of the swamp, which overflowed into the Little River. 



"The arm of Dismal, which we passed through to 

 get to this new land (as it is called) is 3i miles 

 measured; little or no timber in it, but very full 

 of reeds and excessive rich." 



It is possible that Byrd received descriptions of this 

 large, reedy marsh from his host, Thomas Speight, the Carolina 

 Commissioners or the local residents who came to visit during his 

 two-week stay in Gates County. 



In the Dismal, at the mouth of Corapeake Swamp there is 

 visible on color infrared photography, a series of three 

 concentric areas of disturbance (Fig. 6 ) . The 30 acre remnant 

 marsh is represented by a whitish area. The next larger zone, of 

 darker appearance than the surrounding swamp , about 300 acres in 

 size, indicates the former marsh area of recent times, perhaps 

 the remaining size before the era of modern fire suppression. 

 A larger, fine-textured, light blue area of over 1,000 acres may 

 represent the limits of the large marsh described by Washington. 







\ 





■\ 



1 GW 







v^ 



GW 



7 





, r~y 



y 



FM 



■) ( 



/ 



SUFFOLK 



% 



SCAR D^ 



/ ^ 



^\ 



Fig. 6. Corapeake Marsh (Washington's Rice Farm). CS - Corapeake Swamp, MI - mesic 

 islands. KM - remnant marsh, FM - former marsh, invaded by forest in recent years, GW 

 possible outline of original marsh described by George Washington in 1763. 



50 



