>> you think this is just a community center? no, it's more than that. >> comcast is partnering with a thousand community centers to create wi-fi unable to lift his own since from them income families can get the tools they need to be readyor anything. >> comcast along with of these television companies supports c-span2 as a public service.

>> i have the great privilege of representing virginia's fourth congressional district. virginia is home to so many incredible sites historical, cultural, ecological and environmental significance for the state and the nation. it's our job to work together to ensure the preservation or future generations and they can learn about our history and experience these wonderful areas firsthand. among the many important is the swamp located in the region of my o district. lily is on this call with us into doing a great job keeping it going. i always chuckle to myself when i mention this because whilee it's great it isn't merely the acreage that used a to be.

[inaudible] ngthey are doing a great job of keepingg it up and i couldn't be more proudno of them. what you might not know is it was once the home and refuge to be a generation of generation of african-american and indigenous populations to create a self-sustaining community taking away from the threat of enslavement. it also served as an economic population with the communities and those that were escaping slavery. due to this robust activities between the communities, it contains concentrations of important archaeological and cultural artifacts. you didn't know this either, did you, it's one of the only known stops on the underground railroad. those freed would use it for

cover as they traveled north to freedom. there's an environmental value in the region, and we must do everything we can to protect. it continues to be threatened. as i said at one time, it was more than a million acres across virginia and north carolina and today it's about a tenth due in large part to overdevelopment, threats of climate change sea level rise. the shrinking size of the great dismal swamp should be a concern especially those that call the commonwealth home. there is a unique and fragile ecosystem home to a wide array ofts animals, plants, insect species and also plays a vital role in the continued litigation of the climate crisis.

the fight against the climate crisis by helping to absorb harmful gases in the atmosphere that continue to drive the global temperatures up. helping to ensure a healthy future the next generation that's why i've been proud ever since i came to congress. there's many members of the delegationf introduce bicameral piece of legislation for the sustainability and feasibility of designating the great swamp as a national heritage area. thista legislation is an importt first step to the fight for the resources into the importance of this region. not onlyeg does it preserve the integrity but also the commonwealth economy through

tremendous economic activity. i had the privilege and opportunityo for the funding request for the house appropriations committee'sti consideration for the house appropriations committeett consideration and possible inclusion in the upcoming process that starts in late july. please keep your y fingers crossed. we would like to get some federal health the region. this funding request would provide the city of chesapeake with the resources it needs to move and preserve the school with one of the oldest in the region. i want to salute and commend virginia for its efforts to shine a light on the importance for the list of one of the most historical sites in our area. it is one of the nations

environmental treasures in the fight and of course preservation continues. i'dd like to extend my thanks to virginia and the department for their continued efforts for the sites throughout the commonwealth. please know that i am your partner and colleague whenever and wherever you need me. i will continue advocating on erthe level of the preservation and look forward to the continued collaboration to protect this incredible region. thank you for allowing me to join today. i have to jump off the call but i hope you have a wonderful conversation and know that we are only a phone call away. god bless you. >> thankiv you so much, representative mceachin for being with us today and all that you are doing. take care. >> as i mentioned,

conservationists or increasingly recognizing the connections between the resources and our natural resources. conservation easement with national heritage areas are just some of the tools that are used and we have a superb panel today to talk more about national heritage areas. we will focus on the recent interest in creating an nha national heritage area for the great dismal swamp as you heard talked about. in addition to the panel members i would also like to point out we have two hr staff with us, and they are going to be part to answer any questions that you may have. and just one quick housekeeping note speaking of questions, we will take questions at the end if we have time. hopefully we will so please put

them in the q and a. if we don't happen to get them to do today because we have a number of excellent speakers, we will be sure to talk with you. so, with that, let's turn to our panel members. i will introduce t them one at a time and then we will have questions at the end. first up, i would like to introduce jan hurst-wender who joined in 2008 and is now the director of the operations and education. she receives the interpretationn preservation and general operation details of thepr preservation virginia portfolio of the properties. and six of the properties including and i will put in a quick plug, scott's town, john marshall house, jamestown and the cape henry lighthouse.

i urge you all to come visit. she will briefly share some information on these historic sites.ou >> i know that most all of the panel is going to be talking about the swamp but before we get to that i'm going to talk about some of the ways that the site is utilizing our agency end the landscape around us. i'm going to give a brief little overview of some of the projects that wend are involved in. so i'm going to go ahead and share.

