A Swampy History

I had to buy some souvenirs while I was down in Georgia.  I searched through the visitor's center bookstore and found some interesting items (I had two birthdays to shop for also).  I was going to buy a T-shirt, but I could only find very environmental designs.  I found out later that there was another gift shop that I didn't know about.  One of the best things that I found was a volume entitled "History of Okefenokee Swamp."  I discovered a site where you can find the book in your local library.

The book was originally published in 1926.  After I started reading and discovered how fun it is I'm quite tempted to find an original copy on-line.  Several years ago I did go through a period of buying old books and they are very enjoyable.  However, the copy that I have was reprinted in the 90s by the Charlton County Historical Society.  The perspective is definitely different from what you'd encounter today.  At the time the book was written the swamp was privately owned and people were logging and had had tried to drain the area.  I'll retype the opening paragraphs below to just give you a taste of this book.  I haven't finished it yet--but I'm in no rush as I don't want the experience to end too quickly.

In southeastern Georgia, extending along the Florida border, there lies, until recently unheralded and unsung to the outside world, one of the wonder-spots of this great country.  The subject of this sketch is what is known on all the maps of the State of Georgia s the "Okefenokee Swamp."  This Swamp, if it can rightfully be described as a swamp, covers from 600 to 700 square miles of territory, is 60 miles long and varies in width from 18 to 30 miles, comprising a total area of from 500,000 to 700,000 acres, and lies principally in the counties of Charlton, Ware and Clinch.

This magnificent Swamp, one of the very largest, if not the largest, in the entire United States, is truly a nature-lover's paradise.  The scenic beauty and grandeur, with its changing vistas of island, dense bays overgrown with moss-covered trees, open prairies covered with lily-pads of incomparable beauty, lakes--from the miniature pools to the great ponds--infested with alligators, reptiles and fish, giant trees reaching far into the skies, and over all the flitting to and fro of the hundreds of water birds of every species, delights and thrills the heart of any one who has a spark of the artistic in his nature.

The artist can find in this Swamp scenes for masterpieces--from the beautiful to the sombre--for while there are scenes of unsurpassed beauty, there are others dark, dangerous and foreboding.  The ornithologist is thrown into an ecstasy of delight, for birds ranging from the majestic whooping crane to the lowly wren, inhabit this swamp, and, too, there are many rare species almost extinct in other sections of the country to be found here.  The ivory-bill woodpecker, thought to be wholly extinct, is still to be seen in the heart of this great swamp, and many species of heron, egret, and other plumed birds can be found in numbers.  To the hunter of game--those who hunt for the primitive passion of killing--and th those who like to observe and study the wild in its native haunts, it is an enchanting spot, for all the animals native to this section can be found, from the scurrying water-rat to the vicious panther, the amiable bear and the harmless, beautiful deer.  The trapper for the fur-bearing animal finds it a most lucrative place to ply his trade, for in the Swamp can be caught otter, raccoon, o'possum, bob-cat, mink, etc., and the lakes and prairies are infested by the alligator.

If you are interested in the history of the Okefenokee, and if you like period pieces (this reminds me of historical travelogue videos I've downloaded) then check out this fascinating book.
~Matt