The Origin of Houses in the Okefenokee Prairies

Abstract

About 15% of the 412,000-acre Okefenokee Swamp is open marsh dotted with various-sized clumps of trees and shrubs known locally as These houses originate from partially floating masses of peat which are called batteries. Batteries are of three types. In one type a mass of peat breaks loose from the underlying peat bed and floats freely on the water surface. A second type is that in which an upper layer of peat partially separates from the peat bed and forms a bulge above the water surface. A third type results from bits of loose floating peat and other debris drifting to the edge of a pond or a lake and accumulating until a base forms for the growth of vegetation. The upper surface of these batteries, being at or slightly above the water surface, provides habitat for a greater variety and more profuse growth of plants than does the open marsh. Ultimately woody growth encroaches, thus forming the clumps of trees known as houses.