>> sothere we go. okay so the first site that we are going to dive into is going to be patrick henry. this is a great aerial shot of the property and next i have a mapp drawn in the 60s i believe 63. it's upside down so you can see the orientation. but i did want to point out that atpo this point, scott's town is in the process of developing a master plan for the entirety so we are not just focused on the structure book so we can integrate the landscape for all of our visitors in the general public. we own about 23 acres.

historically we've only been in the archaeology in the area. we have so much work to do, so much that remains we know that there were enslaved quarters on the property. we have yet to find them. that is a goal of ours and we also want to make sure that we are working with the representatives to have a better understanding of how this land was used prior to 1717 when the landnd was patented. this kind of gives you an overview but while we are still undergoing lotshe of research we are utilizing the space and this

is through partnership. it's the only way we can move forward. partnering with hanover to develop learning gardens and with local businesses. those are very traditional ways of partnering and using the landscape that we have. then we will move on and get a sort of an aerial shot of this property corresponding with an

older map. so the base and capital is in same situation as scott's town. we have 40 acres that comes with this property and we are looking forward to developing a master plan that is going to help us develop a plan to integrate all of that landscape into the historic fabric that already exists. and so, archaeology again is a major factor in how this is going to play out. but with this castle, we are fortunate that we have this farmland t and forest that's pretty much been there since the centuries that the structure of the x-uppercase-letter existed. the original building was built in 1655 and it's pretty much been in agricultural use ever since.

so, one of the projects we are working on in collaboration with the state park is essentially to do a historic road trade. so the plan is to reopen this three and a half mile road trail that would go from the castle and in the distance in this aerial shot you can see the james river so this gives you an idea. it's not built on the water. there is a creek where they can get up and down the creek, but any navigable channels are here on the james river. so we are working with of the state park, landowners to see if we can reopen that property up

to bikes, walking and horse trails. so definitely a partnership we are looking forward to. so, moving on, we have smith port. there is this manor house build but really the names come from 1619 that he began but wasn't able to complete. it became part of the john smith warner trail and in the top right-hand corner you can see the representatives commemorating this event taking place. and so, we have a designation and walking trail that goes from the manor house back to the

site. otherwise we are also utilizing the property, the local landowner has this in our property now for several years which is a great way that is bringing a lot of tourism to the site for people. moving on to cape henry, it's located on an active military base and we have worked in partnership with the active military base and also the national park sites as a memorial national park site. so, our interpreters provide a goalhe to different areas you cn see in the bottom right-hand corner there is a world war ii mine case built into the white

house and working with of the joint expeditionary, we've been able to utilize that space with our interpreters in that area and really to get an idea of how this area was used for the past 400 plus years. the last project i want to talk about is something coming up next week. there is the least amount of property out of the sites. there's not much landscape in the middle off richmond however

it's taking place next week where they will go online the on ninth andmarshall street ande representing a project to work towards ending juvenile incarceration. so this project is partnership with the house. this is an augmented reality project so we are working with landscapes. you can download a qr code and see these panels come to life with video and poetry and it can into the sky and the clouds. this is very much a partnership that fell into our lap, but it's really a great tie to the current judicial issues back to the site of chief justice john marshall so that is a quick sampling of some of the ways

that the sites are using the historic landscape. >> now we will hear from elizabeth vehmeyer at the national park service in dc along with the technical assistance to 55 of these areas and 34 sites. she's also working -- sorry, having a little technical issue here. and along withan administering assistance in these areas and 34 states, the program provides technical assistance on the feasibility study process for emerging. she's also worked as an

