A vast untamed swampland once dominated from what is Virginia Beach today extending far inland, and history tells of emancipated slaves, free blacks, and outsider Europeans building free settlements on isolated islands deep in the dismal mire.
Legends and history abound in these “foul damps,” as early Virginian explorer William Byrd II called them, which “ascent without ceasing, corrupt the air, and render it unfit for respiration”—legends including even the English pirate Blackbeard, who hid in the marsh during the War of 1812. The interior waterways were later used by patrols of both the North and South during the Civil War.
Yet, unlike that infamous pirate of the American Colonies, a modern local legend can still be seen in the swamp surrounding Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, today. Despite its black waters, putrid and foul, there’s a silver lining—or rainbow sheen—to be found.
A natural phenomenon known as rainbow pools occurs, usually in winter, in the First Landing State Park and the aptly named Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (so-christened by William Byrd II himself). Walking dry wooden ramps, when the water is still and sunlight just right, between the swollen roots of bald cypress trees, visitors can catch sight of this spectacularly colorful natural phenomenon on the water.
On one hand, this natural effect is a delicate one, subject to destruction by the slightest disruption in the water.
“Movement by sheet flow, current, or wind disturbance would destroy the fragile rainbow film,” Mr. Ripple said.
On the other hand, these rainbow pools become more pronounced when it doesn’t rain for a couple of weeks.
Nestled in a bustling metropolis of almost 1 million people, this hidden jewel of nature still offers respite from the hustle of modern life in the Chesapeake Bay area.
In its earliest known history, indigenous peoples once hunted in the area 5,000 years ago.
The first settlers landed at what is now First Landing State Park in 1607. In the 18th century, George Washington himself forged into the swamp on a land development venture. He employed enslaved workers to dig trenches to drain the damp soil, but their efforts ultimately failed.
Today, the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is the largest intact remnant of this once-vast wetland. It gained formal protection from development in 1973 when local forest products company the Union Camp Corporation donated 49,097 acres to the Nature Conservancy—and did so on George Washington’s birthday.
That land was subsequently conveyed to the federal government and combined with additional purchased land to establish the wildlife refuge in 1974.
Once a home for pirates and freedom-seeking pariahs from the late 1600s through the Civil War, the wetlands are still a habitat for over 200 species of birds, nearly 100 species of butterflies, turtles, whitetail deer, bobcats, otters, and one of the largest black bear populations on the east coast. And, let’s not forget, the gorgeous pastel swamp rainbow pools.
