Maine Department of Transportation

Description

The Westport ferry, a scow guided by a cable running between Wiscasset and Westport Island, heads for the Island with Westport's Ferry Landing and what is now Ferry Road visible in the background. One of the ferry operator's, Luther Cromwell, sits in the small motor boat that is guiding the ferry.

The Westport ferry operated from 1899 until a bridge was completed between the Island and Wiscasset in 1950. The ferry could carry up to two cars -- and occasionally crowded on three. Residents and summer visitors relied on the ferry.

In the 1940s, the load on the ferry increased. In the run up to, and during World War II, more people on the Island began began working at Bath Iron Works and many of the Island's high school students attended Morse High School in Bath.

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