The Great Dismal Swamp
When indentured servants' contracts expired many came to the grim realization that the land contractually obligated to them was scarce. The plantation owners had acquired most of the viable resources leaving the freed indentured servants with nothing to claim. Luckily for them an area south of the Virginia colonies had not yet been settled by the Europeans. There was twenty two hundred square miles of forest in standing water aptly named The Great Dismal Swamp. Passage through the swamp led to unsettled land in Virginia and North Carolina. However, getting through the swamp would not be easy.
Those who chose to seek land in southern Virginia and North Carolina would have to take a treacherous journey through swamp land. They were forced to deal with mosquitoes, poisonous snakes, black bears, bobcats and wolves. To add to these obstacles was the oppressive summer heat and humidity and dangerous vegetation, with thick brambles spiked with thorns. Their painstaking journey was sometimes deadly but a worthwhile attempt to find settlement in the New World.
Those who survived the journey through the swamp found a plentiful supply of fish and game to be had on the other side. Various communities were formed in and around the swamp that included Native Americans, freed as well as fugitive indentured servants, and African American canal workers.
William Byrd II, a Virginia commissioner in the early 1700's had a vision for the swamp. He wanted to create a commercial shipping route through the swamp to connect the Chesapeake and the Albemarle. George Washington also took interest in the Great Dismal Swamp in the 1760's. He saw an agricultural opportunity in the swamp and favored draining the swamp. This led to the first canal, the Washington Ditch, to penetrate the swamp. The Washington Ditch paved the way for future water travel and opened the possibilities for industry. Today, the Great Dismal Swamp is a National Wildlife Refuge and state park.