[2] Gates County is included in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake, VA-NC Combined Statistical Area.

As in other areas along the waterways, Indigenous peoples of the Americas lived in this region for thousands of years, with different groups leaving and new ones migrating to settle again.

[4] At the time of European contact, the Chowanoke were the largest tribe in North Carolina of the many in the Algonquian language family and it occupied most of the territory along the river.

After suffering dramatic population decreases by the early 17th century due to infectious diseases from Europe, which they had no immunity to, most of the survivors were pushed out by encroaching Tuscarora, an Iroquoian-speaking tribe.

In 1670, Colonel Henry Baker of Nansemond County obtained a grant of land for 2,400 acres (9.7 km2) near Buckland.

Following the English defeat of these forces, in 1677 they created a Chowanoke Indian Reservation, the first within the present-day United States.

In 1711, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel established an Anglican school for Chowanoke and other local Indians at Sarum, with a Mr. Mashburn as the teacher.

It was named for General Horatio Gates,[12] who had commanded the victorious American colonial forces at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777.

This accompanied the Second Great Awakening revival in the South after the American Revolution, which was led by Baptist and Methodist preachers.

However, the Native Americans managed to maintain their culture and absorbed people of other races in their matrilineal kinship systems.

[14] In 1825, the Marquis de Lafayette travelled through Gates County and was entertained at Pipkin's Inn.

It was Gates County's water route to the major port of Norfolk, running straight east for ten miles (16 km) through the Dismal Swamp, from a landing on Daniels Road in Gates County to the Dismal Swamp Canal[16] that led to Norfolk.

Until the late 20th century, sportsmen in small boats used the Gates County end, at the site of the town of Hamburg, to enter the swamp.

[16] Prior to the American Civil War, most of Gates County was covered with virgin timber.

In 1861, A. J. Walton was chosen as Gates County's representative to the North Carolina secession convention.

After North Carolina voted to secede, the "Gates Guard" company was formed raised to protect its borders.

However, Gates County's greatest contribution was in supplying food to the Confederate States Army.

[17] Brigadier General Laurence S. Baker, another Gates County native, lost his right arm in the war.

[18][14] Jack Fairless of Gates County was dishonorably discharged from the Confederate army for stealing.

Made up of draft dodgers, Confederate deserters, and renegades from both armies, Fairless's Buffaloes terrorized the old men, women, children who were trying to keep their farms going.

[citation needed] On May 9, 1925, the first bridge opened across the Chowan River between Gates and Hertford counties.

In 1925, U.S. Route 158 opened between Gates and Pasquotank counties, constructed through the Great Dismal Swamp.

[citation needed] In 1984 a tornado struck Gates County, killing two people and causing an estimated $500,000 to $5,000,000 worth of damage.

[citation needed] In September 2007 Gates County was chosen as a potential site for a US Navy landing field in the northeastern part of the state.

They have organized as the Chowanoke Indian Tribe, and plan to build a cultural center on the land to help their efforts.

[22] The counties of Gates, Perquimans, Camden and Currituck contain sixty percent of the Great Dismal swamp.

The Conservancy next donated the land to the Department of The Interior, and the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was created.

The Red Barons galvanized the entire northeastern part of North Carolina, as it went on its improbable run, winning 11 games in a row, and going undefeated in the conference.

Black communities strongly supported the schools, raising money, and sometimes contributing both land and labor.

The schools were built to model designs developed by architects at Tuskegee University, a historically black college.