In November of 1683, Talbot County established a ferry service for “horses and men” that continues to be the oldest privately owned, continuously operated ferry in America. For 25,000 lbs. of tobacco a year, Richard Royston was charged with operating the Oxford-Bellevue Ferry – which crosses the Tred Avon River – linking the towns of Bellevue and Oxford, Maryland. Operation of the ferry has evolved throughout the decades. In its early years, the ferry was…