Posted on 12/28/2020 11:49:54 AM PST by 11th_VA
The resolution of a decade’s-long court case brought by a Virginia property owner required White’s Ferry, the historic Potomac River crossing in Poolesville, Maryland, to stop using its traditional landing across the river.
As a result, the ferry operator announced its closure via a Facebook post at 10 a.m., December 28, 2020.
For over two centuries, the ferry has docked on the Virginia side of the river.
A Virginia court ruled the ferry could no longer dock on the opposite shore at White’s Ferry Road in Loudoun County.
In fact, the judge, Stephen E. Sincavage of the Loudoun County Circuit Court awarded damages to the Virginia property owners in excess of $100,000, agreed that White’s Ferry had been trespassing since the end of a licensing agreement in 2004 and through an injunction, prevented White’s Ferry from continuing to use the land. The decision was written in late November.
The owners of the land in Virginia, known as Rockland, complained that White’s Ferry was unlawfully occupying its land. White’s Ferry argued for its right to use the landing due to having customers and business operations on that side of the river for over two centuries.
The case has been postponed and delayed and dismissed throughout the years before the most recent decision, written by Judge Steven E. Sincavage on Nov. 23, 2020...
(Excerpt) Read more at wtop.com ...
The people in Maryland seem to be dead set against a bridge. I’ve lived in the DC area for almost 45 years, and there have been proposals to build a bridge pretty much all the time I’ve lived here.
The route would start at the junction of I-270 and I-370 (the “inter-county connector”) northwest of Rockville, MD, and would end near the junction of VA routes 7 and 28 (7 is Leesburg Pike which runs between Tysons Corner and Leesburg, and is being developed into a freeway; 28 runs north and south, past Dulles Airport and down to Centreville where the freeway ends at US 29, and then runs as a four lane road with traffic lights to Manassas)
Know where it is. 8th gen. Florida family. Wakulla Springs- developed by Ed Ball. Beautiful place now a state park, massive spring flow. Friend’s fiance long back foolishly swam over the fenced river property line into a swamp— and was killed and eaten by several large gators, in the mid 80s. Was a really educated book smart dumba@@. Snorkeling into the swamp.
The family who owns Rockland (National Register) has owned it since Revolutionary war General Rust (contemporary of Thomas Jefferson) built the place in 1822. The question of “right of way” has been kicked around by envirowhackos, who say that all bodies of water (all of them, even streams through private land) should have 6 feet of public access through the land. It did not pass in NC, and never will except in whacked out lib urbanized zones... as the burbs sprawl on out to farmland. It is clear that the ferry people do not want to pay rent for their landing on private land-which has no easement from VA. Nor have they ever wanted MD DOT to take over the ferry.
The Rust family descended through his daughter, married name Brown, since that time. Elderly mom, taken care of at home by her RN daughter who also farms the 600 acres, and tries to compete with a real historic property vs. the multitudes of wine snobby half@ss wedding venues. Taxes are unreal- and the mob is licking its chops for tract homes, and gubmint intrusion types are all over facebook with “Karens” and “kens” comments reading like an AntiFA doxxing campaign out to “get” the 198 year family owned farm.
Text from the National Register writeup:
“Rockland takes its name from the limestone outcroppings permeating the 600-acre farm, located in the Catoctin Rural Historic District. Gen. George Rust, a prominent Loudoun County gentleman, replaced deteriorating wooden structures with this imposing brick mansion in 1822. Of large scale and with boldly detailed woodwork, the house is one the finest of several important Federal plantation dwellings in the area. The property was later inherited by Gen. Rust’s son, Col. Armistead T. M. Rust, an 1842 West Point graduate who served with the 19th Virginia Infantry during the Civil War. His death in 1887 left his second wife, Ida Lee, with fourteen children and an encumbered estate. Exuding tremendous energy and business acumen, she repaid the debt and educated her youngest children. Her sons were sent west at age fifteen to escape the hardships of Reconstruction. Her son Edwin enlarged Rockland around 1908. As of the mid-1990s, Rockland remained owned by Rust family descendants.”
“The state boundary is the mean high water mark on the Virginia side. “
Not since 1877.
Are used to take that ferry years ago bike riding in the area. Unless I miss reading this, their lease ended, they didn’t continue paying, and were operating on borrowed time. Too bad.
The developers were also very clever in having areas with many golf clubs designated as agricultural. This meant that people with large houses and lots also had extra open spaces around them. While people who had tiny lots or town houses had not one open space where a child could throw a ball farther than 20 feet ( and only one of those) for about 15 years before one small park was finally built on the very edge of the entire community. The hundreds of houses are still crammed together very closely.
