Wild Paradise: Hope in the Great Dismal Swamp

Abstract

Wild Paradise: Hope in the Great Dismal Swamp Ridwaana Allen Although the Great Dismal Swamp is as formidable as it sounds, there is so much more to its story. A forested peatland straddling the North Carolina/Virginia border, this mixture of forests and marshes is home to 119 varieties of wildflowers, 54 tree species, 41 kinds of shrubs, 35 aquatic plant species, 29 ferns and vines, along with 81 grasses, sedges, and rushes (Mohlenbrock 2012). Over 200 species of birds have been identified at the swamp, with 93 reported to nest there. Other inhabitants include various reptiles and amphibians, otters, bats, raccoons, minks, foxes, gray squirrels, white-tailed deer, and less commonly, black bears and bobcats (Wilson 2001). The Great Dismal Swamp’s past is as rich as its biodiversity. The swamp is full of narratives, some conflicting. To early settlers, it was a wilderness to be tamed. To poets and writers, it was inspiration. To Native Americans, Africans, and African Americans, it was a refuge – an alternative to colonialism and slavery. When the English first began exploring the Virginia lowlands in the 1600s, “dismal” meant “swamp” in that region, and the terms were used interchangeably (Tidwell 2002). In 1728, William Byrd II, a colonel in the British army and wealthy plantation owner, led a group of surveyors into the swamp to help demarcate the border between Virginia and North Carolina (Hansen 2010). Colonel Byrd – who believed that the Great Dismal Swamp and its air were so foul, no living thing could survive there, and birds would not fly over it – is credited with naming it (ibid.). After his visit, Colonel Byrd wanted to drain the swamp and turn it into an extensive hemp farm. He also wanted to use canals to connect the swamp to the Pasquotank River in North Carolina to the Elizabeth River in Virginia (Tidwell 2002). After traveling the swamp on horseback, George Washington described it as a “glorious paradise.” He wanted to build a north-south canal to connect Chesapeake Bay and the Albemarle Sound (Pettie 1976). In 1763, Washington’s Great Dismal Land Company started clearing the swamp for rice farming (Belcastro 1998). When that venture failed, they turned to logging, which was much more profitable. Drainage ditches and roads were built to facilitate the logging (Belcastro 1998). Later in the 1760s, a canal known as “Washington’s Ditch” was dug between Lake Drummond and the Nansemond River (Pettie 1976). In the 1790s, the Dismal Swamp Canal was dug (Mohlenbrock 2012). Both remain to this day. Worth mentioning is that most excavation, production, and transport was accomplished using Black slave labor (Sayers et al. 2007). [End Page 1] Arguably, the Great Dismal Swamp exists as much in the physical as in the imagination. It served as literary inspiration for Robert Frost, and as the backdrop for other writers including Thomas Moore’s “The Lake of the Dismal Swamp,” Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Dred, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Slave in the Dismal Swamp” (Pettie 1976). While the Great Dismal Swamp may have inspired capitalistic resource exploitation, poetry, and prose, others had different motivations. Between circa 1630 and 1860, Native Americans and thousands of African Americans occupied the swamp (Sayers 2006). While it remains unknown how many Native Americans occupied the swamp, African Americans numbered in the thousands as maroons and enslaved laborers (ibid.). Three time periods appear to emerge, along with corresponding geographies. According to archaeological finds, disenfranchised Native Americans likely lived along the swamp edges to maintain selective access to the outside world between 1630 and 1710 (Sayers et al. 2007). One form of resistance to the cruelty and inhumanity of slavery was marronage, which is “the act of removing oneself from enslavement or running away” (Agorsah 1994). Between 1700 and 1865, maroons occupied swamp edges, small islands, and the interior (Sayers et al. 2007). Enslaved laborers occupied the swamp between 1765 and 1865 in canal-adjacent areas, and performed various tasks including canal excavation, barge pushing, and shingle making (ibid.). Hiding in plain sight, at least one maroon community worked among the enslaved individuals and free Black and White laborers for the construction of railroads (Maris-Wolf 2013). The groups...