In 1962 the ferry that tied Gee's Bend to Camden stopped running. The date is the one ALDOT gives; the reason, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama, is that county officials cut the service as one of many ways of keeping Black residents of the bend from registering to vote. The official explanation at the time was that the boat was needed elsewhere on the river. Hollis Curl, who later edited Camden's newspaper, admitted to CBS News in 2006 that he had wanted it shut to keep civil-rights activists out of town. Gee's Bend sits inside a deep loop of the Alabama River, and without the boat the county seat, a short crossing away, became a long drive round.
It stayed that way for forty-four years. In the early 1990s Curl, by then an advocate for the crossing, ran a front-page editorial calling for its return after watching a house burn on the far bank where the fire trucks could not reach it; Congressman Earl Hilliard secured federal money, and on September 18, 2006 a new ferry began carrying cars between Camden and Gee's Bend. ALDOT owns the service and City Ferry, part of the Hornblower group, runs it under contract.
Today it makes five round trips a day, costs $3 for a car and driver, and takes 15 to 18 minutes. Since 2019 it has done so on electric power, and ALDOT calls it the first all-electric passenger and vehicle ferry in the United States.
Up to five sailings each way, and a Sunday that starts at 08:10
Monday to Saturday
| From Camden ferry landing | From Gee's Bend ferry landing |
|---|---|
| 06:40 | 07:00 |
| 08:10 | 08:30 |
| 11:40 | 12:00 |
| 14:25 | 14:45 |
| 16:45 | 17:00 |
Sunday
| From Camden ferry landing | From Gee's Bend ferry landing |
|---|---|
| 08:10 | 08:30 |
| 11:40 | 12:00 |
| 14:25 | 14:45 |
| 16:45 | 17:00 |
Ferry schedule as published by the operator, read on September 24, 2026; the table carries no effective date or season Gee's Bend Ferry — Ferry Schedule · 2026-09-24
Three dollars for the car, a dollar a head after that
The fare is a toll by vehicle, with people added on top. A car, pickup or van with its driver costs $3, every extra passenger $1, and children under 12 ride free. Those three figures are also the ones ALDOT quotes, and the car and extra-passenger fares are the same as when paid crossings began in October 2006. Walk-ons pay a dollar, and the pedestrian fare covers a bicycle.
Larger vehicles pay more. The operator lists motorcycles, motor homes, and trailers or boats separately; those rates appear only on its own ticket page. It does not say whether cards are accepted.
| Car, pickup or van with driver | $ 3 |
| Motorcycle with rider | $ 2 |
| Motor home with driver | $ 10 |
| Trailer or boat | $ 10 |
| Each additional passenger | $ 1 |
| Pedestrian, adult (bicycle included) | $ 1 |
| Children under 12 | Free |
Ticket prices as published by the operator and read on September 24, 2026, with no effective date Gee's Bend Ferry — Ticket Prices · 2026-09-24
Ellis Landing Road in Camden, County Road 29 in Gee's Bend
Both ramps belong to Wilcox County, according to the federal terminal dataset, and ALDOT says the boat recharges at charging stations on each.
Camden ferry landing
From Camden the operator sends drivers up State Road 28, heading north; the ferry turn is a right onto Ellis Landing Road, and the ramp comes after roughly three-quarters of a mile. It is roughly a mile and a half east of the Welcome Center at 1001 Earl Hilliard Boulevard, the address the operator itself gives.
In the federal ferry-terminal dataset this ramp is recorded as Hollis Curl Landing, under the name of the Camden newspaper editor whose part in the story runs from one end to the other (see below). The dataset lists no parking here; the operator does not describe any either.
Gee's Bend ferry landing
On the north bank the ramp is at the end of County Road 29, inside the loop of the river that gives Gee's Bend its name; the operator's page calls it State Road 29, but Census road maps and the Encyclopedia of Alabama both have it as a county road. The ramps are not opposite each other: the Gee's Bend landing is downriver, which is why the trip runs longer than the river is wide.
The quilters of Gee's Bend usually gather at the Boykin Nutrition Center on weekday mornings and early afternoons, Mondays through Thursdays. ALDOT adds that the old cable ferry is on display at the Gee's Bend Nutrition Center, a short drive from the landing.
About two miles of the Alabama River, downstream to Boykin
ALDOT gives the trip as just over two miles and 15 to 18 minutes, depending on the current. The landings are well under a mile apart in a straight line, but the Gee's Bend ramp sits downriver of Camden's, so the boat runs down the river as much as across it. Camden is on the south bank; Gee's Bend lies inside the bend on the north side.
