STERLING, Va. (WDVM) — The historic White’s Ferry has been purchased after shutting down in December due to a decade-long legal battle about their Virginia landing.

“White’s Ferry represents a piece of our region’s past as an early commerce route that built and sustained local economies and remains so today,” Chuck Kuhn, founder and CEO of JK Moving Services, said in a statement.

This ferry was the last of around 100 ferries that made this trip across the Potomac. It was used by commuters and tourists alike before the previous owners announced its closing.

This purchase was finalized on February 11 and includes the ferry, the store and the Maryland shoreline where the landing is located. A release said that they are currently working on repairs and replacing cables to fix the ferry after it had been damaged by a storm in December.

The release said that they are working on purchasing the contentious landing site in Virginia or negotiate a permanent easement with Rockland Farm, the current landowners, to avoid future disputes. The ferry could be operational a few days after an agreement is made in Virginia.

“The previous owners of White’s Ferry have done a remarkable job serving the community,” Kuhn said in the release. “They have sold the ferry with the hopes that we would have a better chance of opening the ferry than he did.

The release said that Kuhn and his family have contributed to the area in more ways, including:

• Purchasing Westpark with the intention of placing 135 of those acres into a conservation easement for a park and to protect the open space from future development;
• Partnering with Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy to buy and place into conservation easement an 87-acre parcel of land in northern Loudoun County called Stumptown Woods that has more native species of plants and wildlife indigenous to Loudoun and Virginia than is typical;
• Starting the JK Community Farm, a charitable effort designed to alleviate hunger by growing and harvesting crops and livestock and donating them to local food banks, on 150 acres of conserved land in Purcellville;
• Buying the historic Middleburg Training Center, which was placed into a conservation easement and is now fully renovated;
• Purchasing and placing several thousand acres near Loudoun’s historic villages into easement, including Egypt Farm–which had been previously owned by developers, the historic Wolver Hill farm in Middleburg, and recently three farms outside the town of Waterford.