The Roanoke River (/ˈroʊ.əˌnoʊk/ ROH-ə-nohk) runs 410 miles (660 km) long[1] through southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina in the United States.

[2] A major river of the southeastern United States, it drains a largely rural area of the coastal plain from the eastern edge of the Appalachian Mountains southeast across the Piedmont to Albemarle Sound.

The North Fork, approximately 30 miles (48 km) long, rises between two mountain ridges and flows initially southwest, then loops back to the northeast.

In northeastern North Carolina, three miles (4.8 km) west of Roanoke Rapids, the river is impounded to form the Lake Gaston reservoir, and is impounded a final time to form Roanoke Rapids Lake.

The Roanoke River valley was the homeland of various Native Americans, mostly Virginia Siouan, such as the Occaneechi (today part of the Haliwa-Saponi) and the Tutelo.

In 1883, the small town of Big Lick on the river was selected as a major shops and terminal point for the new Norfolk and Western Railway to meet the Shenandoah Valley Railroad.