The prime location across Admiralty Inlet from Port Townsend meant a steady flow of travelers and income for the three Ebey children.

With no other nearby accommodations, the Inn — which housed a post office, a tavern, and rooms for overnight guests — quickly became an important place for sailors and other travelers to rest before continuing their journeys to Coupeville, Whidbey Island, La Conner, Washington, and points further north.

The Ferry House became part of the 17,500-acre (71 km2) Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve created in 1978 to protect the rural working landscape and community on Central Whidbey Island.

The structure is a 1+1⁄2-story vernacular residence with Greek Revival elements, clapboard siding, a wood-shingled gable roof, and a gable-roofed dormer on the north facade.

Wallpaper on several interior walls of the Ferry House, as well as the front door, was added by a film crew in 1998 for the scenes in the 1999 movie Snow Falling On Cedars.

[5] On Sunday, May 2, 2010, the National Park Service unlocked the doors of the old Inn for an open house as part of the Seattle-Puget Sound Partners in Preservation Initiative.