Great Dismal Swamp Enjoyed for Beauty, History
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The Great Dismal Swamp‚ a unique natural wonder‚ is actually the site of mystery‚ history and recreation that attracts thousands of people each year.
Many of these visitors start at the Welcome Center located on the banks of the Dismal Swamp Canal. The facility is open 24 hours a day and is the only Welcome Center in the continental United States that’s accessible by both a major highway and a historic waterway. The center offers information on everything from swamp history to local fauna‚ and can make lodging and North Carolina Ferry System reservations.
The swamp‚ thought to have been discovered by Colonel William Byrd in the 1700s‚ played a role in the Civil War and in early trade. The country’s oldest surviving man-made waterway‚ the canal is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“When Colonel Byrd said this was a ‘vast bog of dirt and nastiness – a dismal place to be‚’ he couldn’t have envisioned the swamp today‚” says Judy Price‚ who has worked at the Welcome Center for 17 years.
A new 4.5-mile stretch of trail meandering along the 22-mile Dismal Swamp Canal opened at the Welcome Center in summer 2005 for hikers‚ bicyclists and birdwatchers. Many people bring their own equipment‚ and the center has four bicycles for visitors to borrow.
“It’s been amazing how many people are using the trail already‚” says Penny Leary-Smith‚ Welcome Center director. “We’ve heard a lot of compliments from people excited about the trail opening.”
Other popular activities here include boating and viewing the more than 200 species of birds‚ as well as animals and reptiles. Poets have found inspiration‚ and escaped slaves and convicts have sought refuge amid the swamp’s tea-colored waters. Edgar Allen Poe is said to have penned The Raven after a visit here. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Harriet Beecher Stowe both wrote anti-slavery works set in the Dismal Swamp. Robert Frost’s experience here convinced him to cast away thoughts of suicide‚ and Thomas Moore’s 1846 A Ballad of the Lake of the Dismal Swamp encouraged local legends that continue to be retold.
Visiting the swamp‚ you can feel its intrigue – what has kept visitors coming for centuries. A gnarled‚ bald cypress along Lake Drummond’s edge is said to be a deer that once turned itself into a tree to avoid pursuers. Sometimes an Indian maid is said to be seen paddling a ghostly white canoe across the lake.
Witnesses have also reported strange lights in the swamp in the dead of night. Experts tell us this is “foxfire‚” a luminescence given off by the decaying of wood by certain fungi. Perhaps‚ but the Great Dismal Swamp isn’t one to divulge its secrets.
Story by Kari K. Ridge
Photo by Stephen Cherry
