{"id":2231,"date":"2013-11-10T14:20:43","date_gmt":"2013-11-10T19:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncgenweb.us\/camden\/?p=2231"},"modified":"2013-11-10T14:39:14","modified_gmt":"2013-11-10T19:39:14","slug":"dismal-swamp-canal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncgenweb.us\/camden\/dismal-swamp-canal\/","title":{"rendered":"Dismal Swamp Canal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

DISMAL SWAMP CANAL marker reads: Connects Albemarle Sound with Chesapeake Bay. Begun 1790; in use by War of 1812.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Authorized in 1790, the Dismal Swamp Canal connects Albemarle Sound in North Carolina with Chesapeake Bay in Virginia.\u00a0 In 1728, Col. William Byrd II<\/a> of Virginia<\/a> was among the first to realize how important a canal could be to Virginia and North Carolina.\u00a0 Byrd led a band of surveyors that same year to mark the border<\/a> between North Carolina and Virginia.
\nIn 1763, George Washington<\/a> and Fielding Lewis surveyed the canal route.\u00a0 The original plan was for it to connect the Albemarle Sound to the Chesapeake Bay via Lake Drummond.\u00a0 The canal was built three miles east of Lake Drummond, but there is a smaller canal to connect the two.
\nIn 1790, the North Carolina General Assembly authorized the building of the canal.\u00a0 A private company which used slave labor was hired to do the job.\u00a0 Construction commenced in 1793.\u00a0 A system of locks, built so ships could be raised or lowered in the waterway, were set up, in North Carolina, at South Mills<\/a>, Spence\u2019s lock, the Culpeper lock, and, in Virginia, at the Northwest or Wallace lock, the Wilkins lock, and the Deep Creek or Gilmerton lock.\u00a0 The only locks which remain today are in South Mills and Deep Creek; the others were removed between 1896 and 1899.
\nBy about 1805, the canal was complete, but only small boats could traverse its course.\u00a0 The canal was in use during the War of 1812.\u00a0 Between 1839 and the beginning of the Civil War, it was widened and deepened.\u00a0 The locks were improved with masonry, enabling larger boats such as passenger boats, freighters, and stern-wheel steamboats, to pass through.\u00a0 Between 1896 and 1899, the masonry locks were replaced with timber ones.\u00a0 During the Civil War, the canal fell into disrepair but it reopened in 1899.
\nOriginally owned by the Dismal Swamp Canal Company, the canal was sold to the Lake Drummond Canal and Water Company.\u00a0 On March 30, 1929, the federal government acquired the canal for $500,000.\u00a0 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers now supervises it.\u00a0 Today, the Dismal Swamp Canal is nineteen miles long, sixty feet wide, and at a controlling depth of nine feet.\u00a0 The canal is part of the Intracoastal Waterway that stretches along the Atlantic and Gulf Coast states.<\/div>\n
\"Boats<\/div>\n
References: Alexander Brown Crosby,The Dismal Swamp Canal<\/i> (1946) Mary Evelyn Whitehurst, \u201cThe Dismal Swamp Canal,\u201d in Historical Highlights of Camden County, 1777-1977<\/i> (1977) The Way We Lived in North Carolina,<\/i> website map: http:\/\/www.waywelivednc.com\/maps\/historical\/dismal-swamp-canal.htm<\/a> Camden County, North Carolina website page on Dismal Swamp Canal: http:\/\/www.albemarle-nc.com\/camden\/history\/canal.shtml<\/a> US Army Corps of Engineers, \u201cNorfolk District Dismal Swamp & Dismal Swamp Canal Environmental Restoration and Flood Control Study\u201d: http:\/\/www.nao.usace.army.mil\/projects\/civil%20works%20projects\/Dismal%20Swamp\/homepage.asp<\/a><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DISMAL SWAMP CANAL marker reads: Connects Albemarle Sound with Chesapeake Bay. Begun 1790; in use by War of 1812. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Authorized in 1790, the Dismal Swamp Canal connects Albemarle Sound in North Carolina with Chesapeake Bay in Virginia.\u00a0 In 1728, Col. William Byrd II of Virginia was among the first to realize how … Continue reading “Dismal Swamp Canal”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Yemh-zZ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncgenweb.us\/camden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncgenweb.us\/camden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncgenweb.us\/camden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncgenweb.us\/camden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncgenweb.us\/camden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ncgenweb.us\/camden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2231\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncgenweb.us\/camden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncgenweb.us\/camden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncgenweb.us\/camden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}