Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge

The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1974 to help protect and preserve a portion of the Great Dismal Swamp, a marshy region on the Coastal Plain of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina in the United States. It is located in parts of the independent cities of Chesapeake and Suffolk in Virginia, and the counties of Camden, Gates, and Pasquotank in North Carolina.DescriptionThe Great Dismal Swamp is a southern swamp, the northernmost of many swamps along the Atlantic Ocean's coast, including the Everglades and the Big Cypress in Florida, the Okefenokee, the Congress and Four Holes swamps of South Carolina, and some of the Carolina Bays.Essential to the swamp ecosystem are its water resources, native vegetative communities, and varied wildlife species. The Great Dismal Swamp's ecological significance and its wealth of history and lore make it a unique wilderness. It is one of the last large wild areas remaining in the Eastern United States.