The Atlantic coastal plain is, therefore, a very flat region with a
gentle slope upward from the landward side of deep water extend
ing back to the “ falls line.” Narrow to the north; it widens to
the south. With its eastern limit submerged the coast line lies a
little to the east of its center, while its western boundary is a
geological and geographical boundary,—one that has as profoundly
affected the industries of the people living along it as any other
natural line in the world.
Having defined the coastal plain, it may be stated simply that
its vast areas of fresh water morass have been largely formed by
the retarding influences of abundant vegetation upon the drain of
the waters into the ocean or the shallow sounds of the coast. It
is not at all unlikely that the extensive beach drift has, by enclosing
the sounds of the coast to the north and south of Hatteras, aided
considerably in the formation of these extensive swamp areas where
we now find all the forces of nature given over to the production
of animal and plant life in a wild state.
No description of the Dismal Swamp would be complete with
out mention of the central body of water, Take Drummond, so
well known —though visited actually by few —through the lines
of Moore—
‘ ‘ They made her a grave too cold and damp
For a soul so warm and true;
And she’s gone to tire Lake of the Dismal Swamp,
Where all night long, by a firefly lamp,
She paddles her white canoe.
11 And her firefly lamp I soon shall see
And her paddle I shall hear;
Long and loving our life shall be,
And I’ll hide the maid in a cypress tree,
When the footstep of death is near.
‘ 1 Away to the Dismal Swamp he speeds—
His path was rugged and sore;
Through tangled juniper, beds of reeds,
Through many a fen where the serpent feeds,
And man never trod before.”
And Take Drummond is one of the most unique of the lakes of
this continent. Only accessible through narrow canals, extending
through miles of heavily forested swamp, its shores are lined by
unbroken forest and afford an example of primeval conditions.
The lake is not large, being about three by five miles, and hidden
away as it is in the forests we would expect to find its waters little
The Free Lance .
[October,