archaeologist, grant management specialist with the national park service and of ruby american penalty protection program. i elizabeth. >> thanks. and i just want to say thank you to the preservation virginia for the invitation this afternoon. we are happy to bee here. i'm going to give an overview of the national heritage program and with national heritage areas are. and a little bit about what they do, benefits that the heritage areas bring to the communities into the nation. and a little bit about how they aree designated in the feasibility printing process. >> first what are the national heritage areas? the quick answer is they are large lived in landscapes of nationalon importance and designated by congress. the heritage areas over the place andor an organizational model for conservation and preservation efforts. the organizing model, which is

done through a local management and processing their is grassroots. it's a a community-based decision-making model with focus on interdisciplinary approaches, programs and projects. a management entity or what we call local coordination is designated via the legislation that creates the heritage area. they can be nonprofit. they are local government, academic institutions or federal commission. in the legislation that creates the heritage areas, the management entity along with partnership with the federal government is tasked with of the goal of conservation, turecreation, culturally and historic research preservation, education,av and the last one which is in some things always noted in the legislation but as a direct byproduct of the other

goals and processes of the national heritage area's economic development foror that community or that region. many activities address multiple conservation strategies into one single project, so while these are kind ofar called out separately, a lot of projects and programs combine them and i can talk that about that. the approach to the large landscapes and pins can cultivate new ways of seeing and learning from the landscape from its resources and really at the core permits people. so, where are the nha's. i know they are not only in organizing modelel but they are also a place. and as mentioned, there are 55 heritage areas across 34 states in the country. they are you can tell hear from this map that they vary in size, but in general, they are in a

strategic assemblage of resources that allow an important interplay between the landscape and its features to total story. althey are usually nationally distinctive landscapes meaning this is a place, the best place to tell the story in america. and they can represent different types, different areas of history or different elements of our story in america. andd that can be industry events or people were person. for an example, in terms of telling a story of industry and how industry played out across the landscape includes motor cities national heritage area in michigan, rivers of steel national heritage area in the pittsburgh area and pennsylvania for silos and a soap stacks

national heritage area in iowa which tells of an agricultural industry. then you have events or kind of trends in our history that can relate to the transportation so we have a lot of canal systems that are part of the program. we also have with the first one being the illinois and michigan canal connecting the great lakes to the mississippi. then we also have what i mentioned people, we have abraham lincoln national heritage area in central illinois, how his life was shaped by that area and then we also have the cultural heritage corridor along the coast with north carolina down to florida

and the goal is how they interact with of the landscape into the landscape influenced them. i also encourageeb anyone to go onto the website and check out this map that's very and you can see how your life has interacted across the country or if maybe you didn't realize that you are in one and benefit from the sites and programs there. what do they actually do? how do they fulfill their legislation and mandates from congress? they released their public-private partnership in the model of cost-effective ways to preserve these nationally important cultural resources and it's kind of through the creation of the working partnerships.di they expand upon the approaches looking at a large scale approach, community driven like it noted it's that that's grassroots level that the programs are developed and carried out.

at the same time that connection is clear with of the mission of the park service and furthering the mission across the larger landscape ofce interest with the park service owned in the park unit boundary. part of that is making the connection to other sites that domay be the park service doesnt own and manage themselves but also to help tell the larger story ofnd our shared heritage. some of that is through expanding upon underrepresented communities, helpingng tells stories that may be haven't been told previously. making connections in partnerships with groups that may be haven't had an opportunity in the past to tell their story, to help them get a platform and a space. it's also it usuallyha provides sub- grants and that is a way to help the capacity building for their network that at that local level and that can help those carrying out certain projects

like water quality interpretation, historic preservation. i just wantca to point out it is located in virginia. you may be familiar with them and maybe now you understand what theyow do. you can see how they operate across the country, which is an example of one journey. one is there premier project is into the program is the national nationalhistory academy which is happening partly right now because they have a summer program for the middlent and hih school students. and when we switched to virtual, last year we were able to make that switch and i think this year they are also doing some virtual programming. there's also the national historic district which the sites name is part of the program in general. and they carry out the preservationactivities and inten with the business center of the winchester a battlefield, signa, walking towards an event such as

