Roanoke
Roanoke is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 36.60°, -78.29°
About Roanoke
The Roanoke River ( ROH-ə-nohk) runs 410 miles (660 km) long through southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina in the United States. A major river of the southeastern United States, it drains a largely rural area of the coastal plain from the eastern edge of the Appalachian Mountains southeast across the Piedmont to Albemarle Sound. An important river throughout the history of the United States, it was the site of early settlement in the Virginia Colony and the Carolina Colony. An 81-mile (130 km) section of its lower course in Virginia between the Leesville Lake and Kerr Lake is known as the Staunton River, pronounced , as is the Shenandoah Valley city of that name. It is impounded along much of its middle course to form a chain of reservoirs.
Staunton River is also the name of the northern political district of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, where a large section of the river serves as the boundary between Campbell County, Virginia (to the north), Halifax County, Virginia (to the south east) and Pittsylvania County (to the south west).
The Roanoke River State Trail is a paddle trail which follows the lower portion of the river, from Roanoke Rapids to the Albemarle Sound.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Roanoke River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Roanoke in Depth
History
The Roanoke River valley was the homeland of various Native Americans, such as the Moratoc, Occaneechi, Tuscarora and the Tutelo. The deadly spring floods earned it the name "River of Death". The river's lower course began to be settled by Virginians about the middle of the 17th century, in what was known as the Albemarle Settlements. The upper reaches of the Roanoke River were explored by fur trading parties sent by Abraham Wood in the late 17th century, but these were not settled by English until the early 18th century.
In 1883, the small town of Big Lick on the river was selected as a major shops and terminal point for the new Norfolk and Western Railway to meet the Shenandoah Valley Railroad.
Description
The river has its headwaters in the Blue Ridge Mountains in southwestern Virginia at Lafayette in Montgomery County where the North Fork and South Fork of the river merge. The North Fork, approximately 30 miles (48 km) long, rises between two mountain ridges and flows initially southwest, then loops back to the northeast. The South Fork, approximately 20 miles (32 km) long, rises in several streams in the mountains on the border of Floyd, Roanoke, and Montgomery counties and flows generally north, joining the North Fork from the south.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Roanoke River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Roanoke: Quick Answers
- Where is Roanoke?
- Roanoke is located in United States, at 36.6044° N, 78.2853° W.
- Are there dams on the Roanoke?
- No dam on the Roanoke is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.