The Great Dismal Swamp

This out and back trail for walking, jogging, cycling, etc.  You will occasionally see people on horseback as well.  It is 8.3 miles of paved road and is actually a section of  the former Rt. 17 before the new Route 17 was built.  The trail is quiet, tree-lined, and parallels the Dismal Swamp Canal. Near the stateline between Virginia and North Carolina, this trail is such a pleasure to use. You can't even see the nearby Rt. 17 most of the time because the woods makes you feel secluded and away from suburbia. Enter the trail on the Virginia side where there is plenty of parking, park information, and a tall wood carving of a Black Bear to greet you at the start of the trail.  There are still some buildings along the trail which give you a feel for the history of the era when this was an important community for people employed on the canal, in logging, peat harvesting, and other jobs associated with this area. The Great Dismal Swamp National Refuge is just...

    There is a story of an Indian maiden died just before her wedding and she has been seen paddling her white canoe across Lake Drummond  in the middle of the Great Dismal Swamp . From this tale, Thomas Moore wrote a poem while he was in Norfolk, VA in 1803. Thomas Moore was born in Dublin, Ireland and later lived in England. In addition to his poetry, he is know for his satires and political writing.  Thomas Moore's friends included Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. The Lake of the Dismal Swamp        by Thomas Moore 1779-1852 “They made her a grave, too cold and damp For a soul so warm and true; And she’s gone to the Lake of the Dismal Swamp, Where, all night long, by a fire-fly lamp, She paddles her white canoe. “And her fire-fly lamp I soon shall see, And her paddle I soon shall hear; Long and loving our life shall be, And I’ll hide the maid in a cypress tree, When the footstep of death is near.” Away to the Dismal Swamp he speeds— His ...