Great Dismal Swamp

The Great Dismal Swamp is a large swamp in the Coastal Plain Region of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina.^[1] It is located in parts of the southern Virginia independent cities of Chesapeake and Suffolk and northern North Carolina counties of Gates, Pasquotank, and Camden.^[1] Some estimates place the original size of the swamp at over one million acres (4,000 km²).^[2] As of 2022^[update] the size of the Great Dismal Swamp is around 750 square miles (480,000 acres; 1,900 km²).^[1]

36°38′27″N 76°27′06″W / 36.640876°N 76.451797°W / 36.640876; -76.451797

Lake Drummond, a 3,100-acre (13 km²) natural lake, is located in the heart of the swamp. Lake Drummond is a circular body of water, and is one of only two naturally occurring freshwater lakes in Virginia.^[3] Along the Great Dismal Swamp's eastern edge runs the Dismal Swamp Canal. The canal is 22 miles long, and was completed in 1805 to provide a pathway for trade between Chesapeake Bay, Virginia and the Albemarle Sound in North Carolina.^[4] The largest water supply for the Dismal Swamp Canal is through Lake Drummond.^[5]

The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1973 when the Union Camp Corporation of Franklin, Virginia, donated 49,100 acres (19,900 ha) of land after centuries of logging and other human activities devastated the swamp's ecosystems. The refuge was officially established through the Dismal Swamp Act of 1974, and consists of over 167 square miles (433 square km)^[1] of forested wetlands. Outside the boundaries of the refuge, the state of North Carolina has preserved and protected additional portions of the swamp through the establishment of the Dismal Swamp State Park. That park protects 22 square miles (57 km²) of forested wetland.^[6]

The swamp was a refuge location for the Great Dismal Swamp maroons, including enslaved people in the Southern states before the American Civil War, and Native Americans who were escaping colonial expansion.^[7] Prior to the maroons inhabiting the swamp, it was inhabited by Algonquian-speaking Native American coastal tribes.

A 45,611-acre (184.58 km²) remnant of the original swamp was declared a National Natural Landmark in 1973, in recognition of its unique combination of geological and ecological features.^[8]