Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Ferries have always played a vital role to the residents and visitors of Eastern North Carolina. The first ferries began in the mid-1920s when Captain J.B.(Toby)Tillett established a tug and barge service across Oregon Inlet along North Carolina''s Outer Banks. In 1934, the North Carolina Highway Commission recognized the importance of this service to residents and began subsidizing Tillett''s business. These subsidies kept tolls at an affordable level. In 1942, the Highway Commission began full reimbursement to eliminate the tolls. Tillett was fully subsidized until 1950 when his business was sold to the state. In 1947, the Commission purchased the ferry operations of T.A. Baum, who operated a route that ran across Croatan Sound and linked Manns Harbor and Roanoke Island. This became the first route of the N.C. Ferry System.