Great Dismal Swamp could become National Heritage Area, making site eligible for more funding

President Joe Biden on Friday began the process of designating the Great Dismal Swamp as a National Heritage Area in recognition of its history and connections with local Indigenous tribes and African American history.

Biden signed the Great Dismal Swamp National Heritage Area Act, which directs the Department of the Interior to study making the Great Dismal Swamp — and the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge within it — a heritage area. The distinction will make the site eligible for more federal funding. The swamp and refuge extend from Chesapeake and Suffolk to northeastern North Carolina.

A timeline has not been released for the survey. The swamp is more than 110,000 acres of forested wetlands with Lake Drummond in its center. Before Colonial development, the swamp once covered more than 1 million acres. The refuge, which is home to more than 200 bird species and close to 100 species of butterflies, received its protected status in 1973.

The heritage bill was introduced in February 2021 by the late Rep. Donald McEachin in the House of Representatives; it passed in September 2022. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine introduced and got the bill passed in December.

“The Great Dismal Swamp is a natural treasure with a rich cultural history,” Warner and Kaine said in a press release.

National heritage sites are partnerships between the government, such as the National Park Service, and private groups to help preserve an area, and bolster tourism and education. There are 55 areas in 34 states, two in Virginia: the Journey National Heritage Area, which includes the Shenandoah Valley, and the Battlefields National Historic District, which preserves Civil War battlegrounds along Shenandoah National Park.

The Dismal Swamp holds a rich history. The biodiverse land filled with cypress and cedar forests was a thriving trade hub for Indigenous tribes, including the Chowanoke, Nansemond and Meherrin, for thousands of years.

Before the Civil War, the swamp was a stop on the Underground Railroad, a cover for enslaved African Americans escaping to the North. Some formerly enslaved hid and lived in the swamp with the Indigenous and built “maroon” communities.

Carolyn White is a descendant of enslaved Africans who made their way from South Carolina to present-day Suffolk and Chesapeake after the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.

They crossed miles of rivers and hills even before getting to the swamp. Once there, they fought wildlife, the elements, and hid from whites who were hunting to kill the newly emancipated.

“That is what we learned growing up,” White said, “to look out for each other the best we can.”

Many enslaved runaways, however, did not make it. The route was treacherous with venomous snakes and bears, and the waters can be deceptively deep.

White’s family helped build the Pughsville section of Suffolk, she said. They ran several grocery stores, and one — once known as the Lincoln Street Grocery — is now owned by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and used for meetings.

White is happy about the possibility of the site becoming a heritage area.

The “great history of the swamp will continue to be told,” she said.

Everett Eaton, 262-902-7896, everett.eaton@virginiamedia.com