History
Scientists believe the Great Dismal Swamp was created when the continental shelf made its last big shift. The swamp consists mainly of peat and water. The origin of Lake Drummond, one of only two natural lakes in Virginia, is not entirely clear. Native American legends tell of a giant "firebird" that made a nest of fire in the swamp; the nest later filled with rain.
There is archaeological evidence that 13,000 years ago, people lived in the swamp. In 1650, there were Native Americans in the Great Dismal Swamp, but white immigrants showed little interest. In 1665, William Drummond, the first governor of North Carolina, discovered the lake, which was subsequently named for him. In 1728, William Byrd II, while leading a land survey to establish a boundary between the Virginia and North Carolina colonies, made many observations of the swamp, none of them favorable. He is credited with naming it the Dismal Swamp. In 1763, George Washington visited the area, and he and others founded the Dismal Swamp Company, a venture to drain the swamp and clear it for settlement. Later the company turned to the more profitable goal of timber harvesting.
We also know that several African American maroon societies lived in the Great Dismal Swamp during early American history. These Great Dismal Swamp maroons consisted of runaway black slaves who were seeking safety and liberty.
The Dismal Swamp Canal was authorized by Virginia in 1787 and by North Carolina in 1790. Construction began in 1793 and was completed in 1805. The canal, and a railroad constructed through part of the swamp in 1830, permitted timber to be harvested. The canal deteriorated after the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal was completed in 1858, but in 1929 the U. S. Government bought the Dismal Swamp Canal and began to improve it. It is now the oldest operating artificial waterway in the country. Like the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, it is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.
At one point the Great Dismal Swamp was home to a settlement of escaped slaves. Its role in the history of slavery in the United States is reflected in Harriet Beecher Stowe's second novel, Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp. A permanent exhibit of fugitive slave life will be established in the Fall of 2011 documenting recent archeological finds.
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