This content is from the North Carolina Gazetteer, edited by William S. Powell and Michael Hill. Copyright © 2010 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher.

Some place names included in The North Carolina Gazetteer contain terms that are considered offensive.

"The North Carolina Gazetteer is a geographical dictionary in which an attempt has been made to list all of the geographic features of the state in one alphabet. It is current, and it is historical as well. Many features and places that no longer exist are included; many towns and counties for which plans were made but which never materialized are also included. Some names appearing on old maps may have been imaginary, but many of them also appear in this gazetteer.

Each entry is located according to the county in which it is found. I have not felt obliged to keep entries uniform. The altitude of a place, the date of incorporation of a city or town, may appear in the beginning of one entry and at the end of another. Some entries may appear more complete than others. I have included whatever information I could find. If there is no comment on the origin or meaning of a name, it is because the information was not available. In some cases, however, resort to an unabridged dictionary may suggest the meaning of many names."

--From The North Carolina Gazetteer, 1st edition, preface by William S. Powell

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Place Description
Roanoke Rapids

city in N Halifax County on the Roanoke River. Founded in 1893 by John Armstrong Chaloner (1862-1935) as a cottonmill site and named for the rapids in the river. Inc. 1897. Originally known as Great Falls. Produces paper and textiles. Alt. 169.

Roanoke Rapids Dam

See Lake Gaston.

Roanoke Rapids Lake

is formed by a dam near the city of Roanoke Rapids in NE Halifax County on Roanoke River. The lake extends NW along the Halifax-Northampton county line to Gaston Dam. The dam there was completed in 1955, and the lake covers 4,900 acres, with a shoreline of 47 mi. and a max. depth of 90 ft. Built by Virginia Electric and Power Company to generate hydroelectric power, the lake is also used for recreation. See also Lake Gaston.

Roanoke Rapids Township

N Halifax County.