•1728 :
Colonel William Byrd II first proposes a canal.
•
1787 :
Virginia authorizes canal construction.
•
1790 :
North Carolina authorizes canal construction.
•
1793 :
The Dismal Swamp Canal Company begins
digging.
•
1804 :
The causeway road opens, eventually becoming
U.S. 17.
•
1805 :
The full length of the canal opens.
•
1812 :
The Feeder Ditch supplying water is cut. Number
of locks is expanded from two to five or six.
•
1814 :
A 20-ton decked vessel passes for the first time.
•
1818 :
President James Monroe visits.
•
1820 :
Canal built connecting Dismal Swamp to
Northwest River and Currituck Sound. Some
remnants still exist.
•
1827-
1829 :
Canal widened and deepened. Locks converted
from wood to stone. President Andrew Jackson
visits. Lake Drummond Hotel, the “Halfway
House,” opens.
•
1843 :
Gilmerton Canal, no longer in use, is made north
of Deep Creek.
•
1856 :
Turner’s Cut completed, eliminating twists of
Joyce’s Creek.
•
1859 :
Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal opens.
•
1861-
1865
: Civil War takes toll on both canals. Ships sunk to
block Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal.
•
1866 :
Passenger service starts on Dismal Swamp Canal.
•
1878 :
Company is nearly bankrupt, canal deteriorates,
and assets are sold.
•
1892 :
Lake Drummond Canal & Water Company takes
over.
•
1896-
1899 :
Major improvements made, locks cut to two. The
United States Government is in the process of
establishing a toll-free inland waterway along the
East Coast.
•
1913 :
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers takes over the
Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal.
•
1925 :
Congress authorizes purchase of Dismal Swamp
Canal.
•
1929 :
Purchase is finally made for the same price as the
Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, $500,000.
•
1933 :
Canal Dredged to 50 feet wide, 9 feet deep.
•
1933-
1934 :
New U.S. 17 drawbridges completed at Deep
Creek and South Mills.
•
1935 :
New Control spillway built on feeder ditch.
•
1940-
1941 :
New concrete and steel locks built at Deep Creek
and South Mills.
•
1974 :
Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
established by Congress. Navigational needs of
the canal are made secondary to water conservation
needs of the swamp.
•
1988 :
Dismal Swamp Canal placed on the National
Register of Historic Places, and is also noted as a
Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
•
2000 : :
Deep Creek Lock chamber dewatered and major
repairs performed to the lock and gates.
•
2004 :
Dismal Swamp Canal included in the National
Park Service's Underground Railroad Network
to Freedom Program.
Copyright 2008 -- ICW-NET, LLC.