conferences and other research sharing events. so what don't they do? there's some confusion because they are tied to the park service on whether or not they are units andct how they are connected to us. so, just want to be clear they of the parke units service when they are designated in nha. i did want to point out that on the right the, to give an example of how other federal land is connected to the heritage area so this is the area in northern alabama. there is a wildlife refuge within the boundary of the heritagege areas so the national wildlife refuge. at the heritage area works with the wildlife refuge when they were renewing their planning and management planning and how they can provide more interpretation about the kind of deep river there and the part of the state

to the general public o or justo visitors and so they were active participants in the planning and understanding how interpretation can be expanded. the i heritage area designation doesn't impact private property rights meaning there are regulations coming with it that mean people can or can't do certain g things other property. theyey have to go through some designer view that isn't part of what the nha is. also it doesn't require the public access sites or land. it's all voluntary. if you want to work with of the heritage area to provide public access to the private properties were work on other projects that may come down the pike. it's not required at all. it's voluntary. the last thing i want to mention is that they don't all breed from the top down and there, i mean, of course it isn't dictating and we are not there every day managing what happens. it's really defined by the local

coordinating entity how we work with them and whatt kind of assistance they may need from us. and that leans into a little bit more about is the park service play into this program and what do we actually do. we are part of the public side of the public-private partnership that isre created in the designation of the heritage area. and i think in part because there are no other public entities that there could be other federal landowning agencies that come into play withth of the partnership as nod with the fish and wildlife refuge. we offer technical assistance to the areas. they are required to do a management plan when they are first designated so we hope in that process. we can offer technical assistanceer across the park service, not just of the nha program, but two other park service staff members and the interpretation as well as resourcese preservation and connected conservation approach to be larger landscape.

there is funding assistance provided to the heritage areas and we need the program staff to manage those agreements and funding. the funding is to develop and implement the financial plans are to help them carry out those activities and actions that are noted in the plan. last we conduct evaluations to the accomplishments inlf fulfilling their legislation and implementing the management plan and the use of the federal funding. so here i am not going to read all of it but i want to point out the benefits of the areas and really these are steps that the program gathers annually from the heritage areas to understand how they are using their funds and supporting the command that he is and what networks they are partnering with and then kind of in those buckets that i noted in the

conservation preservation education, how are they carrying out those type of projects. i will point out one example year the national heritage area in colorado. they have been working on a project here which was for processing gold. it dates back to 1774. it is listed in the national register service and the heritage areate partnered with e state or federation office and applied for grants through them to do a rehabilitation of the multiyear project on the site. and i have a picture of the completed work on one of the walls to show the different typesre of actual hands-on preservation that the area can also be involved in and here

they invested about $40,000 and was able to leverage up to $200,000 so to leverage some of that. next i will point out another example of i wanted to point out where it was more of an educational bill telling stories that may haven't have been told before. the corridor partnered with the legacy foundation and they want to raise awareness so they put on special events, programs to encourage exploration of sites so that's what they are tasked

to do but how do you become a heritage area is a legislative process. that means have a bill introduced, have aav hearing in the markup, have a vote, get it signed by the president eventually.ll so the really congressional action is needed. however the park service can recommend steps that can be set up for becoming a heritage area. one is to show the feasibility study that involves us promoting involvement in the planning for that and demonstrated community involvement with more of a widespread involvement in this effort and commitment from key constituents, stakeholders that play a part in helping create this private partnership that is needed. the feasibility study be some of

you are familiar with a special resource study when the unit is proposed. they arequ discussing the qualiy of life and maybe in those days one area for meeting the goals of that community and maybe this is the route we want to take if this is the best to carry out what we want to do with the community at that local level so the feasibility study would be done. itit is the means to inventory d document the nationally important resources in that area. and those can be tangible or intangible. but it's trying to get them to think about what is unique and may be what is in danger, what is underutilized, how can we help promote things or bring capacity to something that is in

there right now. it also has you look at who is going to be involved in the long-term and also what opportunities can bee created at the heritage area if it is designated. and last, the last bullet point is a way to also identify management funding and sustainability strategies so we will talk a little bit about the management and business aspect of that entity that could possibly carry this out. would be remiss if i didn't mention the heritage areas also, this is an example of how the heritage areas themselves have come to gather and work so even though they are individual and unique and they told their own stories they do come together to work on larger projects under theig program. from the blackstone valley this

