If you are into boating, hiking, and birding, the Dismal Swamp Welcome Center can introduce you to it all!

Located on the beautiful and historic Dismal Swamp Canal, the Welcome Center offers "Southern Hospitality" to visitors and, for boaters, a free night at the 150’ dock for signing the Boaters’ Log. The Dismal Swamp Canal is an alternate route along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW), connecting the Chesapeake Bay with the Albemarle Sound. The AIWW provides pleasure boats with a protected inland channel between Norfolk, Virginia, all the way to Miami, Florida. The Canal is on the National Register of Historic Places as a Historic Landmark, noted as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, and has received the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Designation. The Welcome Center provides a rest stop to nearly 2,000 boaters yearly. More boating information and updates can be found here.

If you need to stretch your legs, check out the three-mile paved trail adjacent to the Canal along US Highway 17, with parking at each end and accessible from the Welcome Center. The trail is part of the North Carolina Birding Trail and the East Coast Greenway.

For more information, visit the Dismal Swamp Canal Welcome Center website, call 877-771-8333, or send an email to [email protected].