This entire program to me typifies the limousine liberal elites of DC suburb Montgomery county, Maryland
More of our history thrown on the scrap pile. Now if the highway department wanted to put a toll bridge there, the land owner would be S.O.L.
Why has the Virginia county sometime between now and 200 years ago established a legal easement to the landing and adjacent approaches? Or, via eminent domain acquired title for public use? I believe that a county public road connects to the landing.
Perhaps the original Conrads were some of my ancestors. The Conrads were a mercantile family stretching from Baltimore to Harper’s Ferry. I know several of my ancestors were postmasters in Loudon County. My GGgrandfather’s store was in Harper’s Ferry and was burned during the war. Thomas Nelson Conrad was president of the college that would become Virginia Tech.
At one time, downstream of Washington there was a gambling establishment in Maryland in the Potomac River. Virginia would not let the pier to it touch it’s soil do there was a small gap you had to step over. My dad said people would break their ankles. I think it was near Colonial Beach or maybe Dahlgren.
The judge went to UVA undergrad and UVA law school, which is a top-five law school. He is certainly competent. The lawyers are all well-known Virginia lawyers from prestigious firms.
This case was not about structures. It was about property rights. The core issue was whether the ferry company has the right to use the property.
That said, there was a structure involved as a tangential issue. The licensing agreement that terminated in 2004 provided that the ferry company needed to obtain approval from the landowner before building any structures. Yet it built a retaining wall without getting consent. That was the reason for the $100k judgment against the ferry company. The judge agreed that it would cost $100k to remove the illegally built structure and awarded that amount to the landowner.
I'm guessing you're not a lawyer. I'm a lawyer experienced in real estate matters. That doesn't necessarily make me right, but I am able to view this as someone with over thirty years of real estate law practice. After studying the decision, I think the judge got it right. As I've previously mentioned, conservatives should welcome the decision because it was in support of private property rights.
If all the judge did was rule that the ferry company had to remove the wall, then the judge was not unreasonable.
But as I read the original story I got from it that he ruled that they could not use the landing area at all unless they settled with the land owner on the landowner’s terms.
And if the deed is faulty, the landowner’s terms do not matter and the only discussion should be how to resolve the matter of the retaining wall.
Since you are a real estate lawyer: Is the deed faulty?
Is there a state maintained road ending at the ferry landing?
Does the farm owner’s deed reference the road right of way?
We had access to the James River at a small village in Virginia,SE Virginia. Good fishing and it had been that way all my life and probably a lot longer. A hurricane came through and wiped the village out and the older common people sold the land to people with more money. Those people cut off access to the river and now you have to ride about 15 or 20 miles in either direction. Then you would have ride in a boat back to the spot to fish.
Set up a go fund me account for him. Would probably do the trick of raising the 100k. Especially with some decent media coverage.
That was a tangential issue that pertained only to damages that the company had to pay. The core issue was whether the company had the right to use the landing and road located on the landowners property.
But as I read the original story I got from it that he ruled that they could not use the landing area at all unless they settled with the land owner on the landowner’s terms.
Correct. He ruled that the company did not have a right to use the landowner's property at the location it was using it.
And if the deed is faulty, the landowner’s terms do not matter and the only discussion should be how to resolve the matter of the retaining wall.
I assume you mean the landowner's deed. The deed was not faulty. The landowner took title to the property subject to any encumbrances existing at the time of the deed. An existing encumbrance would mean the right of the company to use the landing and road on the landowner's property. The judge concluded, correctly in my view, that no such right existed
Since you are a real estate lawyer: Is the deed faulty?
I haven't seen the deed, but I'm certain it was not faulty. It didn't need to mention anything about the supposed right of way.
Is there a state maintained road ending at the ferry landing?
No, there is a sign several hundred feet from the landing that says "End of state maintenance," which suggests that everything beyond that is private property.
Does the farm owner’s deed reference the road right of way?
I haven't seen the deed, but I doubt it. The deed likely referenced just the parcel being purchased. It would be subject to any encumbrances existing prior to the deed. The title report probably refers to a right of way, either by virtue of the earlier condemnation or the actual use by the company. The judge concluded that no such right of way existed.
They have pushing for a bridge over the Potomac in that area for about a decade now.
Judge in the back pocket of developers?
Thank you for the time spent on this explanation.
And that ends my comments on the matter.
Ever swam in the Dickerson quarry?
Having a business on a sight for centuries doesn’t negate the property owners rights. If they refused to renew the lease for whatever reason, you are trespassing.
Why it took 16 years for resolution is beyond me.
Exactly
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