Today, I decided to drive to Dismal Swamp State Park in Moyock, North Carolina. The park is just over the state line on US 17 on the eastern side of the Great Dismal Swamp. The park is adjacent to the North Carolina Welcome Center on the highway.
The park has about 17 miles of trails that go through the woods and parallel to the canal. It also has an interpretive boardwalk (0.66 miles) through the marsh with educational signs throughout. The boardwalk is relatively short but has some great scenery.
The Great Dismal Swamp covers over 45,000 square miles and is located in the Virginia cities of Chesapeake and Suffolk and the North Carolina counties of Gates, Pasquotank, and Camden. To European settlers, "dismal" meant swamp. The Great Dismal Swamp has been the site of American Indian hunting parties, exploration by George Washington, activities by moonshiners during Prohibition, and it played a role in the Underground Railroad. Some escaped slaves ended up living in the swamp and the swamp was the home to one of the largest maroon colonies in the United States. The swamp is said to be haunted by ghosts.
The Dismal Swamp Canal is part of the Intercoastal Waterway which spans from Massachusetts to Florida and is always open for boat traffic. The canal was originally dug by hand by slaves and is on the eastern side of the Great Dismal Swamp. The park is on the western side of the Dismal Swamp Canal, so when the state of North Carolina created the park, they installed a one of a kind, hydraulic swing pedestrian bridge that visitor must cross to get to the park.
The trail has several interpretive features. There is a reproduction of a "lighter boat" or "shingle flat" that was used to transport cedar shingles along the canal. And there is a "moonshine" still exhibit. You can also find old remnants of moonshine activities in the woods.
The interpretive boardwalk has a series of brochures that kids can use to go on a scavenger hunt through the marsh and find things listed on the brochures.
As I was leaving the boardwalk, I came across a mom and young deer grazing in the grass. Super cool.
This was a great, sunny day and a park definitely worth checking out.
Dismal Swamp State Park
