The town is a part of the Washington Area located in North Carolina's Coastal Plains region.

N.C. Hughes, D.D., met a well-educated Native American encamped on the banks of the Edisto River in South Carolina.

"[6] In the early 20th century, Chocowinity became the railroad hub of the regional system known as the Norfolk Southern Railway in 1910.

Around 1917, the railway started calling the pivotal location "Marsden", which was easier to spell on a telegraph than "Chocowinity".

The source of the new name was apparently taken in honor of one of its financial backers, Marsden J. Perry of New York, who eventually served as president of the railroad.

The regional Norfolk Southern (one of the predecessors of the modern system which adopted the same name) had lines between Norfolk, Virginia and Charlotte and served many locations in southeastern Virginia (including branches to Virginia Beach and Suffolk) and most of eastern and central North Carolina, including Raleigh, Elizabeth City, New Bern, Morehead City, Goldsboro, Durham, Fayetteville, Asheville, and Greenville.

The railroad resumed using "Chocowinity" to designate the location in 1970, after railway telegraphs were replaced with voice communications via 2-way radios.

[8] According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.0 square mile (2.6 km2), all land.