Historical and Descriptive Sketches of Norfolk and Vicinity; Including Portsmouth and the Adjacent Counties, During a Period of Two Hundred Years Also Sketches of Williamsburg, Hampton, Suffolk, Smithfield, and Other Places, with Descriptions of Some of T (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1853. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER LXV. Interesting Object -- Lake Drummond-- Hotel--Boundary Line -- Connubial Parties--Location of the Lake--Dismal Swamp--William Wirt's Statement-- Extent--Soil, Trees, &c--Beasts--Undergrowth--Reeds, Vines, &c.--Dismal Swamp Canal--Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad--Jericho Canal--Lumber Trade--Draining the Swamp--Peat--The Lake--Interesting Scene--Graphic Description--The Poet Moore--Love Affair--Touching Lines--Deep Creek-- Houses -- Trade -- Inhabitants -- Washington Point -- St. Helena--Lands-- IT. S. Government Buildings--Concluding Remarks. There is in the vicinity of our city an object of considerable interest, of which little is known, even by many of the inhabitants. We allude to Lake Drummond, or, as the poet Moore called it, "The Lake of the Dismal Swamp." It lies about twentytwo miles from Norfolk, and four miles west of the canal, in which its waters are emptied through a lateral branch, two miles from the Hotel, which is situated on the east branch of the canal, with its centre on the boundary line of Virginia and North Carolina--a convenient stopping-place for connubial parties from the former State. The quiet and unruffled waters of the lake are to be found in the interior of the Dismal Swamp, through which, by the way, runs the dividing line of the two adjoining States, the larger portion of the swamp being in Virginia, and extending in a northerly and southerly direction about thirty miles, and averaging in breadth about ten miles. Mr. Wirt styled it the "Great Dismal Swamp," and in an account of the running of the boundary line, he stated that it was "more than forty miles in length, and twenty in breadth; its soil, a black, deep mire, covered with a stupendous forest of juniper and cypress trees, whose luxurious branches, interwoven thr...