The Dismal Swamp Canal is a canal located along the eastern edge of the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina in the United States. Opened in 1805, it is the oldest continually operating man-made canal in the United States. It is part of the Intracoastal Waterway.
A sailboat on the Dismal Swamp Canal
Deep Creek Lock, located in Deep Creek, Virginia, separates the salt water of Deep Creek from the fresh water of Dismal Swamp Canal
The Great Dismal Swamp is a large swamp 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. Some estimates place the original size of the swamp at over one million acres (4,000 km2). As of 2022 the size of the Great Dismal Swamp is around 750 square miles.
Bald cypress in Lake Drummond, Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Virginia
Fugitive Slaves in the Dismal Swamp, 1888, by David Edward Cronin
Great Dismal Swamp Canal
Forested wetland within the Great Dismal Swamp