In 1766 John Dix established his ferry approximately three miles south of here on the Dan River. During the American Revolution, in February 1781, the ferry was a strategic site in Gen. Nathanael Greene’s “race to the Dan,” the pursuit of Greene to the Dan River in Virginia by British Gen. Charles Cornwallis. The ferry also transported troops and supplies for Greene’s army in his actions against Cornwallis at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. In 1791 President George Washington crossed the Dan River on the ferry as he returned from his 1,887-mile southern tour.