The Nature Conservancy in North Carolina - Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and State Natural Area

Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and State Natural Area

Dismal Swamp Map LOCATION:
Coastal Plain
Camden, Gates, and Pasquotank Counties

SIZE IN ACRES:
38,000

INVOLVEMENT IN ACRES:
30,860

Great Dismal Swamp © (Merrill Lynch)

TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP:
Lake Drummond, South Mills, Sunbury

Topographical maps are available by contacting:
NC Geographical Survey.
1612 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1612.
(919) 715-9718
www.geology.enr.state.nc.us/

ACTIVITIES & AMENITIES:
Birding / Hiking / Wildflowers / Canoeing-Kayaking / Boat Ramp / Picnicking / Restrooms

OWNERSHIP & ACCESS:
Dismal Swamp Canal Visitor Center
2356 Highway 17 North
South Mills, NC 27976
(252) 771-8333

Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
P.O. Box 349
Suffolk, Virginia 23439-0349
(757) 986-3705

N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation
Dismal Swamp State Natural Area
c/o Merchants Millpond State Park
Route 1, Box 141-A
Gatesville, NC 27938
(252) 357-1191

SITE INFORMATION:
Before European settlement, the Great Dismal Swamp covered up to 2,000 square miles. Now reduced to about 166 square miles, it is still one of the largest protected swamp wildernesses in the eastern United States. The bulk of the swamp, 82,000 acres, is in Virginia, with about 38,000 acres in North Carolina.

The area was once forested in Atlantic white cedar, cypress, and gum forest, but it was ditched, drained, and logged early in the country’s history. The swamp is now dominated by second-growth trees and the cypress, gum, and Atlantic white cedar are found only in isolated stands. In spite of having been drastically altered by people, the Great Dismal is still a wild area where natural forces are making a comeback.

The swamp is home to a wide variety of reptiles and amphibians, and a diversity of mammals, including black bear, bobcat, river otter, and several bat species. The refuge’s bird list stands at over 200 species, with 34 warblers and 93 nesting species. April, May, and June are a great time to see nesting songbirds, but summer can be oppressively hot and insect-ridden.

CONSERVATION HIGHLIGHTS:
Weyerheauser Corporation donated about 10,000 acres of Dismal Swamp land to The Nature Conservancy in the 1970s and the Conservancy then transferred the land to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation. The Conservancy has also purchased land at the swamp from Georgia-Pacific Corporation.

DIRECTIONS:
The Dismal Swamp Canal Visitor Center is the easiest access point for this area in North Carolina. The center is approximately three miles south of the North Carolina-Virginia state line on US 17. If you boat along the Dismal Swamp Canal to the visitor center, it is approximately five miles north of the South Mills Locks. Here you can learn about the commercial history of the oldest continually operating canal in the United States.

The Albemarle Region Canoe Trail system has a canoe trail on the Upper Pasquotank River that offers access into the swamp. You can access the trail at the US 17 bridge crossing southeast of Morgans Corner. You can tour Lake Drummond and some of the canals by canoe or kayak. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service maintains a trail for hiking and biking.

From Suffolk, VA, you can reach the refuge headquarters and main access points by traveling south on US 13 and VA 32 about 4.5 miles and then following the signs to the refuge. To reach Dismal Town Boardwalk Trail, take White Marsh Road (VA 642) to the Washington Ditch refuge entrance. Canoes and small boats can access 3,000-acre Lake Drummond by a feeder ditch from US 17 and the Dismal Swamp Canal on the east side of the refuge. US 158 skirts the southern border of the refuge.