Publish Date: Thursday, November 6, 2008
Location: Dismal Swamp Canal, VA to Elizabeth City, NC
Coordinates: 36° 17.789′ N 76° 13.058′ W
To use an expression from Ayla’s generation…OMG (oh my goodness)…what an incredible day! All of our angst about going through the Dismal Swamp Canal quickly evaporated this morning as we stood on the fly bridge drinking in the quiet beauty of this place along with our morning coffee.
Ayla and David on flybridge with fall bursting forth behind them.
Here’s the Reader’s Digest version on the historic canal:
-Started construction in 1793 and opened in 1805
-George Washington and Patrick Henry were involved
-Hand dug by slaves (22 miles of incredibly densely forested swamp lamp)
-Because of slaves knowledge of the swamp (due to their digging it), it became a key part of the underground railroad
-Oldest continually operating canal in U.S., and now a National Historic Landmark
There is a quiet beauty to the canal that is hard to describe (even in the steady drizzle). It’s narrow, and at times you can almost touch the overhanging trees. We felt transported back in time hundreds of years; at any moment I expected to see a Native American round the corner in their canoe.
Banks of Dismal Swamp Canal
Our angst did return as we hit our first snag (submerged stump), and there was definitely some bumping against other floating logs and debris. Dave paled slightly when thinking of our new bottom job. Our speed varied and the boat handled quite differently depending on the depth and contour of the bottom. We always had at least two feet of water under us (even if there were logs there too).
We are so glad we did it. Dave was happy to breath again when we came out the other side (5 hours later), and successfully navigated our second lock, located in South Mills, NC. We then continued another three hours to Elizabeth City, NC where we are currently on the city dock bulk head. We plan to head out tomorrow at first light for our longest day yet, 85 miles to to Belle Haven, NC. The weather is predicted to be sunny, we are keeping our fingers crossed.