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The Great Dismal Swamp is a marshy area in the Coastal Plain Region of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It is located in parts of the southern Virginia independent cities of Chesapeake and Suffolk and northern North Carolina counties of Gates, Pasquotank, and Camden. It is a southern swamp, one of many along the Atlantic Ocean's coast, including the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp in Florida, the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia, the Congaree and Four Holes swamps of South Carolina, and some of the Carolina bays in the Carolinas and Georgia. Along the eastern edge runs the Dismal Swamp Canal, completed in 1805. It is one of the last large wild areas remaining in the Eastern United States. Some estimates place the size of the original swamp at over , stretching from the Norfolk, Virginia, area to Edenton, North Carolina. The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1973 when the Union Camp Corporation of Franklin, Virginia, donated 49,100 acres (200 km²) of land after centuries of logging and other human activities devastated the swamp's ecosystems. The refuge was officially established through the Dismal Swamp Act of 1974. The refuge consists of over 112,000 acres (500 km²) of forested wetlands. Lake Drummond, a 3,100-acre (13-km²) natural lake, is located in the heart of the swamp. The lake, a remarkably circular body of water, is one of only two natural lakes in Virginia. Outside the boundaries of the refuge, the state of North Carolina has preserved and protected additional portions of the swamp through the establishment of the Dismal Swamp State Park. The park protects 22 square miles of forested wetland.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Dismal Swamp State Park )〕 ==History== The origin of Lake Drummond, one of only two natural lakes in Virginia, is not entirely clear as there is no apparent network of natural streams emptying into the lake.〔Grymes, Charles A., Lake Drummond and Great Dismal Swamp, Retrieved from http://www.virginiaplaces.org/watersheds/drummond.html on Sept. 27, 2015 〕 Archaeological evidence suggests varying cultures of humans have inhabited the swamp for 13,000 years. In 1650, Algonquian-speaking Native Americans of coastal tribes lived in the swamp. In 1665, William Drummond, the first governor of North Carolina, was the first European recorded as discovering the swamp's lake, which was subsequently named for him.〔Harper, Raymond L. (2008). ''A History of Chesapeake, Virginia'', pp. 124-28. The History Press.〕 In 1728, William Byrd II, while leading a land survey to establish a boundary between the Virginia and North Carolina colonies, made many observations of the swamp, none of them favorable; he is credited with naming it the Dismal Swamp.〔 Settlers did not appreciate the ecological importance of wetlands. In 1763, George Washington visited the area, and he and others founded the Dismal Swamp Company in a venture to drain the swamp and clear it for settlement.〔Grizzard, Frank E., Jr. (2002). ''George Washington: A Biographical Companion'', pp. 86-87. ABC-CLIO.〕 The company later turned to the more profitable goal of timber harvesting.〔Traylor (2010), pp. 165-66.〕 Several African-American Maroon societies lived in the Great Dismal Swamp during early American history. These Great Dismal Swamp Maroons consisted of black refugee slaves who had escaped to seek safety and liberty.〔Kate Taylor, ("The Thorny Path to a National Black Museum" ), ''The New York Times'', January 22, 2011, Accessed January 23, 2011.〕 The swamp's role in the history of slavery in the United States is reflected in Harriet Beecher Stowe's second novel, ''Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp''. The Underground Railroad Education Pavilion, an exhibit set up to educate visitors about the fugitive slaves who lived in the swamp, was opened February 24, 2012. The Dismal Swamp Canal was authorized by Virginia in 1787 and by North Carolina in 1790. Construction began in 1793 and was completed in 1805. The canal, as well as a railroad constructed through part of the swamp in 1830, enabled the harvest of timber. The canal deteriorated after the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal was completed in 1858. In 1929, the U. S. Government bought the Dismal Swamp Canal and began to improve it. The canal is now the oldest operating artificial waterway in the country. Like the Albemarle and Chesapeake canals, it is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Great Dismal Swamp」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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