The Great Dismal Swamp

They made her a grave, too cold and damp

For a soul so warm and true;

And she’s gone to the Lake of the Dismal Swamp,

Where, all night long, by a fire-fly lamp,

She paddles her white canoe...

“And her fire-fly lamp I soon shall see,

And her paddle I soon shall hear;

Long and loving our life shall be,

And I’ll hide the maid in a cypress tree,

When the footstep of death is near.”

Away to the Dismal Swamp he speeds—

His path was rugged and sore,

Through tangled juniper, beds of reeds,

Through many a fen where the serpent feeds,

And man never trod before....

Till he hollow’d a boat of the birchen bark,

Which carried him off from shore;

Far, far he follow’d the meteor spark,

The wind was high and the clouds were dark,

And the boat return’d no more.

But oft, from the Indian hunter’s camp,

This lover and maid so true

Are seen at the hour of midnight damp

To cross the Lake by a fire-fly lamp,

And paddle their white canoe!

Excerpts from Thomas Moore's poem, The Lake of the Dismal Swamp (1803), Norfolk, VA.

Thomas Moore's poem above tells of a young man who lost his mind after the death of his beloved and, believing she was not dead but had wandered into the Great Dismal Swamp, went searching for her there, never to be seen again. In 1803, the "Great Dismal," straddled the wilderness between the first two English settlements in America, Roanoke Island, NC and Jamestown, VA. First surveyed by William Byrd in 1728, George Washington surveyed it again in 1763 with the aim of draining the swamp and connecting the Chesapeake Bay with the Albemarle Sound for trading purposes. During the early 1800's, it became a refuge for runaway slaves trying to escape through its dense wilderness to freedom on the Underground Railroad. Hand-dug by slave labor, the 22-miles Dismal Swamp Canal opened in1805 after 12 years of backbreaking work in highly unfavorable conditions. It is now a national wildlife refuge and state park.

Adagio docked overnight with two other boats at the Visitors' Center in the Great Dismal Swamp Canal. Thankfully, we had two days of glorious sunshine to travel the Canal, and its trees and dense vines, still largely bereft of foliage, provided a clear view through the undergrowth, so it did not seem dismal to us at all. We marveled at the tea-colored water, filtered clean by tannic acid from the tree stumps lining the waterway, and tried to imagine seeing the wilderness for the first time like Washington. Scores of turtles sunned themselves on logs along the banks, and redbuds, magnolias, and winter jasmine lined the shoreline. In some places the Canal is only six to eight feet deep and the speed limit is six mph, which is why many boats take an alternative route. Adagio bumped a few things along the bottom and scraped a few passing tree branches, but suffered no damage. We are glad we chose this road less traveled, as it has made all the difference.

Dismal Swamp Canal Visitors' Center

Adagio Docked at the Dismal Swamp Visitors' Center

Dismal Swamp Winter Jasmine

Fallen Loblolly Pine, Dismal Swamp

Dismal Swamp, The Road Less Traveled