The Valley View Ferry has operated since 1785, making it the oldest continuously operating business in Kentucky and perhaps the oldest ferry in America. It was chartered near the community of Valley View, a thriving river town that at the time was larger than Lexington. From 1888 to 1932, the Richmond-Nicholasville-Irvine-Beattyville Railroad, RNIB, crossed the Kentucky River near this point, and the remains of its support structures are still visible just downstream.