Roanoke River
Map of the catchment area of the Roanoke River
Template: Infobox River / Obsolete
Template: Infobox River / BILD_fehlt
Template: Infobox River / Obsolete
Template: Infobox River / BILD_fehlt
Template: Infobox River / Obsolete
The Roanoke River is a 660 km long river in the United States, which runs to the south of the state of Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. As one of the great rivers of the southeastern United States, he traverses a predominantly rural area between the eastern edge of the Appalachian Mountains, the Piedmont Plateau and the coastal region. There he finally empties into the Albemarle Sound. The Roanoke has a very interesting history, on its banks the first settlements arose the Virginia Colony and the Province of Carolina. Parts of the upper river course in Virginia between the City of Roanoke and Clarksville are also known as Staunton River. In the middle section of the river is dammed by a series of reservoirs.
Course
The headwaters of the Roanoke spring in the Blue Ridge Mountains and combine in southwestern Virginia in Montgomery County at Lafayette. The northern source river, about 50 kilometers long, flows first in a south-westerly direction and then turns northeast. The 30 kilometer southern source river flows mainly in a northerly direction and is formed from several streams in the mountains at the edge of the counties Floyd, Roanoke and Montgomery.
The resulting river flows about 15 kilometers long between the mountains through the Roanoke Valley to the northeast and reached Salem, then in an easterly direction through the city of Roanoke. He leaves the Blue Ridge Mountains through a canyon southeast of Roanoke and forms the border between the counties Franklin and Bedford. The river then flows toward the east-southeast across the Piedmont Plateau in southern Virginia before it reaches the Northeast North Carolina near Roanoke Rapids. The Roanoke follows a zig -zag course on the coastal plain before flowing into the Batchelor Bay at the western end of Albemarle Sound.
The Roanoke is jammed in the Piedmont region of southwestern Virginia below Roanoke twice in a row at the Smith Mountain Lake and Leesville reservoirs to form Lake. Further downstream in the south of Mecklenburg County, the river to the John H. Kerr Reservoir is dammed. In the Northeast North Carolina, five kilometers west of Roanoke Rapids is the Lake Gaston reservoir, which stretches to the John H. Kerr Dam.
History
The environment of the Roanoke River was home to many Native American tribes, such as the Occaneechee. Due to the heavy spring tides the river also gave the name " river of death " The banks of the lower river section, the Albemarle Settlements, was inhabited mid-17th century by the Virginia settlers, the upper portions were explored by fur traders in the late 17th century.
The name Roanoke is probably from the Algonquian language, meaning " shell money " In 1883, the town of Big Lick was selected as a retail location and end point of the new Norfolk and Western Railway, which was there to meet the Shenandoah Valley Railroad. The town was renamed to Roanoke, after the river that divided the city into two districts, as was the county surrounding the city named in 1838 after the river.