A while back, I wanted to write a story about someone who lived in a
swamp, and traveled extensively through the swamp. Although the story
is pulp horror, I wanted to provide a realistic setting. (I failed.)
So I'm interested in a detailed description of what swamps are like.
What are the ecosystems like? What's involved in traveling through a
swamp? Would it be practical to-- for example-- live in a manor next
to a swamp? What problems would such a dwelling confront? What
diseases could you contract by spending too much time in this sort of
environment? What affect would this have on your skin? Etc. What does
the inside of a swamp look like? What kind of trees grow there?

Thanks. I'm looking forward to your replies.

Perhaps the following links will be helpful for you:

http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep7i.htm

http://aquat1.ifas.ufl.edu/guide/swamps.html (click on images)

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/swamp/printout.shtml

http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/types/swamp.html

http://www.birdnature.com/marshes.html

http://www.sfrc.ufl.edu/4h/Ecosystems/Swamps/swamps.html

http://www.fantasymaps.com/101/swamp.html

Hi Griffith,
Those sites certainly describe and picture swamps.  As to living in
swamps, maybe writings about or by Louisiana Cajuns could add
something.  A search with
Cajun literature swamps    turned up lots of sites.  Maybe if you add 
trapping OR trappers you could narrow down the search. They really
lived in the swamps.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings wrote about country, farm life in Florida in
the early part of the 20th century (The Yearling, Cross Creek, and
more) and described the life and vegetation very realistically.  I
cannot specifically remember swamps, but I think she talks about
Hammock Swamp in Florida.  Searching on that name also finds websites.

Your "manor next to a swamp":  That pretty well describes some
ante-bellum homes in Louisiana:  "Oak Alley" and others.

They were usually built with the living quarters on the second floor,
with service rooms and kitchen at ground level.  This got the living
quarters on a level that would catch the breeze and also got it away
from the constant high humidity at ground level, and also away from
most of the mosquitos, which stay closer to the ground.  Back then,
they didn't know that mosquitos carried maleria, they were just a
plague in their own right (in the dusk, you needed both hands to fan
them away from your face, and still got bitten on the back of your
hands).
But people did know about maleria and swamp fever:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/swamp%20fever

and knew about snakes and vermin, also a reason not to live on the ground level.

Incidentally, variations of this housing are typical of native
dwellings in parts of asia, and colonial housing there is similar to
the Louisiana plantation homes and probably was the source of their
architecture.

"Would it be practical to live ... next to a swamp?"
Not if you could avoid it, at least not down at the same elevation.

Any questions?  I didn't answer all of yours.  Ever walk along a path
in a swamp and discover a water moccasin slithering towards you?  I
retreated.

Maybe a realistic setting can upgrade you "pulp horror".
Good luck,
Myoarin