Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission. Transcribed by Barbara Kawamoto. The Dismal Swamp "Our Heritage" By Claude Moore The Dismal Swamp is located south of Norfolk, mostly in Norfolk and Nansemond counties in Virginia and in Gates, Camden and Pasquotank counties in North Carolina. It covers 750 square miles, about 100,000 of which is in North Carolina. In the center of this swamp is Lake Drummond, seven miles long and four miles wide. Before the coming of Europeans, this swamp was a primeval forest mostly of cypress, juniper and gum trees with a few pines on the highest ground. In 1790, the state of North Carolina legislature chartered the Dismal Swamp Canal Company and during the next 20 years, a canal was built from Portsmouth to the Albemarle Sound in North Carolina. In the 1930’s, the late Dr. Archibald Henderson of the University of Chapel Hill, a nationally known historian, biographer, and mathematician, brought to light some ledgers, which carried the data showing that George Washington was one of the pioneer developers of the Dismal Swamp. Washington was not only a planter and political leader, but according to Dr. Henderson, "Washington was a business man of large vision, with comprehensive and far reaching designs concerning the development of the country’s resource." It is to be remembered that Washington was one of the wealthiest men in America, and when he married Mrs. Martha Dandridge Custis in 1759, she was one of the wealthiest women in America, owning twenty thousand acres of land and a hundred slaves. The Dismal Swamp reclamation project was only one of Washington’s business ventures. He found this project very lucrative. In 1763, the Colony of Virginia granted large tracts of land in the Dismal Swamp to George Washington, to his brother-in-law, Fielding Lewis, and to nine other prominent businessmen in Virginia. Washington made two trips to the Dismal Swamp in 1763 and this was his first trip to North Carolina. The object of the project was to drain parts of the swamp for farming, to cut timber (shingles, barrel staves and lumber), and to dig several canals for drainage and for commerce. Washington made trips to the Dismal Swamp in July 1764; November 1766; April and October 1767; and again in October 1768. Washington explored the swamp on horseback. Slaves were used for digging the canals, clearing some land and for cutting timbers and making shingles and staves. One canal called Washington’s Ditch was dug from Lake Drummond to within seven miles of Suffolk. One of Washington’s ledgers shows that seventy thousand shingles were made in one year. After 1767, the Dismal Swamp properties were managed by Washington’s brother, John A. Washington, who lived in the area. Some of Washington’s land holdings were in Perquimans County, North Carolina, until 1791, when he made his famous southern tour in which he visited Halifax, Greenville, New Bern, Onslow County, Wilmington, Charleston, Savannah, Augusta, Columbia, Charlotte, Salem and back to Mount Vernon. The Dismal Swamp Canal is still used by small craft. ============================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Barbara Kawamoto ==============================================================