The Great Dismal: A Swamp Memoir

by Bland Simpson

Includes personal experience, travel narrative, oral and natural history of the Great Dismal Swamp

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Nature, Memoir, History, Southern, Natural History

185 pages, Paperback

First published March 16, 1990

About the author

Bland Simpson's many books include "Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals: The Mystery of the Carroll A. Deering" and "Into the Sound Country: A Carolinian's Coastal Plain" (both from the University of North Carolina Press). A member of the Tony Award-winning Red Clay Ramblers, Simpson has collaborated on such musicals as "King Mackerel & The Blues Are Running", "Kudzu", and the Broadway hit "Fool Moon". He teaches creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was the 2005 Fine Arts recipient of the North Carolina Award, the state's highest civilian honor."

Reviews

[Piedmont_Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bland Simpson is the former director of the creative writing program at UNC-Chapel Hill, the author of five other books, and the long time pianist for the Red Clay Ramblers ( ( http://redclayramblers.com/ ). Simpson grew up in Elizabeth City, NC near the Southern boundary of the Great Dismal Swamp. As a boy he fished and hunted with his father in the swamp, and watched its evolution from a no-man’s land inhabited by moonshiners and the descendents of runaway slaves into a National Wildlife Refuge. Simpson’s narrative goes beyond 20th century, and discusses the Native American presence in the swamp, a venture where George Washington and several business associates lost a large sum trying to dig canals through the swamp to improve shipping, the arrival of logging companies, and more. Simpson’s affection for the swamp and genuine interest in the characters that have lived there or still make a living there is obvious; this is a great natural history and the best alternative to actually making the trip there.

[Agatha Donkar Lund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part memoir, mostly history, this book was about what I expected -- kind of boring but ultimately told me the stuff I wanted to know about the Great Dismal Swamp in the NC. I enjoyed it well enough but wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't harboring a leftover childhood obsession with the Great Dismal, like I was.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great Dismal: A Carolinian’s Swamp Memoir by Bland Simpson (UNC Press 1990) (975.5579) (3962).

This is another fine North Carolina-centric exploration of forgotten history and unexplored backroads by author Bland Simpson. The Great Dismal Swamp is located in the extremely rural northeast corner of North Carolina and extends into the southernmost portion of southeast Virginia’s Tidewater region. This volume sketches the history and geography of the swamp from the time a planter, entrepreneur, and politician named George Washington invested in a canal right through the heart of the swamp in the 1700’s.

My paternal great-grandparents literally lived at the edge of the Great Dismal Swamp when my father was a child in the 1930’s. I visited the abandoned shell of their huge old two story house in the 1970’s. Thanks, Bland Simpson, for adding color to my memories.

I purchased a used PB copy in good condition for $1.50 on 6/5/24 from McKay’s Books.

My rating: 7/10, finished 6/30/24 (3962).

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[Brian Yatman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. Though the book is beautifully written and full of detail and nuance, I do wonder why the author chose not to interview any of the oft-mentioned black inhabitants of Great Dismal. And I was really curious as to the Native American history of the area, which isn't touched on at all, or barely.

[Joe Vess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really neat book, combining personal history and stories from the author with the history of the swamp, especially the past 100 years or so. I would have enjoyed a bit more formal natural history components, but it definitely made me want to visit the swamp that much more. I also appreciated the author's work in tracking down folks who had lived in and around the swamp for years and getting their stories as well, that really helped make the book.

[David R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of first- and second-hand recollections of life in and near the Great Dismal Swamp, largely in the 20th century. Simpson, who grew up nearby, returns again and again, taking in the perspectives of those who lived in, earned a living from, or took delight in the 900 square miles of today's Wildlife Refuge. A real treat to read.

[Curt · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have an interest in natural history, history or just a good story, this book is well worth reading.