The Gloucester Ferry
Gloucester being located on a the Delaware River where the river turns north towards Philadelphia made it an ideal location for a wherry or ferry crossing between Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
The first ferry was licensed in 1688.
The ferry service ran until 1923 when the Gloucester Ferry Company shut down due to the pending opening of the Ben Franklin Bridge which runs from Camden NJ to Philadelphia.
The narrow part of the Delaware at Gloucester would be selected as the location for a major suspension bridge in the 1950's, today that bridge is the Walt Whitman.
Sylvan Dell
Sylvan Glen
Gloucester Ferry Company Terminal
Example of a Teamboat
1920 Fire destroyed the grand Ferry House building
The ferry business was beginning to wane and although a smaller less impressive building was built to the replace the ferry house, the Gloucester Ferry shut down for good in 1923.
The Ben Franklin Bridge would open in 1926 and the Camden based ferries provided more direct routes between Philadelphia and southern New Jersey.