A Magical Place

The North Landing River is truly a magical place. The river emerges from the dark, shadowy swamps in southern Virginia Beach. The water percolates up through the thick layers of mud and peat, turning dark as coffee as it slowly trickles past giant cypress, tupelo and gum trees. The waters gather, forming creeks which eventually, slowly, join and form the North Landing. Although the main channel of the river itself is only 23 miles long from the headwaters in Gum Swamp to where the river empties into the Currituck Sound, there are over 77 river miles to explore, almost all of it isolated and unrevealed to all but duck hunters and fishermen.

The North Landing River, as part of the Pasquotank River Basin, is geographically part of the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine System. 67% of the water in Virginia Beach flows to the Albemarle, the second largest estuary in the United States, not to the Chesapeake. The North Landing is the northernmost extent of the Albemarle, and when you are deep in a creek, at sunrise, watching the first light of day illuminate the marsh and filter through the cypress, it feels like the Albemarle, like magic.

Schedule your ecotour to explore this environmental wonderland.