Dismal Swamp

Dismal Swamp SE Va. and NE N.C. With dense forests and tangled undergrowth, it is a favorite site for sportsmen and naturalists. It once may have covered nearly 2,200 sq mi (5,700 sq km) but has been reduced by drainage to less than 600 sq mi (1,550 sq km). The swamp bottom is composed of organic material deposited by fallen trees and other vegetation. Its forests still contain valuable timber, despite the lumbering and fires that have plagued the area. Dismal Swamp was surveyed in 1763 by George Washington, who was a member of a company organized to drain it. A canal 22 mi (36 km) long, which is part of the Intracoastal Waterway , was completed in 1828 and connects Chesapeake Bay with Albemarle Sound. Lake Drummond, c.3 mi (4.8 km) in diameter, in the center of the swamp, is its highest elevation. The swamp is the scene of Harriet Beecher Stowe 's novel Dred.

Dismal Swamp, on the coast of southeast Virginia and northeast North Carolina, was formerly extensive and almost impenetrable. William Byrd describes it in his History of the Dividing Line. It is the setting of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Dred and is frequently mentioned in literature as a refuge for the fugitive slave, e.g. Longfellow's The Slave in the Dismal Swamp.