Okefenokee Swamp is a vast peat-filled wetland on the Georgia-Florida border, formed over the past 6,500 years and recognized as North America’s largest blackwater swamp and one of Georgia’s natural wonders. Its waters feed the Suwannee and St. Marys rivers, while its human history reaches from the Timucua-speaking Oconi and a Spanish mission to isolated residents known as Swampers. Efforts to drain and log the swamp in the late 19th and early 20th centuries left canals, rail traces, and sites like Billy’s Island. Today, despite major wildfires and long-running mining disputes, most of the swamp is protected as a wildlife refuge, wilderness, and major ecological destination.