was an effort to create or plan a pollinator garden site that historically see kitchenn garden but due tof continuous flooding of the polluted river they didn't feell comfortable plantig actual food is so they took it upon themselves to say this would be great for a pollinator garden so they worked at the rhode island society to carry the project out and last i will note how the feasibility study initiated if you are interested. it can be done by local sponsors they pay for it themselves and maybe get a firm or consultant to help them carry this out and if that's the case they can offeres assistance in interpretg the guidelines to give the feasibility studies and the criteria.

the other route is by congress and then it would be a group of interdisciplinary folks that would have to do the study and there are two of those studies one is the lake in upstate new york and other is eastern kentucky and i provided the website there for you to look that up to see how the processes going and iar will leave it with there are people in the program that are here to answer questionsal and there's the regional coordinators in that heritage area program and peter samuel and alisa in north carolina as part of the region. there is a website and instagram if you want to learn more.

now we will go to the manager of the great dismal swamp national wildlife refuge. he began working with fish and wildlife in 1992 and has been in virginia since 2001. since 2007 has been the manager at the great dismal swamp national wildlife refuge in the eastern u.s. i will turn it over to you. good to go. thank you for the opportunity. good afternoon everybody. it's a privilege to be part of

this showcase in national heritage area for the great dismal swamp landscape and the area. i want to see if we found the highlights of the refugees. many people know about the natural resource significance and more and more are starting to learn about so webinars like this if we can help that significance. some of these items as you mentioned earlier is covering

2,000 square miles so with the state park is about 160,000 acres. [inaudible] it was established in 1974 and the purpose was to protect and preserve the life therein

[inaudible] the secondary purpose of christmas to promote and provide public access and supporting stewardship of the program. the refuge itself is 113,000 acres. it's the largest national league in the stately of virginia 3100 acres. [inaudible]

in the geographic position we talk about north carolina, colonial williamsburg. [inaudible] it expires this july but with the management plan [inaudible]

that have been identified, 90 species of butterflies, the largest in the state of virginia so a various array. a multitude ofof natural resources. quickly when we talk about the management, this shows we

haven't had a bad management plan. we are working to restore. how do we do that, manipulation whether it is [inaudible] i didn't put the slide in about 150 miles of the heritage refuge. i won't go into those details

[inaudible] and a a refuge for people as i mentioned earlier it's brought other highlights. george washington came and thought it was a glorious paradise. logging the property for farming, runaway slaves,

communities that lived out here and they conducted 13 years give or take of archaeological research to the areas where these communities live. this one here is north carolina state line marker but these monuments are within a spot some of them were found during the wildfires we had ten years ago. we don't even know all where

they are. but then it ended up in en[inaudible] with that, the research to the national park service us railroad network to freedom. we are proud of that.

we were one of the first. we need the public to understand significance and help support and promote we have multiple access points and we get about 55, 70,000.

[inaudible] it is a challenge for us and i bring together the title of this webinar the historic preservation, the great national resource foundation to wrap it up every day my staff and researchers around conducting. we have multiple years. all of that is in close coordination with our preservation offices.

we want to submit an archaeological review. there is a description here of that lockdown and [inaudible] according to the preservation act that's the last slide i have but i do want to thank you for the information provided.

for us we are a stable informing everyone in the heritage areas. for the great dismal swamp having brought together and again grateful to be large part

thank you. >> thank you so much, chris. now it is my pleasure to welcome the national tribal councilwoman and with african indigenous and european origins who survived in and around the great dismal swamp and we are very pleased to have her with us today to give a new voice to the under underrepresented narratives to her own family story. welcome. >> thank you. can everyone see my slide? okay, great. i'd like to start by acknowledging and welcoming our chief, assistant chief anderson and lee mitchell, the

