Norfolk, VA

Thanksgiving Day. After a big meal at noon, a bunch of us went out to the Great Dismal Swamp and hired a boat to take us to Lake Drummond in the middle of the swamp. Went via a waterway originally surveyed by George Washington and completed by slaves in 1828. Smoky haze hung over everything from the swamp fire that’s been burning for the past month. Water in the lake was low due to drought. Beautiful scene — wide beaches of peat and white sand dotted with thousands of old cypress stumps — black lake reflecting a hazy blue sky — dusk softening the riotous coloring of the autumnal trees — hounds baying across the lake in the chase of some stag — the sound echoing through the woods as in a great hall — the deer emerging from the pied drop and rushing to the water — the dogs and hunters following — the latter in red jackets — two shots, the deer makes a last attempt to reach deep water — another shot and he falls, with the dusk.