From a private island ferry off the North Carolina coast to a state-contracted river crossing in Alabama and a free cable ferry in Virginia.
The three Southern crossings on this site share little beyond the fact that each one stands in for a road that is not there. Bald Head Island, off Southport in North Carolina, keeps most engines off its streets, so a private ferry regulated by the state Utilities Commission carries almost everyone, with bags checked much as at an airport and a tram waiting at the island marina. Gee's Bend, in a loop of the Alabama River, lost its boat to Camden in 1962, in what the Encyclopedia of Alabama describes as an effort to stop Black residents registering to vote, and got a new one from ALDOT in 2006.
Virginia's Merry Point Ferry is the smallest of the three: a cable-guided VDOT boat over the western end of the Corrotoman, with one operator, a midday lunch break and no service on Sundays or Mondays. The fares tell them apart as well. Gee's Bend charges by the car, Bald Head Island sells a round trip with the tram included, and Merry Point, under a Virginia act of 1847, charges nothing at all.
| Bald Head Island ferry: Deep Point to a golf-cart island, bags and tram included | Passenger ferry | $23.00, tram included |
| Gee's Bend ferry: the Alabama River boat a county took away and the state brought back | Vehicle ferry | $3.00 |
| Merry Point Ferry: six passengers, 16 tons and a lunch break | Cable ferry | Free |