. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. versial governor of North Carolina (controversial enough to be hanged for insurrection). Upon his return from the swamp, Drummond told of a huge lake in the center. It was subsequently named for him. Other famous folk have made their marks in the Great Dismal. William Byrd II led a surveying crew into the swamp in 1728. While his crew withstood the rigors and dangers of the Great Dismal, Byrd, who loved comfort more than adventure, partied in Edenton, then a major North Carolina port. But George Washington
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. versial governor of North Carolina (controversial enough to be hanged for insurrection). Upon his return from the swamp, Drummond told of a huge lake in the center. It was subsequently named for him. Other famous folk have made their marks in the Great Dismal. William Byrd II led a surveying crew into the swamp in 1728. While his crew withstood the rigors and dangers of the Great Dismal, Byrd, who loved comfort more than adventure, partied in Edenton, then a major North Carolina port. But George Washington, in 1763, was perhaps the most famous man to muddy his boots in the Great Dismal Swamp. Washington not only was the first commander-in-chief and a well-respected man, but also an astute businessman. For him, the swamp was far from dismal. Washington realized the value of the area's great stands of virgin Atlantic white cedar. He organized the Dismal Swamp Land Company after discovering that the center of the swamp was 18 feet higher in elevation than the edges. The company pur- chased 40,000 acres during the next two decades. Huge portions of the wilderness were drained and logged. A 5-mile ditch, dug with slave labor on the west side of the swamp, leads into Lake Drummond and still bears the name of our first president. Some historians point to Wash- ington Ditch as the first monu- ment to bear his name. Washington's success in the Dismal prompted a sort of swamp fever that resulted in most areas of the swamp being logged at least once. The scars of that 200-year clear-cutting spree can still be seen in the number of ditches and canals that crisscross the Dismal like stitches on a patchwork quilt. Drainage and deforestation drastically changed the swamp's sensi- tive hydrology, changing the face of the Great Dismal forever. Roads built along the ditches — first used by mules pulling log barges and later by trucks spewing diesel fumes — blocked the swamp's natural flow, cr
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
