Dismas
ST.
This tract was entirely covered with trees, with almost impervious brushwood between them, but it has now in part been cleared and drained. In the midst of the swamp is Drummond's Lake, seven miles in length, the scene of Thomas Moore's "Lake of the Dismal Swamp." In 1899, the Dismal Swamp canal, connecting Chesapeake Bay with Albemarle Sound, which from about the beginning of the 19th century to the close of the Civil War was a famous historic waterway, was reopened for navigation. It extends from the village of Deep Creek, Va., to South Mills, N.
C., a distance of 22 miles; and is one of the most important links in the chain of inland waterways extending along the coast from New York to Florida.
A marked advantage of the restored canal is that it enables shipping to avoid the dangers of Cape Hatteras; another is that it furnishes the means of inland and protected navigation for the smaller vessels of the navy and the revenue service. Although only 22 miles long it opens up 2,500 miles of inland navigation.