When you think of businesses in Kentucky, your first thoughts are probably around some of our state's longstanding and high-profile industries.

Things like bourbon, horses, or tobacco.

But the longest continually operating business in the Commonwealth isn't in any of those areas, although it has probably hauled them.

The Valley View Ferry takes residents from Fayette County to Madison County across the Kentucky River, and it started doing so seven years before Kentucky even became a state.

[music playing] It seems today like such a simple concept, getting from one side of a river to another.

But in this age of bridges and other infrastructure, there's definitely an old-school feeling, seeing cars cross the Kentucky River by boat.

Peak season, we carry 17,500 passengers a month.

That's going to be May through October.

Of course, it wanes during the winter months.

It gets down to about 13,500 to 14,500 during the winter months.

So, we see quite a bit of use.

It's the busiest ferry in Kentucky.

Valley View is not only the busiest ferry in Kentucky, it's by far the oldest.

So, the Valley View Ferry is Kentucky's longest, continuous business in the Commonwealth.

It was established in 1785 when land that had been given to a Revolutionary War veteran named John Craig, the Virginia State Legislature gave Craig permission to open a ferry on his land.

Craig's permission was laid out in the Acts of the Commonwealth of Virginia from October 1785.

Remember, Kentucky at this time was still a part of Virginia and not yet a state.

His permission was very specific.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly that public ferries shall be constantly kept at the following places and the rates for passing the same be as followeth.

To the land of John Craig in the County of Lincoln for a man four pence and for a horse the same.

He was given the land as basically payment for his service in the American Revolution and now, he's developing it.

Several others are going to be doing the same thing.

Trying to develop this land that they have, trying to make it profitable in a lot of ways, but also potentially a service to the public.

Ferries in Kentucky were big business at that time.

By the 1840s, there were 14 operating in just Madison County alone.

Before engines existed, the boats were pulled by hand across short crossings like at Valley View.

They later used mule teams or draft horses for power.

Larger vessels had teams of men with oars.

One newspaper account of a ferry in Louisville bragged, it could carry 25 sheep and 15 wagons across the Ohio River every day.

The Town of Valley View sprung up around the ferry.

It was for a time larger than Lexington, with a saloon, feed store, grocery store, and a hotel.

The ferry there was used by notables such as Daniel Boone, Abe Lincoln, and Ulysses S. Grant.

The main economic driver was this logging plant, which went out of business when the Kentucky River was dammed.

This eventually led to the demise of Valley View.

Original boats used for the ferry were made of wood and replaced every three to five years since it was cheaper to build new ones rather than to repair old ones.

Today's ferry, the John Craig II, named for the ferry's founder, is far more complex.

Diesel engines run electric generators that run hydraulic pumps that run motors, which propel a paddle wheel.

There's no rudder on the boat.

It's steered by cables, which cross the river.

The reason we have a cable system rather than a rudder system goes back to the days in 1785, originally constructed.

We have the cable, and it was pulled across by hand, and you're not deviating a course.

It's a straight shot across the river.

No need for a rudder when you're not going to deviate the course.

For many years, up until 2020, the deckhands on the boat were inmates from the Madison County Jail.

A paid crew now works together with the captain like a well-oiled machine.

First thing you do is you got to offload what you have.

So, one to three vehicles, you tie the boat off.

You can't do anything until the boat is tied off.

Once the boat's tied off, we discharge our passengers.

Then, we'll load whoever's coming aboard.

Once everyone's aboard, deckhand will untie the vessel.

Once the deckhand is happy with what he's seeing, then you'll get roll tide, which means, okay, head across the river.

If you were to drive from one side of the river to the other, the 22-mile journey would take you around 45 minutes to complete.

The ferry on Tates Creek Road is heavily used by folks traveling between Lexington and Richmond.

Captain Embly says it's not uncommon for someone to end up at the ferry, be surprised by what they're seeing, and need some extra help.

When 75 is backed up, they come down, and they think there's going to be a bridge, and it's a ferry.

Sometimes they get a little bit nervous, and you have to say, “All right, would you prefer that we drive your vehicle onto the ferry for you?”

Driving a vehicle onto a moving platform is not exactly what they planned to do that day.

So, sometimes they're so surprised we have to drive the vehicle on for them.

Weather is definitely a complicating factor for the operation.

Ice poses a significant hazard.

Flooding not only causes water to rise to unsafe levels, but debris in the water is also dangerous.

All this begs the question, the one Captain Embly says he gets asked all the time, why not just build a bridge here?

So, what you would have to do, you'd have to elevate the land such that it would never flood, and then you'd have to have major bridge piers similar to what we have at the I-75 bridge.

Hundreds of millions of dollars to build, millions of dollars just to maintain.

It just makes economic sense to have a ferry.

As for the future of the John Craig II, a new larger boat and barge are hopefully on the horizon.

The paddle wheel will be gone, replaced by a conventional propeller.

Even the access roads to the ferry will be widened, so 18-wheelers can turn around if they mistakenly end up at the site.

It's all in anticipation of Kentucky's oldest continually operating business becoming even more busy.

Jessamine, Fayette, and Madison counties are all growing toward the Kentucky River, and that means more cars will need to cross.

With the improvements, Captain Embly says the wait and crossing time will be reduced to that of a regular traffic light.

The boat makes this back-and-forth journey between 220 and 270 times a day.

But for Captain Embly and his crew, they are part of everyday life for many of the 17,000-plus people they serve each month.

They see them on their way to work each morning and on their way home.

They see them going to visit loved ones and on their way to mark life's milestones.

In that short two minutes it takes to cross, they grow a sense of community.

You do find yourselves going to funerals.

You do find yourself sending a wedding gift.

You do find yourself giving congratulations at graduations.

You see babies born.

You see them come home from the hospital.

Or you see them getting their learner's permit.

It's definitely a community down here.

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