The Great Dismal Swamp National Heritage is a bipartisan bill directing the Secretary of the Interior to assess the suitability and feasibility of designating the Dismal Swamp and its associated sites as a National Heritage Area.
National Heritage Areas are sites designated by Congress to hold historical, cultural and environmental significance to the American people that tell regionally unique but nationally significant stories celebrating our nation’s diverse heritage.
Selected for consideration as an NHA due to its significant number of rich cultural and historical sites, the Swamp is home to the ancestral lands of the Nansemond Indian Nation and historic lands of the Haliwa-Saponi and Meherrin Tribes; the largest known collection of archaeological artifacts from maroon colonies (generational communities of people who escaped the horrors of antebellum slavery by living hidden in the Swamp); one of the only known water-based stops on the Underground Railroad to freedom; and a thriving community descending from early colonial Free People of Color whose families resisted oppression by retreating into the Swamp.
National Heritage Areas do not affect private property rights and the National Park Service does not assume ownership or impose land use controls over land inside the heritage area, leaving the decision-making authority in the hands of local communities.
National Heritage Areas are sites designated by Congress to hold historical, cultural and environmental significance to the American people that tell regionally unique but nationally significant stories celebrating our nation’s diverse heritage.
Selected for consideration as an NHA due to its significant number of rich cultural and historical sites, the Swamp is home to the ancestral lands of the Nansemond Indian Nation and historic lands of the Haliwa-Saponi and Meherrin Tribes; the largest known collection of archaeological artifacts from maroon colonies (generational communities of people who escaped the horrors of antebellum slavery by living hidden in the Swamp); one of the only known water-based stops on the Underground Railroad to freedom; and a thriving community descending from early colonial Free People of Color whose families resisted oppression by retreating into the Swamp.
National Heritage Areas do not affect private property rights and the National Park Service does not assume ownership or impose land use controls over land inside the heritage area, leaving the decision-making authority in the hands of local communities.
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