Near Site of Lodi Ferry

The ferry's rules are better documented than the ferry itself. By 1877 Wilson County required ferrymen to post a $1,000 bond, and on November 20, 1878, the state chartered the Lodi Ferry and Bridge Company. The boat was probably about forty feet long and fifteen wide. Tolls ran from five cents for someone on foot to twenty-five cents for a wagon and team. No record fixes the day of the last crossing; free bridges, and later a concrete one at FM 536, simply made the flatboat unnecessary.

What the plaque says

Near Site of Lodi Ferry European settlement of this area dates to the early 18th century with the establishment of missions in San Antonio, and missions herdsmen used this area as grazing land for livestock. Until the late 19th century, traveleres in this county crossed the San Antonio River at natural fords, with no bridges or other means to traverse the stream. In 1871, the Wilson County Commissioners Court declared the need for a ferry and decided to grant any potential ferryman a waiver of licensing fees for the first five years, as well as the ability to charge the highest fee allowable by state law. Nemencio de la Zerda, II owned land along the river near the mouth of Chiver Creek. He started a ferry operation on the east bank of the river at the community of Lodi, about one mile north of Floresville's center. De la Zerda, a Confederate veteran and area native, was active in his community, serving as Lodi's justice of the peace, as well as county sheriff and tax collector. Family tradition holds that near his boat he hung a bell that travelers would ring when they wanted to cross. The community of Lodi developed along the Old San Antonio-La Bahia Road, which brought a steady flow of commerce to the area, and the ferry provided a way for traders to haul their wares across the river. The de la Zerda family sold the ferry business in 1877 to W.W. Payne, and it later passed to Vicente J. Carvajal. In 1886, the county built a free bridge nearby across the river, and over time, travelers ceased using the ferry that had once provided local residents and travelers vital transportation access. (2006)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mission Espada and the Espada Aqueduct — 21 mi
  The southernmost San Antonio mission and the oldest Spanish aqueduct in the United States, still carrying river water over Sixmile Creek to the fields after nearly three centuries.
• Longhorn Museum — 21 mi
  Atascosa County in one roadside museum: longhorn-and-mustang ranching, a moved railroad depot and caboose, a horse-drawn hearse and the town that calls itself the birthplace of the cowboy.
• Panna Maria — 21 mi
  The Silesian village on a plateau above the San Antonio River that claims the oldest permanent Polish settlement in America, with a church of 1878 and a ceiling found again in 2000.
• Mission San Juan — 22 mi
  The mission near the river bend where the San Antonio got its name in 1691, with an unfinished church foundation and farm fields still watered by an eighteenth-century acequia.

More markers nearby

• Rancho de Pataguilla — steps away
• Site of Old Town: Lodi — 0.7 mi
• Cemetery of Canary Islanders — 1.1 mi
• Captain Will Wright — 1.2 mi