environmental program manager and the three of them work to preserve the environment, history and culture. i have a slight here showing the logo for my website and it captures a lot about my story. i am a descendent of indigenous african-american andte european settlers in the united states and as you see i am featuring a woman and her body is blended into a cypress tree and she has a migratory birdd in her hand ad to me this river he sends my families connection to the environment, our experiences of people born in the land and water as well as experience of people in color living through labor and enslavement and then through generations of staying

local as well as migrating to other opportunities. i only have a little bit of time to share stories today but i welcome everyone to read the site for more information. so, going into the discussion indigenous communities around the great swamp i would like to start with this line that i'm starting to use this a lot now if you look you see i want to scratch this andal everything we traditionally see about communities around the swamp. when john smith was here in the background made by outsiders looking in from a different language, culture, perspective of land, water and property, indigenouses communities generay considered water the center of their territory rather than a boundaryry and land and between

you andnt is often for forging, fishing and hunting. with that context it helps to understand why it would have been and still is a shared base between several significant tiwaterways for forging, fishing and hunting. it doesn't belong to virginia indians were north carolina indians as a space that crosses over algonquian speaking communities like ours in the indian nation, the community, chesapeake and then also this is the mostly 1733 map. you can look at that and access it online and it helps you to see many are familiar with our settlements around the river but we also have settlements on the history that crosses the

boundary of the stateline. this is true for other tribal communities and we want people to understand that as we develop this narrative in addition for the small band of the preservation of its history and culture. so, looking at the timeline we will go back to the 1600s where many people start that's where the written record start because the languages were not written so most of our history is preserved orally and the documents that you have to learn starts around the t 1600s with e arrival of settlers and at the time they displace many of the communities from the settlements towards the swamp. they had an agrarian lifestyle and wanted good farmland so the land they wantedan was in the ld around thege swamp and the business people, we moved in that direction because we had a

history surviving the swamp we were familiar with foraging and hunting and viewed it as a safe place or refuge to preserve our lifestyle and community as we were being displaced. throughout the 1700, trying was like the advancement, then not always shared interpreters and aligned politically against the encroachment and in addition to people also experiencing a enslavement and subjected to a lot of the same oppressive laws that were developed to control all people of color. so i encourage the study and the history of this.he .to study the law because they forced people into the structures that we ended up in. and by the 1800s many were of mixed ancestry and living in these communities where there were strongd preservation of the culture and tradition.

i want to show this timeline because as i started out, i am a descendent of all three of the groups that formed this story but i want to emphasize the importance of remembering life before enslavement as well as helife after. they are so much focused on the rich history of the communities and underground railroad andua i will get into some examples of that but it's so critical to maintain a perspective of the story so that we don't limit the value to one period of time. i also want to emphasize again thee intertribal history. this is not a place where there were just indigenous people living alone just african-americans living in the swamp alone or just european settlers living alone. this is a space where

communities have blended relationships and formed resilience together within the environment. and as we talk about envisioning a national heritage area, i want to share the importance of having thep leadership in that effort. earlier in the presentation we talked about how the national heritage areas are places where the cultural and natural resources combined with cohesive nationally important landscapes. while the indigenous communities in this area around the great dismal swamp arere linkages between the history, culture and the environment. i revise some of the things that we preserve as a part of our culture, the plants and wildlife, many that were used as medicine, traditional ecological knowledge, cooking and culinary traditions are languages and storytelling. there's incredible folklore that i've tried to capture and

there's also i brought them out here. there are books that you can get on the folklore of the swamp that includes a lot of indigenous folklore as well as stories shared by other people who brave the conditions. storytelling is extremely important. and again it's focusing on our songs andhe dances that incorporate parts of the environment and of the intertribal relationship try trade route. another important reason to include the indigenous community as we have decades of experience engaging the public and cultural community activity. i've highlighted some things we've done. we've created of these traditional homes for members of the public that you can walk through.

