The Virginian-Pilot
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SUFFOLK
There is nothing “dismal” about the Great Dismal Swamp, a huge area that boasts two ecosystems on the coastal plain of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.
On select mornings this summer and fall, a four-hour narrated bus “safari” led by two biologists specializing in all things Dismal will take folks through some of its 111,000 acres of pristine forested wetlands.
“It’s a chance to see a unique ecosystem,” said Theresa Earles,
tourism development coordinator for Suffolk. “It’s a true natural wilderness, one of the few remaining ones in the U.S.”
Earles said the tour, which has been going on about five years, “appeals to a wide variety of ages, skill sets and interests. People come because they are curious about the name, its history and the wildlife.”
Participants will travel through an area that is steeped in history, legend and nature.
In 1728 wealthy landowner William Byrd supposedly gave the swamp its infamous moniker. George Washington once owned about 4,000 acres of swampland that served as a sanctuary for fugitive slaves, known as maroons, until the end of the Civil War.
The Dismal Swamp Canal, a historic waterway that’s still in operation , was completely handbuilt in the late 1700s by thousands of slaves who dug two 11-mile trenches using axes, picks, saws and shovels.
The swamp teems with flora and fauna. It’s home to such trees as Atlantic white cypress, bald cypress, tupelo, maple and pine. And there are black bears, bobcats, river otters and weasels, and more than 70 types of reptiles and amphibians, including rattlesnakes, salamanders and spotted turtles.
For birders the refuge is an aviary boasting more than 200 bird species throughout the year, with 96 types making the area a yearly nesting place. Thousands of birders come from all over the world each spring for a birding festival to hear and get glimpses of such rare species as the reclusive and hard-to-spot Swainson’s warbler.
The swamp’s 3.5-mile-wide Lake Drummond – named in 1655 for Scottish settler William Drummond – is one of only two natural lakes in Virginia. Scientists theorize it may have formed when a meteorite slammed into Earth.
Local Native American legends say it was created by a great firebird as a nesting place.
“We’ll take a walking tour to Lake Drummond,” Earles said. “It’s almost perfectly round, and on a calm day it’s truly like glass.”
A half-day safari can show you how far from dismal that swamp can get.
“It’s beautiful,” Earles said. “There’s nothing like it. It’s back to nature in its truest form.”
Eric Feber, (757) 222-5203,
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