The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-08-19
STRANGE LEGEND OF
LADY OF THE LAKE
Lake is Not in Scotland, But in
Virginia
STORY OF ADlSMAL SWAMP
Is Partly Indian In origin, But the
Mysterious LADY" Is Paleface.
Her Name and Person
atty Unknown.
STORY OF ADlSMAL SWAMP
BY CHARLES F. sTANseURY.


The Lady of the Lake of the Great
Dismal Swamp Is going to prove a valua-
BILE asset to the jamestown Exposition,
which Is but few miles away from the
wonderful swamp and the lake over
which the lady presides.
The southern states, especially Virginia,
are rich in Indian legends, most of which
are overlooking with the poetry of senti-
ment.
The wrath Lady of the Lake of the
Dismal Swamp" while not SO old in song
and story as the famous white doe of
Roanoak Island. is still of SUFFICIENT an
tiquity to entitle her to a place among
the first families of ghostly herolnes. Ev-
cry night at midnight on Lake Drum
mond. In the very heart of the Dismal
Swamp. she may be seen by those en-
lowed with Imagination. padding her
white canoe. guided by the light of her
FREELY lamp. Her restless spirit has been
thus engaged at dead of night for more
than century and half. Her lamp
glowed on the dark waters of the dread
lake when Tom Moore was In Norfolk In
1904; so he promptly proceeded to immor-
talize her.
The legend Of the lady of Lake Drum
mond Is partly Indian, in that the Indians
were responsible for the story that she
is to be seen at midnight on the lake.
The canoe, likewise, is an Indian canoe.
and the FREELY lamp can be of none other
than Indian origin. The lady. however,
is paleface, but unlike the white doe OF
hoanoak Island, which was Inflated Vir.
glnia Dare bewitched, the name and per-
sonality of the lady of the lake have
never been known. Even her faithful
lover, who lost his life seeking her In
the dread morass. while his constancy re-
verberates through the corridors of time.
is himself nameless.
Tradition avers-aided and abetted by
Tom Moore-that the wrath of her lover
joined her and that they have ever since
crossed the lake together at midnight
For evidence we must fall back on the
Indian hunter:
But oft, from the Indian hunters camp,
This maid and her lover so true,
Are seen, at the hour of midnight damp,
To cross the lake by a firehy's lamp
And paddle their white canoe"
Notwithstanding this happy reunion of
the spirits of the lovers, which occurred
more than a century ago, present day
superstition insists upon the lady of the
lake being the sole occupant of the canoe
as it skins he dark waters at the fatal
hour. But few people know the complete
legend as depicted in Moores ballad, and
1t is generally believed that the lady rules
over the lake alone.
1t is obvious from the record that she
fled to the Dismal Swamp because she did
not approve of her grave. For
THEY made her grave too cold and
damp
For soul so warm and true;
She has gone to the Lake of the Dismal
Swamp
Where all night long by freely lamp
She paddles her white canoe"
As between the grave and the swamp
many people having acquired an imagi-
nary dread of the latter, might prefer the
former Dampness Is a characteristic
they hold In common.
The restless spirit of the lady having
gone to Lake Drummond to sojourn, her
mortal lover followed her there, soon to
become immortal. Exactly how long after
her demise it was, is not known. Tom
Moore is not explicit on this point. He
says, or, rather, quotes:
'"fhey tell of a young man who lost
his mind upon the death of a girl he
loved, and who, suddenly disappearing
from his friends. was never afterward
heard of AS he frequently said In his
had gone to the Dismal Swamp it is sup
posed that he had wandered into that
dreary wilderness and had died of hun
ger, or been lost in some of It's dreadful
morasses."
Moore's ballad tells more of the lover
than of the lady The young man had a
most terrible time of it In the fens where
the serpent feeds and where the she wolf
SIRED the brake and
1.-THE commensurate hrea thpd in his carr
The ballad goes on to tell how he saw
a meteor flash Ger the lake and taking it
for the light of his dear one
"He followed a boat of the birchen bark
Which carried him off from the shore,
Far, far, he followed the meteor spark
The winds were high and the clouds were
dark,
And the boat returned no more"
While there are no she wolves or wolves
of any kind In the swamp there Is an
abundance of other wild animals and 1t
is perhaps well for the lady of the canoe
that she Is not mortal, for the swamp
abounds in bears, wild cattle and vene-
nous snakes. Nor are there any birch
trees, but there is wide variety of other
kinds of fora; and Moore who wrote his
ballad in Norfolk after visit to the
swamp, may well be forgiven the poetcal
license. The house where Moore wrote
the Lady of the Dismal Swamp is still
standing in Norfolk. In those days II was
used an as inn, at which the poet was So
journng.
Lake Drummond, the theatre of the SUI
pernatural drama herein depicted, is the
heart of the Great Dismal Swamp of Vir-
ginia. 1t is said to have been named after
its discoverer. who, says the same tradi-
ton, wandering in pursuit of game with
two companions, was lost and in his
ramblings came upon the lake. His COM
panions were engulfed In the morass, but
Drummond escaped and, describing the
sheet of water he had discovered. 1t has
since borne his name. Another account
says that the lake was named after one
of the governors of North Carolina The
lake. according to Professor Shaler, be-
longs to the type of peat-enclosed lakes
which are common in the small morasses
of the glacial area.
Despite the beauty of its densely wooded
shores, where cypress, juniper, wild elm
and gum trees struggle for supremacy,
the general aspect of the lake is depress-
ing and its keynote Is desolation. AS a
rule no sail breaks the monotony of its
blood-red waters-no sign of life disturbs
It's solitude. Ideal spot for the supernas
ural drama for which 1t is famous.
hemmed in as It Is after nightfall by the
horrible phantasmogoria of the mystic
rious swamp. Oval in shape and shallow,
the lightest breeze dsturbs the waters
in a manner out of proportion to its
strength, creating an impression on the
mind of the beholder that is almost un-
cannv At IFS edges stand the knarled