Roanoke Canal

The Roanoke Canal was part of an ambitious inland water navigation system begun in 1819 by the Roanoke Navigation Company, which represented public and private interests from North Carolina and Virginia and sought to link the upper Dan River in Virginia with the Roanoke River and onward to Norfolk through the Great Dismal Swamp. Built largely by enslaved labor, the 8.5-mile canal around the Roanoke's Great Falls between this place and Weldon was completed in just a few years and carried large bateaux transporting between 5 and 8 tons of goods toward the coast. By 1859, railroads had replaced the canal as a faster and more efficient means of transportation, and four major railroads made Weldon a major transportation center by 1861. During the war, however, increased traffic brought a resurgence as the canal again carried regional farm products to Weldon's rail junctions to support the Confederate war effort. The Weldon aqueduct allowed bateaux to pass over Chockoyette Creek to the basin, where goods were transferred to rail cars or steamboats, and earthen fortifications with cannons guarded this structure and the western approach to town. Enslaved or free black bateaumen moved goods and military supplies on the canal without white supervision, and some were secretly engaged in antislavery activities. Although Union forces damaged southern infrastructure, the Roanoke Canal remained in service through the end of the war before closing permanently in 1875.

Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina · United States