it does get a lot shallower. Also, the road leading to the river on the San Souci side is very low and high water will make it impassable when the Cashie River rises from excessive rain or when wind blows water from the Albemarle sound up the river.

If you do approach from the San Souci side of the river one may have to blow your horn to get the attention of the ferry operator.

The river itself has been navigable by European settlers since the 1600’s and by the Native Americans for hundreds if not thousands of years before. Waterways made up most of the early transportation in Bertie County, but as transportation moved to land, ferries became necessary.

The Cashie River has had at least four different ferry crossing points over time with this ferry the only one still remaining in existence.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation does not believe that a bridge will ever replace the ferry as the traffic is not great enough to warrant the cost of a bridge.

In 2020, budget cuts at the North Carolina Department of Transportation almost ended the existence of the ferry.

Many individuals and Bertie County government officials argued for funding to be restored and, thankfully it was.

The Cashie River is a slow moving blackwater river (except in times of severe flooding) that allows for this form of ferry conveyance to be safe. When Cycle NC brings over a thousand cyclists to the area about every three years, one of the highlights is the route that takes some of the bike riders across the ferry. The ferry has to have a number of extra life preservers on board for this event.

Interestingly, the ferry does not have any navigation capabilities as it pulls itself across the river by cable. The ferry can only go forward or backward, but it cannot turn. The ferry speeds up and slows down by use of throttle as it has no brakes.

When visitors, relatives and out of town friends come to Bertie County to visit, citizens of Bertie always want their guests to ride the ferry. Not only is the ferry a part of history in Bertie County, but it moves at a slow pace across the river, which some might say mimics the lifestyle of rural eastern North Carolina and Bertie County to a certain degree and confirms to the visitor that they are not in the city anymore.

Lewis Hoggard is Executive Director of the Windsor/Bertie Chamber of Commerce and a regular contributor to Eastern North Carolina Living.