The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1882-03-22
MISCELLANY.
A REMARKABLE SPOT.
An Interesting Visit TO the Delaware PENN.
suin Cypress Swamp.

Cypress Swamp in the lower part of this
State, is place of interest at any time. In
the fall, however, when the little attractive
ness with which summer clothes it has be-
come the withered leaves of fall time, It's
wide acres are positively dismal Last week
rambled over portion of it. With the
consoling thought that snakes and other
creeping things, with which the soft earth
abounds, were beginning to lose interest in
things human, gave freedom to my in
clination and had a tolerably good time.
The rain of the two weeks previous had ex-
hnguished the last smoking embers of the
fire that had been burning through the sum-
mer and the atmosphere was free from the
sitting smoke that month or two before
hung heavily over the tree tops These
fires occur frequently and are caused by the
carelessness of some one. The peculiar
nature of Cypress Swamp at these tirpes 10
better understood. For ten or fifteen feet
below the surface the devouring element
burrows, finding everywhere material on
which to feed. The soil is but decayed veg
etable matteraccumulated through centuries.
Sometimes these fires insidiously eat their
way beneath the fields of corn that here and
there grow ON the edge of the swamp, and
frequently the rural inhabitant, upon wax.
with holes big enough in some places to
comfortably take in his granary. The swamp
is mystery. At time, to which even
tradition is silent, it had been basin--a
basin of considerable width and breadth,
for the Indians had sat upon its bottom, fed
upon CLAIMS and oysters, and indolently
smoked pipes in the shade of the cypress
The shell strata found in many places prove
this. The Expresses which had shaded these
aboriginal epicures many centuries ago now
lie, or did years ago before the shingle hunter
came into the swamp, fallen forest, with
fifteen feet of swamp and acres of trees of
another age growing thirty feet above it
The swamp is an alluvial deposit. In its
depths the creeks of Indian River Bay find
a source and the water, dark with the soak
ings of vegetable matter, are carried by
these on the.one side into the Atlantic Ocean,
and by the Pocomoke Riveron the other side
into the Chesapeake Bay. The theory is
that the streams of water that are now mere
creeks were the channels up which elements
in the process of,gradual formation were car
ried and deposited. The forest of cypress
timber gradually gave way until the trees
became completely buried This matter,
which in time filed up the basin, has served
to preserve the cypress Very few of them,
fury shingle hunters have thrived in the
swamp. Among the many things sof inter
est saw were the cabins of these men.
The shingle hunting industry is now almost
extinct. Those engaged in the business
would go into the swamps and work there for
weeks. In dry weather, such as that of last
summer, the soil Of the swamp would crack
in many places, md with the instinct which
experience gave, the hunters would search
for these assures. The sign rarely failed
After the tree had been resurrected the
drivers would come, and in very short
time the once buried trunk would be con-
verted into large pile of shingles which
were then more profitable than now. AL
most all of the old buildings in Sussex county
are rooted with this, and many thousands
were shipped to other States This being
before. the time of railroads, the shingles
were carried to Milford and other towns on
neighboring streams and thence shipped to
dealers in large cities. Nothing now re.
mains of this once lucrative business but the
cabins and the swamp and the few gray
haired rustics living hereabout who made
thai' dollars in this way Wilmington (Del.)
Neirs.