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Fleeing To Dismal Swamp, Slaves And Outcasts Found Freedom : NPR
by thenewgreen

    Most Americans know about the Underground Railroad, the route that allowed Southern slaves to escape North. Some slaves found freedom by hiding closer to home, however — in Great Dismal Swamp.

    The swamp is a vast wetland in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. In George Washington's time, it was a million acres of trees, dark water, bears, bobcats, snakes and stinging insects. British settlers, who first arrived in 1607, believed the swamp was haunted.

    By 1620, some of their slaves may have overcome that fear to find freedom there.