The South Ferry Company, Inc., locally referred to as the South Ferry or simply South Ferry, is a year-round public ferry service between Shelter Island and North Haven on Long Island, New York. With the similar North Ferry service to Greenport, It forms part of New York State Route 114, which also carries New York State Bicycle Route 114.
History
The service that would become the modern company began in the 1790s, though various forms of informal ferry service had existed in the area for centuries beforehand.
In 1830, Samuel G. Clark, who had already been operating an informal service there for some time, officially founded a company through which he could run the ferry.
The first decades of the company are not well-documented, but the Clark family has owned the company continuously since at least 1845, making it possibly the oldest continuously family-owned ferry service in the United States.
In 1906, the company was formally incorpoated under New York State law.
In 2022, the company was added to the New York State Historic Business Preservation Registry (HBPR).
Current operations
, the route is served by 4-6 departures per direction per hour. The ferry runs 18 hours a day in the winter and 19 hours a day in the summer, 365 days a year.
In April 2025, the Shelter Island Reporter estimated that the route carries 1.25 million passengers and 750,000 vehicles annually.
Fleet
Current
+ Vessel name Builder Delivered Status Capt. Bill Clark Muir Brothers Drydock (Port Dalhousie, Ontario) 1951 Reserve Lt. Joe Theinert Chesapeake Shipbuilding (Salisbury, Maryland) 1998 Active Sunrise Blount Boats (Warren, Rhode Island) 2002 Active Southside (recently renamed Capt. Nick Morehead) Blount Boats (Warren, Rhode Island) 2009 Active Southern Cross Blount Boats (Warren, Rhode Island) 2020 Active
Past
+ Vessel Name Delivered Decommissioned Capt. Ed Cartwright 1960 2008 North Haven 1959 2008
See also
North Ferry Cross Sound Ferry Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry
References