[5] This marked the first time that public access to Great Dismal Swamp was made possible in North Carolina.

Features of the park include the canal which is used regularly by boaters using the Intracoastal Waterway and several miles of hiking and biking trails.

In 1665, William Drummond, future governor of North Carolina, was the first European to explore the lake which now bears his name.

William Byrd II led a surveying party into the swamp to draw a dividing line between Virginia and North Carolina in 1728.

[7] He then formed the Dismal Swamp Land Company in 1763, which proceeded to drain and harvest timber from part of the area.

[8] Before and during the American Civil War, the Great Dismal Swamp was a hideout for runaway slaves from the surrounding area.

A drier swamp and the suppression of wildfires, which once cleared the land for seed germination, created ecological conditions that were less favorable to the survival of cypress stands.

The trees of the area have changed from various types of cypress and other water loving plants to red maple and white cedar.

[9] The drained swamp lands have converted to hardwood forests of red maple, black walnut, pawpaw and several species of oak.

White-tailed deer, wild turkey, bobwhite and marsh rabbits live in the areas along the trails.

There are 16.7 miles (26.9 km) of logging trails open to hiking and mountain biking through swamp forests.