Without the boat, getting from one to the other means going the long way round the loop of the river by road, which is the whole reason the ferry mattered. It is the only one of the Southern crossings on this site that runs on electricity. Illinois keeps a river ferry of its own going at Kampsville, on the Illinois River, where the state charges nothing and the boat never stops for the night.
Fitting a Gee's Bend visit around the sailings
- Gaps of up to three and a half hours
The midday break between the 08:10 and the 11:40 from Camden is the longest of the day. Plan the return before you cross.
- No early boat on Sunday
The 06:40 from Camden and the 07:00 back run Monday to Saturday only. Sunday service starts at 08:10.
- The quilters keep weekday hours
They usually meet at the Boykin Nutrition Center between 8:30 in the morning and 1:30 in the afternoon, Mondays to Thursdays, though the operator and the state tourism department both say it can vary.
- Cancellations appear on Facebook
Dropped runs are announced on the ferry's Facebook page. The website's alert banner was not working at the last check.
- Children under 12 are free
Only the driver and passengers aged 12 and over pay. A carload costs $3 plus $1 for each extra paying rider.
- A welcome center on the Camden side
The Welcome Center at 1001 Earl Hilliard Boulevard is about a mile and a half west of the Camden ramp, on the way in from town.
Plantation, farm project, voting rights and quilts
Joseph Gee arrived from North Carolina in 1816 and set up a plantation on the north side of the bend with enslaved people he brought with him; in 1845 his nephews sold it to a relative, Mark H. Pettway, which is why Pettway is still the commonest surname in the community. In 1937 the federal government bought the old plantation land and the Farm Security Administration created Gee's Bend Farms, selling land and houses to local families, while FSA photographers such as Marion Post Wolcott documented the place. In 1949 the new post office was given the name Boykin, against the wishes of most residents; the ferry landing is still in Boykin on the map.
The ferry's closure came before the voting-rights campaign reached its height here, not after it. When Martin Luther King Jr. came to Wilcox County in February 1965, Black residents made up almost 80 percent of its population and not one was registered to vote; on February 16 he spoke to about 300 people at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Gee's Bend. At his funeral in Atlanta in April 1968, according to the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, his coffin was drawn by two mules from Gee's Bend.
The quilts made the place famous far beyond Alabama. The Freedom Quilting Bee, founded in March 1966, was based in nearby Rehoboth and Alberta rather than in Gee's Bend itself, a distinction the Encyclopedia of Alabama takes care to make. The Gee's Bend quilters became known nationally in 2002, when The Quilts of Gee's Bend opened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and traveled on to the Whitney Museum in New York; the Gee's Bend Quilters' Collective followed in 2003.
Diesel engines out, batteries in, since 2019
What visitors ask about the Camden–Gee's Bend boat
Why did Gee's Bend lose its ferry?
The service ended in 1962, according to ALDOT. The Encyclopedia of Alabama says county officials discontinued it as one of many efforts to stop Black residents from registering to vote; the explanation given at the time was that the boat was needed elsewhere on the river.
Did the ferry close because of Martin Luther King Jr.'s visit?
No. The closure dates to 1962, and King spoke in Gee's Bend on February 16, 1965, three years later. The two events belong to the same struggle over voting rights in Wilcox County, but the ferry was already gone when he came.
When does Sunday service begin?
The 08:10 from Camden, returning from Gee's Bend at 08:30. The 06:40 and 07:00 departures run Monday to Saturday only; the rest of the day, 11:40, 14:25 and 16:45 from Camden, is the same all week.
What would four people in one car pay?
$3.00 for the car and driver plus $1.00 for each additional passenger aged 12 or over, so $6.00 if all four are adults and $4.00 if two of them are children under 12.
Where are cancelled runs announced?
On the ferry's Facebook page, which is where the operator posts same-day changes. ALDOT has issued no notice about the ferry in 2025 or 2026, and the website's own alert system was not displaying anything when checked.
Do walkers and cyclists pay too?
Yes. An adult pedestrian pays $1.00 and the pedestrian fare includes a bicycle. Children under 12 ride free.
Is the boat really electric?
Yes. The ferry started out with diesel engines and was converted to battery power with a $1.09 million federal Diesel Emissions Reduction Act grant awarded in 2017. It returned to service in April 2019 after eleven months out of service, and it recharges at both ramps.
Can I meet the quilters after crossing?
Often, on weekdays. The quilters of Gee's Bend usually gather at the Boykin Nutrition Center from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, though both the ferry operator and the state tourism department say the hours can vary.