Wittow Ferry

The Wittow Ferry (German: Wittower Fähre) is a ferry service for foot passengers and vehicles (up to a total weight of 30 t each) from the heart of the German Baltic Sea island of Rügen, the Muttland, to the peninsula of Wittow to the north. It has also given its name to the parish of Wittower Fähre in the municipality of Wiek. This lies on the Rassower Strom at the tip of the tongue of land between the lagoons of Wieker Bodden and Breetzer Bodden on its northern shore. On the southern shore the ferry landing stage is located between the villages of Vaschvitz and Fischersiedlung in the municipality of Trent.

When the water surface of the bodden freezes over in severe winters, this narrows in the channel to and from the Großer Jasmunder Bodden, which is about 350 metres wide, is the last stretch of water to remain open and is a refuge for numerous water fowl.

By the Middle Ages it was common for boats to cross at this point. Because the coastline of Rügen is so deeply incised, alternative detours by land were very long. Moreover, the dyke between Großen Jasmunder Bodden and the Kleiner Jasmunder Bodden near Lietzow was not built until 1868, so that the land route as far as the Schmale Heide (Prora) was not practicable.

Not until the opening of the 37.9 km long 750-mm narrow gauge railway line from Bergen via Trent, Wittow Ferry and Wiek to Altenkirchen of the Rügen Light Railway (RüKB) d on 21 December 1896 was there a regular and capable ferry service. For decades, two ferry boats, the Wittow and the Bergen, that had been built in 1896 and 1911 in Stettin, transported three wagons or (on request) a steam locomotive across. Normally only goods wagons were carried; passengers had to change.

...
Wikipedia