The "Dismal Swamp" is an actual area of "unbroken wilderness on the Virginia-North Carolina border." Our first United States president, George Washington, was "attracted by the wealth of "juniper" (trees) in this region, obtained a grant of land, and organized the Dismal Swamp Land Company, Dismal Swamp in Legend and History: George Washington Owned Large Tracts in Region Which He Described as a "Glorious Paradise," John Francis Ariza, National Geographic Magazine, July, 1932, p. 121.
"To-day (1932), to all except a very few, the swamp's interior is . . . a mystery . . . Men are born, live, and die in towns that touch Dismal Swamp's very edges without ever having entered it" (p. 121). Why was it originally dubbed "dismal?": tales of ghosts, poisonous snakes and plants, savage natives and runaway slaves, quicksands, criminals, moonshiners and other wild beasts.
Apparently, the swamp's bad reputation is well-deserved! In addition to the above-mentioned pests, bears and ticks were a worse threat. Coupled with the lack of many roads, the swamp was best avoided. Several logging companies alone managed to survive.
The author mentioned that once two intelligent New York novelists appeared in the swamp to experience it. They were left at an abandoned camp building. "Before they were rescued two days later, they had almost perished in a fierce March storm. They were so terrified they had forgotten to eat the food they had brought" (p. 130).
Today (2014) the Dismal Swamp is a National Wildlife Refuge. This area holds no attraction for me. What about you? Would you like to visit this place? I don't even recall a lone sign from the interstate highways in that area. I would like to end on a positive statement: wild life need refuges!
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