The Story Of The Great Black Swamp is a folk-life documentary about the area located in Northwest Ohio, known as the Great Black Swamp.

This area consists of a 120-by-40 mile strip of land that was located along the Maumee River. The Great Black Swamp area was so murky and mosquito infested that it was questionable whether it would ever be inhabitable by humans. According to the Arpads, the conquering and settling of the land and its relationships to how the people today feel about their land. "Most of them have very little sense of their own history," says Dr. Susan Arpad, but adds that the traditions of the past have strongly influenced the decisions and lifestyles of the northwestern Ohioans of today. As an historian, she has been gathering diaries, photographs and memorabilia from area townspeople. She has found a certain possessiveness with the farmers of their land, stemming from earlier days. "They (farmers) literally pour themselves into their land," she says. She explains that this comes from the time when the swampland was being settled. "Settlement of northwest Ohio was ordinary in that the pioneers cleared the land of trees, built log cabins, hunted wild animals and their first economy was subsistence farming," say the Arpads. "It was an extraordinary experience, however, because of the area's geography.

The Black Swamp made Northwest Ohio an undesirable land and, consequently, it was settled very late (1850-1900) and then settlement was unusually difficult. "The program covers historical facts, folklore, visits current landmarks and relates past to present," say the Arpads.

The Story of The Great Black Swamp received two OEBIE awards in 1983 in both the Educational Service and the Community Service categories. The hour-long program also received a 1984 Program Award of Excellence from the Central Educational Network in the Local/State Affairs category.

Watch a preview of the Video