The Great Dismal Swamp was not at all dismal for us! We started in Elizabeth City, NC and exited in Chesapeake, VA. The trip took us through a pair of locks, a state park, a national wildlife refuge, and a lot of history.
Locks are interesting to transit. It’s enjoyable to experience a “boat elevator,” and the lock operators in the Dismal Swamp Canal were friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. In fact, all of the staff we encountered during this leg of our journey were over-the-top friendly and helpful, including those at the visitor center where we tied up overnight with our buddy boat, Skyfall. We met Skyfall in Elizabeth City thanks to a mutual friend, and had great fun hanging out with Jim, Michelle, and their dog, Nelly.
The visitor center is the only highway rest stop in the country that also features a boat dock. It has all the normal highway rest stop items: bathrooms, vending machines, some picnic tables, trashcans, and parking spaces. It also has a staffed visitor center and a good sized boat dock where we tied up, along with Skyfall and one other boat. We even had a few curious motorists stop by for pleasant conversations while they stretched their legs! After a good night of rest, we checked out the national wildlife refuge just across the canal, and learned some more about the history of the Great Dismal Swamp.
The Great Dismal Swamp was once over 1 million acres in size, and is still about 480,000 acres (750 square miles). It has an amazing history, including as a home for Native Americans, escaped and freed slaves, and as a stop on the Underground Railroad. We also had an opportunity to walk some of the trails and boardwalks within the national wildlife refuge, and Anne ran on a trail that parallels the canal.
We had to keep a sharp eye while moving Tilia through the canal. In some areas the branches hung over the narrow canal, and Jim even trimmed a couple twigs off a pine tree with our mast. Navigating the logs in the canal and trees hanging above it was a challenge that kept us on our toes! It was a wonderful journey and one we would recommend to any boater that was looking for an adventure — as long as they aren’t deeper than about 5 feet draft.
After exiting the Dismal Swamp Canal, it was a short trip up past Norfolk into the Chesapeake, where we will be able to sail.
