 Fugitive Slaves in the Dismal Swamp, Virginia, by David Edward Cronin, 1888. | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| around 2,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Great Dismal Swamp | |
| Languages | |
| English and or English-based creole | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity and or African diaspora religions | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| African-Americans, Gullah, Black Seminoles, maroons |
The Great Dismal Swamp maroons were people who inhabited the swamplands of the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina after escaping enslavement. Although conditions were harsh, research suggests that thousands lived there between about 1700 and the 1860s. Harriet Beecher Stowe told the maroon people's story in her 1856 novel Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp. The most significant research on the settlements began in 2002 with a project by Dan Sayers of American University.