. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. A HISTORIAN'S COAST In the Great Alligator Swamp By David Cecelski • Photographs courtesy of the Hubert Ambrose Collection, Outer Banks History Center. Early this March. I disappeared into the Great Alligator Swamp.* After being cooped up all winter, I needed to get into the wild. At the first hint of spring. I drove to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, between Columbia and Manteo, and slipped my boat into an amber- red creek fragrant of peat and sweet bay. Only in ancient peat swamps — the Dis
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. A HISTORIAN'S COAST In the Great Alligator Swamp By David Cecelski • Photographs courtesy of the Hubert Ambrose Collection, Outer Banks History Center. Early this March. I disappeared into the Great Alligator Swamp.* After being cooped up all winter, I needed to get into the wild. At the first hint of spring. I drove to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, between Columbia and Manteo, and slipped my boat into an amber- red creek fragrant of peat and sweet bay. Only in ancient peat swamps — the Dismal, the Croatan, the Okefenokee — have I ever smelled earth so uproariously rich in life. I loaded my boat with groceries, gear and extra clothes and paddled into the swamp, never looking back. I picked the Great Alligator because it's such a grand wilderness, more than 160,000 acres of remote, uninhabited swamps, hammocks and lakes. But I also wanted to see what remained of Buffalo City. This abandoned sawmill village thrived by * Historically, the vast swamp that covers most of mainland Dare and Tyrrell counties has been called by many different names, but I like "Great Alligator Swamp," a name used in the 18th century. Skidder used by Dare Lumber Company and similar firms to haul trees to rail line Mill Tail Creek in the heart of the swamp between 1885 and 1925. It was once the largest town in Dare County and boasted one of the busiest sawmills in North Carolina. Dozens of mill towns like Buffalo City sprang up in coastal North. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original UNC Sea Grant College Program. [Raleigh, N. C. : UNC Sea Grant College Program]
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