we've had a reenactment of bases on the tribal ground located off of the boulevard on the northwestern border of the great dismal swamp. there is also an image of the traditional church of the indiana united methodist church and that resulted in the location of the public school. i worked with preservation virginia and mark wagoner who was on the call here to nominate and we are hopeful that in the future if we are able to forming an area that we can put some of these asides on a trail for people to experience not just the wilderness and the wonder within a swamp, but the culture andd experiences of communities that live around the swamp and kind of in and out and then i havenc an image on the tribal

ground and people to have more water experiences. i also love kayaking and then there's the image of the powwow we had more than 30 years that helped people come and learn about the culture. these are just some examples of existing activities that we have that build intond the area and elaborated for more community action. then just going to some examples within my family, stories that can be built up to help the public into the community learn, this is a series of images about one of my ancestors born and raised in south mall on the southeastern border of the greatest swamp. he led 29 members of the family through to escape from their plantation where he joined the union army, fought the civil war

for his own freedom and the freedom of his family and ended up returning back to his community living back. that was such an inspiration within my family that we have, he was born in the 1800s but the second photo is another one of my ancestors namedhe after him into the third photo is my grandfather's brother. we have these incredible stories of survival. they didn't just disappear. i hear a lot of discussions about the communities and i feel concerned that the storyry doest stop there. i want everyone to understand the story didn't stop there. they continued and there are families that have developed into not just resilience but leadership and accomplishment.

farmers, teachers, astronauts, it is incredible to look at what type people have grown out of this community and i also have examples of stories of people who escaped through and build legacies and other states that you see some of the relatives to travel through ohio, indiana, michigan, self land as far as canada and i'm not sure that it's far enough to reach here. but you can see in the obituary he says the family was born in slavery and escaped through the underground railroad. so i want everyone to understand when you see these narratives about people escaping, the stories continue and it would be wonderful to feature some of these examples of what life was likewh for those who stayed in r those who left.

i also wanted to share some examples of the advancement in the dismal swamp. this picture concludes the grandfather and he was known as one of the greatest hunting guys in the region whenever anyone was influenced. politicians, celebrities that would come to the area. they would seek out just the end of the daniel boone of the virginia north carolina for support going through the swamp. they didn't have the skills that he had to navigate through the water into the trails and it's an incredible legacy that we have. there's that tradition and i have the same tradition the third person there is my grandfather's brother and this is a tradition that they were

very proud of their ability to provide. so we looked forward to a future where weri may have a national heritagees area and resources to preserveor and elevate the stors for more people to learn them. to develop underrepresented like those that live across the swamp i often see because men were the legal agents at the time you had toou be a man to own land and unless you were a widow and a load of these written records talk about men's lives but as we explore personal families, we can tell the stories of women and talk about their experiences, their strengths, how they felt with the conditions living around and one

of the matriarchs she was at that generation she was born writing a buggy and had to learn how to drive a car. she lived her whole life on lake road in south mall. hethey lived through incredible experiences and the earlier picture that i shared he taught in world war i and had incredible experiences about being a soldier and a veteran through that periodlo of time. i know i don't have a lot of time. i could tell so many stories but i just want to give a snapshot of several of my relatives that live aroundsc the area that's always been described. we were not living in the border

of the refuge. they did a great job of describing what we were right there on the edge and in earlier times when the swamp was larger, that is how it was described in the family deed, the swampland. we lived on the road where there isn't a lake because of how swampy it was and another thing that i would like to share i love to look at their sense of fashion and provide. i don't want us to always think of people who descend from the swamp as being downtrodden and hanging out from society. are incredible people that had rich lives, personalities and stories. i thank everybody for listening and i look forward to being able to connect more down this path. >> thank you so much for being able to share those points in the stories and also for some of the resources.

i'd also like to thank mark wagoner oar on plan for and author and familyly genealogy researcher. >> thank you. can you for me okay. >> i can hear you fine. >> we have unique issues. i like to thank you for inviting me.

