Construction of the Licking Summit Reservoir between 1826 and 1830 flooded a wetland known as Buffalo Lick, sometimes called the Great Swamp in local accounts, to create a water source for the Ohio and Erie Canal system. Most of the swamp disappeared under the rising water. One section did not. A roughly 50-acre mat of sphagnum moss, young and buoyant enough to tear free from the surrounding peat, rose with the water instead of sinking beneath it, detaching to form a floating island that has drifted on what became Buckeye Lake ever since.
Get breaking news anytime, anywhere. Download the TOI app now!
