We were only happy to finally cross into North Carolina – now we really feel like we are on our way South.
Soon we were tied up at the Dismal Swamp Welcome Center which is also a North Carolina Highway Welcome Center, so has lots of information, a book swap and nice rest rooms. There is also a NC State Park right there reached by walking across a swing foot bridge. There is a lovely main lodge with lots of history and information.
We met the Park Superintendant, an attractive young woman who was very knowledgeable about the history and environment of the Dismal Swamp. Her degree is in Environmental Biology. Most people know the Dismal Swamp Canal was first envisioned, surveyed and started by George Washington in the late 1700s as a waterway from the Chesapeake to the Albemarle that would avoid the fearsome and treacherous route around Cape Hatteras (otherwise known as the ships graveyard). Washington was a great visionary with a vision of canals opening up huge areas of the country for commerce. He also surveyed and started the C&O Canal from the upper reaches of the Potomac to the Ohio River. That one was eventually completed in the late 1800s – but was immediately put out of business by the Railroads. The Dismal Swamp canal (like all the canals of that era) is very narrow. They were all mostly dug by slaves – the work was too grueling for anyone to do it voluntarily. For a long time it was the only way through, but when dredging technology matured they completed the Virginia Cut through the shallow waters of Currituck Sound and now all the commercial traffic goes that way and only pleasure boats see the Dismal Swamp to the west of the canal. The huge fire in August that closed the canal due to the smoke and forced us to use the much less pleasant Virginia Cut burned a large chunk of the Dismal Swamp. The Superintendant explained that because the Dismal Swamp is a peat bog, it can burn over and over in a destructive way. NC State Park service has recovered a lot of the Swamp that was drained for farmland in earlier times by damming up the ditches. She explained that it’s not enough to fill in the ditches because the roads (tow paths) from the dredging have become so compacted that the water can’t filter through them. But the parts they have been able to recover did not burn. So it’s definitely an effective (if expensive) strategy.
After touring the State Park, we unloaded the bikes and rode the beautiful paved bike trail to South Mills.
We took a look at the South Mills Lock, learned that the same lock tender drives upstream to open the bridge at 8:20 and if you don’t make it through the bridge you don’t get to lock through until 3 hours later.
When we left for our bike ride there were only 2 boats at the Welcome Center dock – us and Bikini Club a small sloop with Steve and Karen on board. When we returned, boats were rafted 3 deep and more on the way!
There was a steel ketch rafted next to us, and outside of that was Loon, a beautiful sloop with a fresh navy Allgrip paintjob. It turned out we had already met him at Solomons when Loon was on the hard. When the people on the steel ketch (Old Rosie) returned it turned out he was also named Ben (Ben 1 since he was closest to us) and his wife Jane. Later Ben2’s friend John pulled in and rafted next to him so we were 4 deep. Ben2 and John were buddies from the Singles on Sailboats club who all rafts in big circles – we’ve seen them circle the wagons near Annapolis – it’s quite a sight! We all had drinks in our cockpit and agreed to leave early in the AM so as not to miss the bridge. Drinks in the cockpit Ben 1 (left)and Ben 2
