Millions of years ago it was completely under the ocean. In 1763, George Washington started a lumber company there. Today, thousands of people like us gather there to run through its history and beauty, and set their own personal history in the process.
As the oldest continually operating man-made canal in the United States, the Dismal Swamp Canal is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. It also is part of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, an escape route used by numerous slaves in antebellum North Carolina. Today, the canal is used mainly by recreational vehicles, including trawlers, sailboats and other watercraft and a few commercial boats.
“Don’t do the dismal swamp route” is what people have been telling us – “it has longer distance, skinny water and too many logs to bump your boat’s bottom”. As Robert Frost asked, “you need to choose which road to take”, so we left Norfolk and picked the Dismal Swamp Canal as our next route.
We entered the canal in Virginia but soon crossed into North Carolina. Turns out there’s nothing dismal about the Dismal Swamp Canal. The canal is vibrant, colorful and beautiful – cypress, maple and pine trees line the banks, flowering shrubs are mirrored back in the calm water. It’s duckweed season and the canal was full of the green stuff on the surface. We had to clean our engine strainer to prevent duckweed from clogging our cooling system.
We saw several turtles, a great blue heron and a few pairs of Canada geese, one sitting on a nest. Birdsong drowned out the hum of the engine, rather than vice versa. For the most part, we motored very slowly along in 7-8 feet of water, but occasionally we saw less than 6 feet for brief moments, and once or twice we bumped some branch or snag on the bottom. Nothing much. We puttered slowly, enjoying the scenery, nature and the sunshine.
We arrived at the Great Dismal Swamp Visitors Centre after lunch. There was one other sailboat tied up on their free bulkhead wall, but plenty of room for us to tie up ahead of it. The Visitors Centre had a nice lounge area, with a book exchange, free wifi (sadly we could not reach it from the boat) and plenty of tourist information on the Dismal Swamp and North Carolina in general.
We walked across the pedestrian pontoon bridge to Dismal Swamp State Park and picked a nice nature trail to stretch our legs for a few miles leisure walk then went back to our boat for some delicious leftover pizzas dinner. It was a historical day for us.
Great photo and narrative for the Dismal Swamp. It looks enchanting.
Good to hear you’re checking the cooling system strainer. I would imagine that a good number of captains overlook something like that.
You’re so right Dennis. Yesterday there were a few boats that had to turn around back out of the Canal because of overheating. We were lucky that the duckweed did affect us too much. Thanks for your concern and always enjoy your comments.
What a great story you are creating! This country is amazing with its beauty and its history. Thx for sharing! Wishing you all the best as you continue your journey. Up here we are enjoying a gorgeous fall. The foliage is outstanding! 🍁🍂❤️
Hi Nancy, Yes I do miss the beautiful fall leaves and colors. However, I don’t miss raking them 😜. Thanks for the comment!
I love all the history and that picture is anything but dismal, enjoy
Hi my remote concierge! I think it’s appropriate for Jim to wear his pirate costume as we leave today.🏴☠️😜
Definitely a must
Beautiful!
Thanks Leslie !!! It’s a must to see the dismal swamp during Halloween 💀
Beautiful picture! Thanks for sharing, this reminds us nice memories!
Thanks Marie-France! Every day is a different adventure now I understand why you guys love traveling 😘