Virtual Tour of the Washington Ditch Trail

This virtual tour shows a segment of the Washington Ditch Trail in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The Washington Ditch is named after George Washington, who surveyed the area in 1763 while part of the Dismal Swamp Land Company. Enslaved laborers cleared the land and dug the ditch in the mid- to late-1760s. It has served as an efficient route through the swamp to Lake Drummond for centuries and is now part of a recreation trail maintained by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The trail ends at a boardwalk on Lake Drummond with a sightseeing area.