The Ironton Ferry's 100th Season Is Down to Its Last Crossings

The oldest part of the Ironton crossing is the easiest to keep going. The Charlevoix, the cable ferry that carries cars across the narrows of Lake Charlevoix's South Arm, was built in 1926 at the Johnston Brothers yard in Ferrysburg. According to Boatnerd, it has been in consistent operation since June of that year. In 2026 it set a one-day traffic record, passed its Coast Guard inspection, and was celebrated for its hundredth year. The harder problem sits on shore. The loading ramps at either end of the crossing now cost more to repair than the available grants cover, and their historic status is slowing the work down.

That is how the centennial season ends. The ferry is still running and the shoreline it docks against still needs work.

A Boat That Was Built in a Few Months

A ferry has run between these two points since 1878. The first one could carry a single wagon and its team of horses. The Charlevoix replaced a line of earlier boats, and it went up fast. Boatnerd reports that construction took only a few months. The Johnston yard had stopped building ships a decade earlier after a fire in June 1916, so the ferry was a special project, and Johnston won it with the lowest bid.

The yard built 71 documented hulls in total. The Charlevoix is the youngest active one and one of 11 that still exist in some form.

The design explains why it has lasted. The ferry has no rudder. Two cables guide it across, and they run 25 feet below the surface so other boats can pass over them. Each trip carries four cars. That simple setup also gave the crossing its best-known story. In 1936, Ripley's "Believe It or Not" profiled Captain Sam Alexander, who had traveled 15,000 miles without ever being more than 1,000 feet from his own home. Visit Charlevoix puts his total at about 30,000 miles by the time he retired in 1941.

The 2026 Season, Meeting by Meeting

The monthly minutes of the Charlevoix County Transportation Authority tell this season's story better than any ribbon-cutting. The boat itself needed routine fixes, and the open items kept landing on the shore.

1. April 14. The authority directed that the ferry not open until its fuel line was properly repaired. The Road Commission could not finish the planned maintenance before the April 15 target, so the coordinator proposed calling another vendor.
2. May 12. Transportation Coordinator Joe Kroll reported oil and filter changes, ramp adjustments, a line replacement, a working pilothouse generator, and a repaired emergency shutoff. The ferry was carrying about 200 cars a day, and deckhands were due to start that Friday.
3. July 14. The ferry hit a record of 574 cars in one day. A deckhand finished captain's training and was set to move into the captain's role. Fuel had dropped to $3.92 a gallon.
4. August 11. The ferry passed its Coast Guard inspection. The new sign had arrived, fuel was $4.23 a gallon, and a meeting with Machin and MDOT about the ramps was on the calendar.
5. September 8. Ferry Captain Bob Goodenough presented a tentative agenda for the centennial and rechristening. The signs were up, and a cable replacement had been pushed back because of weather.
6. September 12. Boatnerd reported that the hundredth anniversary was observed at Ironton. The authority had planned the evening at The Landing, with a sign unveiling, a rechristening, and $500 approved for food.

The record day shows how hard the old boat works. Each load holds four cars, so moving 574 cars in a day takes at least 144 trips. The county's posted hours of 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. give 15 hours of service, which works out to roughly ten crossings an hour when the boat runs full. Each crossing takes five minutes, so on that July day the ferry spent most of its working hours going back and forth. That is about three times the roughly 200 cars a day it was carrying in May.

What the Rechristening Left Unfinished

The ramp question came up in July. MDOT had told the authority that three of the four grants tied to the work would expire within a year. By the September 8 meeting the numbers had moved the wrong way. The minutes, included in the county's October 15 Transportation Authority packet, record it plainly:

"A discussion with MDOT determined that the cost for work to the loading ramps has increased significantly; not enough grant money to cover it. Biggest hold up is the historic significance of the ramps."

The same minutes say the coordinator was still waiting on figures and would prefer small updates over a complete rebuild.

The ramps' age is part of what makes the crossing special, and it also complicates every repair. The October packet includes a letter from the State Historic Preservation Office about dock maintenance at the ferry. The office agreed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that the work would have no adverse effect, on three conditions: a silt curtain in the water, keeping the eastern staging and access area intact, and a plan for anything unexpected found during the work. Machin Engineering was copied on the letter. The October agenda also listed a proposed resolution on a 2027 to 2031 master agreement with MDOT, which would let the authority's chair sign funding agreements and project authorizations, along with a deckhand application.

So after a century, the hull is getting its gauges fixed and its cables replaced on a normal maintenance schedule. The ramps carry the same historic significance the centennial celebrated, and that is where the money and the approvals have stalled.

The Last Weeks of Crossings

Charlevoix County says the ferry generally runs from mid-April through mid-November. Visit Charlevoix gives the usual last day as the day before Thanksgiving, which this year is Wednesday, November 25. Check the county's ferry page before planning a late-season trip.

Here are the county's posted fares for the rest of the season:

The ferry takes cash or Token Transit only. Passes are sold through the app and at the County Treasurer's Office. The 31-day pass costs the same as 15 single rides. It was a better deal in July than it is now, with about two weeks of service left before the usual closing day.

The narrows sit about 6 miles south of Charlevoix and 9 miles from both East Jordan and Boyne City. Two events on the calendar fall during the ferry's final week of service:

• Thursday, November 19, 4 to 7 p.m. East Jordan's Small Business Thursday Shopping Night, listed on the East Jordan chamber calendar.
• Saturday, November 21, 4 to 7 p.m. "A Celtic Holiday," featuring Switchback, at Castle Farms in Charlevoix.

The Visit Charlevoix events calendar lists Charlevoix's Holiday Parade and Tree Lighting at 400 Bridge St. on Friday, November 27. That is two days after the ferry's usual closing day. If the boat keeps to its pattern, anyone coming from the Boyne City or East Jordan side will drive around the south end of the lake. Boatnerd says the five-minute crossing saves about 30 minutes of driving.

The Landing, the waterfront restaurant next to the ferry in Ironton Cove, treats Labor Day through Memorial Day as its off-season for private events. That puts this centennial November on the quieter side of its calendar.

As of the September 8 minutes, the authority was still waiting on MDOT's cost figures for the ramps. In July, MDOT said three of the four grants for that work would expire within a year.

The ferry is one of those details that shapes daily life on Lake Charlevoix, from which side of the narrows you live on to how long the drive takes once it stops for the winter. If you're thinking about property on either shore and want to know how the crossing fits into your routine, Coldwell Banker Fairbairn Realty can walk you through it. When you're ready, get a free home valuation and we'll start the conversation there.