Five miles southwest of here on the James River, Hatton Ferry began operating in the 1870s. James A. Brown established the ferry and a store on land first rented and then purchased from S.P. Gantt in 1881. In 1883, when a post office was approved for the store, it was named Hatton for the young federal postal official who signed the authorizing documents. The ferry is one of only two poled ferries still functioning in the continental United States.