Business & Tech
Family Keeps The Davis Park Ferry Afloat
For 60 years, Sherman's have shuttled day-cationers across the Patchogue Bay.
If you want to get to Davis Park, you'll need a boat ... or the Sherman family.
Since 1947, the Sherman's have operated the Davis Park Ferry Co., which shuttles people across the Great South Bay to the cozy beachfront community on Fire Island. It's a day-cation many Patchogue residents enjoy.
Stefanie Sherman, co-owner of the company her parents, Fred and Kiki Sherman, founded more 60 years ago with just two small wooden boats, today operates a fleet of seven, including six ferries and a freight boat. The boats, from a small one that carries 49 passengers, to the largest that holds 298, run a full year schedule traveling to Davis Park and also Watch Hill, a smaller community operated by the National Park Service's Fire Island National Seashore.
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"We run in all kinds of weather," said Stephanie, a certified ferry captain. "I can remember only once or twice we cancelled."
Like clockwork, the different boats leave the Patchogue terminal, beginning daily at 7:30 a.m., with expanded service during the summer and on weekends. When summer comes, Davis Park beaches fill as quickly as the ferries, but reservations are never needed. "If the line is getting too long to fit on the boat, we'll just pull another boat up," Stephanie said.
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The Town of Brookhaven operates a marina at Davis Park, as does the National Park Service at Watch Hill, destinations that are very popular with South Shore boaters. Both small towns offer bathroom facilities and showers, as well as small general stores and restaurants.
The ferry ride across Patchogue Bay takes 20 minutes, but that doesn't mean the boat putters along. The whole trip is 8 miles long. The ferries offer interior seats or more scenic views on the open-air second deck.
But operating a ferry company isn't smooth sailing for the Sherman's, especially with rising gas prices.
"Fuel prices are just outrageous," said Stephanie, "but we have found ways to cut back consumption. When possible we use our smaller boats. We run slower on a "Deadhead" run - their slang for a run with no passengers aboard. Last year we cut consumption by 20,000 gallons."
As for Davis Park, to beachfront is sporting renovated rest room facilities this year, a barbecue area for the visiting public and the reopening of The Casino, a restaurant and bar that dates back to the 1940s. A few years ago, the ocean washed the entire structure away, but it was rebuilt exactly as it was.
