We have completed our 2 day adventure through the Dismal Swamp. We are now in Virginia and finally saw a “welcome to” sign.
We entered and exited the swamp through a lock on each end. This was our first exposure to a lock, of which there will be about 143 throughout the journey. It was really pretty uneventful and the lock masters were instructive, nice and verrrryyy chatty.
Bridge into lock area
Really not so dismal. It was beautiful, peaceful and full of wildlife such as water snakes, turtles, otters, and thousands of birds. We could hear all the birds chirping and cawing, the crickets and frogs croaking, and the turtles splashing off logs into the water as we meandered along the waterway.
It was so quite and peaceful and then….a car or semi blows by on the highway that runs along the side of the canal in some places. Yup, not really in the sticks.
The Dismal Swamp canal was created in the 1700’s. It was originally hand dug to move lumber inland that was harvested from the swamp. George Washington even had a hand in the lumber industry in the swamp. The original canal deteriorated when better and more direct routes were built. In 1929 the US government bought the swamp and began improving it. It is now the oldest operating artificial waterway in the country and is part of the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway (wikipedia).
Half way through the swamp is a visitors center where we rafted up to a sailboat overnight. Apparently during the busy season they have had as many as 16 boats rafted together at the dock. That barely leaves room for one boat to skinny on through. Here we toured the Visitors Center and the State Park.
We are now in the Chesapeake Bay still working our way north. We were hailed by this guy as he was coming around corner. He wanted to be sure we saw him (like we could not) and he requested we keep to the green side of the channel. So very cool!
Will keep updating as we go along so keep checking in. Love to all, Gina and Mike
