Hatton Ferry began operation in 1870, when Buckingham County ordered construction of a public ferry across the James River to Thomas P. Gantt's Albemarle County land near Totier Creek, linking Buckingham County traffic to the James River and Kanawha Canal. In December 1873, Gantt sold riverfront property and ferry rights to James A. Brown, who established a store there, but opposition from Buckingham-side landowners led Buckingham County to order the ferry closed in January 1874. Brown then moved his store and ferry upstream near lock 24 of the canal, where the site became known as Brown's, Brown's Store, or Brown's Landing and developed into a transportation hub where river, rail, and road traffic met. The Richmond and Allegheny Railroad established a stop there in 1881, Albemarle County authorized a public road to Brown's Landing in 1883, and a U.S. Post Office soon opened at Brown's Store under the name Hatton, honoring Assistant Postmaster General Frank Hatton because another post office already used the name Brown's. By the late 1890s, the ferry had also become known as Hatton Ferry. After Brown's death in 1896, his daughter Cora and her husband Edwin Raine continued the business, and in 1914 J.B. Tindall purchased the store, surrounding land, and ferry operation. The Tindall family managed the ferry until 1940, when they deeded it to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Passenger rail service at Hatton continued until 1950, and the U.S. Post Office operated until 1973. Damage from Hurricane Agnes in 1972 and operating costs nearly ended the ferry, but in 2009 the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society and citizens of Albemarle and Buckingham Counties began efforts to save it, and in 2010 the society gained formal ownership and established the nonprofit Hatton Ferry, enabling continued operation of what is now the only remaining poled ferry in the United States.
