FORT COLLINS COLORADOAN -- SU NDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2013 -- PAG E C11 Great Dismal Swamp is not a dismal place at all By Holmes Rolston Ill For the Co loradoan So that's Lake Drummond in the middle of the Great Dis­ mal Swamp. I made it thanks to a lot of paddling and thanks to George Washington. This swamp is Virginia's equiva­ lent of the Okefenokee Swamp or the Everglades. Before he became the fa­ ther of our nation, about 1763, Washington dug the "feeder ditch," or canal, along which I paddled. Otherwise, I couldn't have made the 10 miles in and out. Or more ac­ curately, Washington's slaves dug the ditch. That must have been miserable work. George Another day, we visited had reached a great swam­ Washington and others ac­ where the Dismal Swamp pland, then perhaps a million quired 40,000 acres of the reaches the sea, now in First acres, and quite unsuitable swamp land through a "royal Landing State Park. Here, at for their landing. grant." the mouth of the Chesapeake Several weeks later, they Washington did not have Bay, the first settlers arrived. decided to settle at James­ conservation in mind, but ex­ Still on the ship the "Susan town, reaching their new col­ ploitation, taking out 70,000 Constant," the captain, on onyMay 13. cypress shingles in 1765. He The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge stretches for more than H2,000 acres in North April 26, 1607, read aloud to So maybe you can say did remark that it was a "glo­ Carolina and Virginia. PH OTOS COU RTE SY OF HOLMES ROLSTON Ill the passengers assembled on America really began where rious paradise abounding in bushes, sometimes covered They claimed it didn't spoil swamp is called the chicken the deck the laws and condi­ the Dismal Swamp meets the wild fowl and game." The with poison oak. That made when they kept it many turtle, named for its long, tions of the new colony. sea. ditches were used to float out me even more grateful to months at sea. Water doesn't striped neck. The neck when Just inland, forested high logs. Washington's slaves for the spoil, but the tannin in the wa­ stuck out is nearly as long as sand dunes are interspersed Holmes Rolston is a Fort Co llins Not far before the lake, we ditch. ter, making it acidic, kept its shell. This turtle is on Vir­ in the swamp. We walked over resident and university reached a spillway, a small By now, we were running down bacteria that could ginia's endangered species several of these on good ter ra distinguished professor check dam used to keep the out of time. We didn't want to cause disease. list, though it is stable in other firma. The newly arrived set­ emeritus of philosophy at lake level higher. Unlike oth­ have to paddle out in the dark. A rare species in the states. tlers did not yet know they Colorado State University. er basin swamps, the Dismal Steadily paddling back, we Swamp is gently sloping, with got out at twilight, with sore a northwest to southeast flow, arms but proud of ourselves dropping only 10 feet across for venturing 12 miles in the an 8-mile expanse. We pulled swamp. the kayaks out and up a slide Washington sold, or tried rack, and put them in again to sell, his share of the swamp maybe S feet higher than the to "Light Horse" Harry Lee, lower ditch. father of Gen. Robert E. Lee. We paddled another mile But Lee couldn't make the along the shore, searching out payments, so Washington got the biggest bald cypress his share back. Later, a Dis­ trees. The oldest were SO mal Swamp Land Company yards out into the lake with owned the swamp. basal arches large enough to About the turn of the 20th get our kayaks into, if we lie century, much of the swamp back low. became the property of the The water was a little more Union Camp Corporation. In than waist-deep, with cold 1973, Union Camp donated and warmer spots, and a good 49,100 acres to become the sandy bottom. The water is Great Dismal Swamp Nation­ colored like tea, soaking out al Wildlife Refuge that now the tannin in the bark of sub­ consumes more than 112,000 merged trees. acres. Lake Drummond is more The new colonists discov­ than 3,000 acres in a nearly ered the lake when William Holmes Rolston Ill, front, discovered the best way to explore Lake perfect circle. The origin of Drummond lost his way while Drummond in the middle of the Great Dismal Swamp is by kayak. the lake is unknown. Based on hunting in a "Slough of De­ bottom sediments and radio­ spond," and found it. Drum- carbon dating, geologists con­ mond was later the first gov- clude the lake is much young­ ernor of what is now North er than the swamp-no more Carolina. He was hanged in than 4,000 years old, in a 1677 for taking part in Ba- swamp that is 10,000 years con's Rebellion, the first old. Maybe it was great peat armed rebellion of the colo- fires, geological upset or a nists against their British-ap- meteor crash that created it. pointed rulers. Making our way back, we The early settlers feared wove in and out of the bald cy­ the dark swamp. By their re­ press at the edge between ports, there were rattle­ lake and forest. We never snakes as big around as a found Atlantic white cedar, man's leg, coiled up hundreds another cypress. Once the at a time. There were cotton­ largest known stands were mouth water moccasins here, but it is now rare, being hanging in bushes above to logged out. drop into your boat. Though The Dismal Swamp south­ both of these snakes are ern bog lemming, once there, their size and abun­ thought to be extinct, still dance are gross exaggera­ lives here. The Dismal tions. Swamp southeastern shrew, We saw only a red-bellied formerly a federally threat­ water snake, who poised nice­ ened species, has now been ly for us. There also remain delisted. in the swamp some 300 The swamp is often scenic, bears. aesthetically pleasing. Span­ Settlers feared the Dismal ish moss grows here at its far­ Swamp was full of poisonous thest northern reaches. Tall air, rising from the rotting bald cypress, maples, gum, logs. Malaria, which means pond pine, loblolly pine, ferns "bad air," was caught by those and wildflowers are common who lived near wetlands. That and colorful. the disease was carried by a Yes, swamps can be beau­ protist in mosquitoes breed­ tiful. To many, a beautiful bog ing in stagnant or slow-mov­ or a pleasant mire is almost a ing waters was unknown until contradiction in terms. Moun­ the 1890s. tains are sublime; swamps William Byrd, surveying are slimy. the Virginia-North Carolina Poet Edgar Allen Poe once state line in 1728 wrote: went into this swamp to com­ "Doubtless, the Eternal mit suicide, at least according Shade that broods over this to local folklore. He was mighty Bog, and hinders the thinking one should commit sun-beams from blessing the suicide in a dismal place. But Ground, makes it an uncom­ he found the swamp so beauti­ fortable Habitation for any ful, he changed his mind. thing that has life. Foul Today, biologists agree Damps ascend without ceas­ that wetlands support rich ing, corrupt the Air, and ren­ biodiversity and are the most der it unfit for Respiration. threatened of landscapes. Not even a Thrkey-buzzard Here, life persists-phoenix­ will venture to fly over it." like-forever regenerated in He was wrong. We saw a the midst of its perishing. half-dozen buzzards in the air, We could see that on all a couple of them close enough sides of our kayaks. that we wondered whether Our kayaks kept getting they thought we might be stuck on submerged logs, and their next meal. we had to push off and dodge Early sailors wanted the the cypress knees and the swamp water on their ships. .