200th Anniversary Luncheon - Dismal Swamp Canal

The 200th anniversary of the Dismal Swamp Canal and the 65th anniversary of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Kick-off Luncheon are to be held on Friday, February 11, 2005, at noon, in the Chesapeake Conference Center, 900 Greenbrier Circle, Chesapeake, VA.

The Luncheon will be hosted by Camden County, the Dismal Swamp Canal Welcome Center and Dismal Swamp Natural Area, in North Carolina, and the City of Chesapeake, the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, and Great Dismal Swamp Coalition, in Virginia. All federal, state and local officials from both Virginia and North Carolina are invited, along with Col. Prettyman-Beck of the Norfolk District, US Army Corps of Engineers, who will serve as Mistress of Ceremonies. The general public is invited.

Bland Simpson will provide entertainment for this event. A teacher since 1982 in UNC-Chapel Hill's Creative Writing Program, and now the program's director, Bland is author of the book The Great Dismal, A Carolinian's Swamp Memoir. In this book, Bland, who grew up near the swamp in North Carolina, blends personal experience, travel narrative, oral history, and natural history to create an intriguing portrait of the Great Dismal Swamp and its people. In much the same way, his live performance blends these same characteristics with song and music.

Tickets for the luncheon are $20 per person. Come celebrate 200 years of history, the oldest man-made waterway in the country still in use today … the DISMAL SWAMP CANAL. Phone (252) 771.8333 or email Penny Leary-Smith for tickets or more information.