i like to, please, i don't have much time. i am a descendant of a family from come camden, north carolina. doing my research, i am from baltimore. i started tracing my roots genealogy research in 1996 after the million man march. i didn't know much about my father. did the grande side, my grandmother married a shepard, about 2001, i was told my by father's first cousin thatat our people came out of camden, north

carolina, went down there and visits, and as a result of that i got back to baltimore, in grande, north carolina up comes the narrative of the life of moses grande. slavet of united states of america that got me involved and engined with his story. he was the also a waterman, he worked on the canal. if you could read his narrative. he describes vividly some of the conditions was not only people that were enslaved, on plantations and also ancestors who hand dug, you don't hear much about the

contribution of the enslaved afrikans made with the dismal swamp and the canal itself, that 22 mile stretch from elizabeth city, north carolina up to deep w creek that was hand dug, moses described that vividly in his narrative. the narrative and you can google moses grande and read it if you have not had the opportunity on so, that gives you more insight to the human side of what was going on in the swamp. we talked about -- they were you were our ancestors that hand dugnc that canal, as moses described it, they did not make quota. some days they want tied up

to a tree and whipped and made sure that insects got into the wounds they had. some of them slaves, ancestors had to take care of those who were whipped, some were whipped so bad they died right there, i say, you know we never read about the funeral procession out of the swamp for our ancestors that died there. to me that means their bones are stillll there and that is the place that needs to be recognized for the contributions as you have million dollar yachts up and down the swamp canal now, they don't know about the history. of howt that canal of the built.

from the wilderness side. we got this started my goal to make sure that african-american community is more aware of the significant of the dismal swamp, we got this information a lot from me, came through the moses grande slave narrative. with ays gad month who an archaeologist support. the maroon community, those were our ancestors that escaped the dismal swamp, i'm sorry. not the dismal swamp, the plantation s and they set up communities in the swamp, they w worked and associated with native americans communities, but, i have been to zambia in

africa. aca lot who built canal zambia, they preferred to be in the swamp and not on a plantation. they contributed. i did in 2004, everywhere that moses grande went after he bought his freedom, i went too and found her grande relatives -- found more l grande relatives, and i went to london, and presented to them a plaque from the grande family, thanking them for their participation and support.

and able to share their stories. now called antislavery international. they still exist because the work is not complete, there ist still a lot of slavery in the world that needs to be dealt with, there are other families that are dealing with the same thing on to this day, the work continues to free people and make people aware how this can happen. my first experience at dismal swamp, was the dismal swamp state park in camden, north carolina. that is where mosus was born. and got a lot of information not only about my ancestors, and relatives from a place i first heard of. in dismal swamp, they also

have exhibits down there on north carolina side, -- they were very welcoming and allowed people to get a full set of information not previously known to a lot of people about the cultures and the human history surrounding the swamp. chris lowry from national wild lawyer refuge there does a tremendous job with this. that is one of the exhibits there. part of that story is not as well-known as should be, it should be a part of the national heritage designation that more education and more

inner action with african-american community and others. that the dismal swamp canal. if it wasn't to this degree -- but it was hand dug, 22 mile stretch, there were no backhoes in those days, no heavyea equipment as we know it. and moses grande described vividly the conditions they had too work. we want to honor and recognize those ancestors that made that contribution and i believe during my research, that the dismal swamp canal is the oldest continuous operations canal inpe the united states there is a lot of history right here in not only north

carolina side but also up deep creek in virginia toward portsmouth. it beautiful, but -- not been acknowledged and recognized in a real memorial, recognizing the ancestors, one of those things that needs to be considered. as part of the movement forward to make this a national designation. heritage site. also with congressman randy forbes at the time, we're dating ourselves a bit, moses grande was given honor of having a road named after him, moses grande trail, we were there in 2006, january

20. it was one of the ways to recognize because moses had his story shared with the world, mosus grandy story, i will end with that, time is of the essence, we don't want to keep people, long, thank you. for allowing me to come in and share this information. thus far. >> thank you so much eric. your connection held out, only fuzzy once or twice thank you for sharing that information. and shows stories and thanks to all of our excellent speakers today of. thank you toay you for attending. we have run out of time, we're a little overtime, we have more resources have beenen put in the chat, i think there were one or two remaining questions.

also let you know one of the questions was about a recording of this. webinar has been recorded and will be available on virginia web site in next few days. thank you to our speakers and to everyone for joining us. it was fantastic panel. thank you all. ♪ ♪