Chowan River

… is formed on the Hertford-Gates county line a short distance S of the Virginia state line by the junction of the Nottoway and Blackwater Rivers. It flows SE on the Hertford-Gates and Bertie-Chowan county lines into Albemarle Sound. Named for the Chowanoc tribe of Indians who lived in the area. The word is a variant of the Algonquian sorwán (south). It may have derived from sowánohke (south country). The river was referred to by the Roanoke explorers, 1584-85, but given no specific name except as the location of the tribe. Appears as Choan River on the Comberford map, 1657.