Dismal Swamp

We finally left Scott’s Creek Marina on Thursday, Oct 27. We stayed a day longer than planned as we enjoyed the stay in a marina after 20 or so days at anchor.  Didn’t do much on Wednesday.   Tried to go for a walk but the truck traffic made it unpleasant as there was no sidewalk and we had to walk along the side of the busy road.  We did watch containers being unloaded from trucks onto railcars.  The containers are held onto the truck by a metal peg at each corner.  There didn’t appear to be any latch down to hold the container onto the truck.  I am surprised that they stay on the truck.  Same is true for the railcar, the containers just sit on pegs.

We decided to take the Dismal Swamp canal route to Albemarle Sound as we keep hearing it will be closed in the near future due to lack of funding by the Feds.  This is a very historic waterway that was started in the late 1700’s with George Washington as one of its financial backers.   There is a story that he actually surveyed the route, but this has never been proved.  The canal was hand dug starting in 1793 and completed in 1805.  It was dug by slaves hired from local plantations.  These slaves became very familiar with the swamp and it became a major part of the Underground Railroad that brought runaway slaves north.  Large colonies of runaway slaves lived in the swamp prior to the Civil War.  It would be sad to see this history lost.

The trip today started out in the heavily commercial area around Norfolk, Va and ended in very rural North Carolina.  There is an up lock at the start of the canal.  Being old pros with locks, the 8 ft rise was a piece of cake.  We are currently at a dock behind the first visitors’ center on Rte 17 in North Carolina.  This is very unique to have the same visitors’ center serve both automobiles and boats.

At the visitor center there was a nature trail that went along the canal’s edge.  We walked over to the start of the trail with the intent of walking it until we saw the sign at the start of the trail at said “Beware of snakes”.  So much for that walk.  The water in the canal is the color of coffee due to the tannin released by the decaying trees and other vegetation.  Tannin is responsible for the color in coffee.

The visitor center had small areas planted with local crops.  There was a small area of cotton plants which wee in bloom.  We picked some of the bolls and felt the seeds in the cotton.  It was just like cotton balls you buy.  There was an area with peanuts that we picked.  They were still in the shells which we opened and tasted the peanut inside.  Now I know why peanuts are roasted.  They had a small nut taste along with a large uncooked pea taste.

One good reason to take the Dismal Swamp Canal is the lack of power boats.  The wake kicked up by some of the power boats can really knock Island Time around.  The power boats go down the Virginia cut which is the alternate to the Dismal Swamp Canal.