The Great Dismal Swamp
99% Invisible15 Aug 2017

The Great Dismal Swamp

On the border of Virginia and North Carolina stretches a great, dismal swamp. The Great Dismal Swamp, actually — that’s the name British colonists gave it centuries ago. The swamp covers about 190 square miles today, but at its peak, before parts of it were drained and developed, it was around ten times bigger, spanning roughly 2,000 square miles of Virginia and North Carolina.

And it’s understandable why people called the swamp “dismal.” Temperatures can reach over 100 degrees. It’s humid and soggy, filled with thorns and thickets, teeming with all sorts of dangerous and unpleasant wildlife. The panthers that used to live there are now gone, but even today there are black bears, poisonous snakes, and swarms of yellow flies and mosquitoes.

Hundreds of years ago, before the Civil War, the dangers of the swamp and its seeming impenetrability actually attracted people to it. The land was so untamed that horses and boats couldn’t enter, and the colonists who were filing into the region detested it. William Byrd II, a Virginia planter, called it “a miserable morass where nothing can inhabit.” But people did inhabit the swamp, including thousands of enslaved Africans and African Americans who escaped their captors and formed communities in the swamp. This “dismal” landscape was the site of one of the most remarkable and least told stories of resistance to slavery in American history.

The Great Dismal Swamp

Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early.

Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Avsnitt(775)

Hidden Levels #3: This Game Wants YOU

Hidden Levels #3: This Game Wants YOU

Before Fortnite and Call of Duty ruled the scene, the US Army quietly shaped the early 2000s with a wildly popular, free shooter designed to excite young people about enlisting.Hidden Levels is a prod...

14 Okt 202544min

Hidden Levels #2: Stick It to 'Em

Hidden Levels #2: Stick It to 'Em

From airplanes to Pac-Man to the battlefield, the joystick has quietly shaped the way humans connect with machines.Hidden Levels is a production of 99% Invisible and WBUR's Endless Thread. Subscribe t...

10 Okt 202541min

Hidden Levels #1: Mr. Boomshakalaka

Hidden Levels #1: Mr. Boomshakalaka

Step back into the ’90s, when dunks broke backboards, catchphrases caught fire, and one arcade game turned every kid into an NBA superstar.Hidden Levels is a production of 99% Invisible and WBUR's End...

7 Okt 202537min

Get Played with Roman Mars and Ben Brock Johnson

Get Played with Roman Mars and Ben Brock Johnson

In anticipation of the release of Hidden Levels, Roman and Ben join Heather Anne Campbell (Rick and Morty) and Matt Apodaca of Get Played to talk controllers, culture, and why video games might just b...

3 Okt 202543min

The Power Broker #13: Drop Dead City

The Power Broker #13: Drop Dead City

Like a shadow epilogue to The Power Broker, this story plunges into the chaos of 1970s New York where debt, unions, and one brutal headline nearly broke the city.Drop Dead City is now playing in selec...

30 Sep 202554min

Constitution Breakdown #2: Rep. Sharice Davids

Constitution Breakdown #2: Rep. Sharice Davids

This is the second episode of our ongoing series breaking down the U.S. Constitution.This month, Roman and Elizabeth dive into Article One with Representative Sharice Davids, examining lawmaking, comm...

27 Sep 20251h 17min

The New Jungle

The New Jungle

In a Colorado meatpacking town, refugees fleeing persecution find themselves in some of the most dangerous jobs in America.This episode was produced in partnership with the Food & Environment Reportin...

23 Sep 202535min

Replaceable You

Replaceable You

Mary Roach dives into the strange, funny, and unsettling world of designing new body parts, from pig hearts to prosthetic feet, revealing just how messy replacing ourselves can be.Replaceable You Subs...

16 Sep 202534min

Populärt inom Business & ekonomi

badfluence
framgangspodden
varvet
rss-jossan-nina
uppgang-och-fall
rss-inga-dumma-fragor-om-pengar
rss-borsens-finest
avanzapodden
svd-tech-brief
rss-kort-lang-analyspodden-fran-di
bathina-en-podcast
fill-or-kill
montrosepodden
24fragor
borsmorgon
dynastin
rss-dagen-med-di
market-makers
tabberaset
kapitalet-en-podd-om-ekonomi