Dan River

River in the U.S. states of North Carolina and Virginia

36°46′41″N 080°21′54″W / 36.77806°N 80.36500°W / 36.77806; -80.36500^[1] • elevation3,170 ft (970 m) MouthJohn H. Kerr Reservoir (Roanoke River)

• location

Stanton River State Park

• coordinates

36°39′22″N 078°35′55″W / 36.65611°N 78.59861°W / 36.65611; -78.59861^[1]

• elevation

300 ft (91 m)Length214 mi (344 km)^[3]Basin size3,300 square miles (8,500 km²)^[3]Discharge • locationStanton River State Park (John H. Kerr Reservoir) • average4,136.06 cu ft/s (117.120 m³/s) at John H. Kerr Reservoir^[4] Basin featuresProgressionRoanoke River → Albemarle SoundRiver systemRoanoke RiverTributaries • leftIvy Creek, Roaring Creek, Coxes Branch, Lickskillet Branch, Little Dan River, Peters Creek, Bonds Branch, Newman Branch, Seven Island Creek, Snow Creek, Blackies Branch, Reed Creek, Beaver Island Creek, Mayo River, Buffalo Creek, Matrimony Creek, Smith River, Covenant Branch, Cascade Creek, Trotters Creek, Childress Creek, Sandy River, Fall Creek, Barkers Branch, Hances Branch, Coy Creek, Cane Creek, Mineral Springs Branch, Sandy Creek, Wolfe Creek, Barker Creek, Double Creek, Byrds Branch, Toby Creek, Little Toby Creek, Birch Creek, Miry Creek, Pond Branch, Poplar Creek, Reedy Creek, Banister River, Peter Creek, Line Branch • rightQuaker Field Branch, Toggle Creek, Mill Creek, Round Meadow, Squall Creek, Squirrel Creek, Fall Creek, Big Branch, Big Creek, Double Creek, Cascade Creek, Indian Creek, Scott Branch, Town Fork Creek, Belews Creek, Hogans Creek, Jacobs Creek, Massy Creek, Roach Creek, Fishing Creek, Town Creek, Rock Creek, White Oak Creek, Williamson Creek, Wolf Island Creek, Jackson Branch, Pumpkin Creek, Hogans Creek, Moon Creek, Rattlesnake Creek, Little Rattlesnake Creek, Country Line Creek, Winns Creek, Powells Creek, Chalmers Creek, Locust Creek, Lawsons Creek, Perrin Creek, Grassy Creek, Chatman Branch, Lick Branch, Hyco River, Aarons CreekWaterbodiesCockrum Millpond
John H. Kerr Reservoir

The Dan River flows 214 miles (344 km)^[5] in the U.S. states of North Carolina and Virginia. It rises in Patrick County, Virginia, and crosses the state border into Stokes County, North Carolina. It then flows into Rockingham County. From there it flows back into Virginia through Pittsylvania County before reentering North Carolina near the border between Caswell County and Rockingham County. It flows into northern Caswell County and then back into southern Virginia (briefly Pittsylvania County, then into Halifax County) and finally into Kerr Reservoir on the Roanoke River.

The name of the river was first recorded by William Byrd II in 1728, during an expedition to survey the Virginia border, though Byrd did not explain the reason for the name.^[6] A variant name is "South Branch Roanoke River".^[7]

In 2014, a large amount of coal ash, a byproduct of coal combustion, spilled into the lower Dan River in Rockingham County, near Eden, North Carolina , prompting a cleanup process costing an estimated $300 million.^[8]

Dan River is also the name of the southeastern political district of Pittsylvania County, where a small section of the river serves as the boundary between Pittsylvania County and the city of Danville.

On June 25, 2021, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a law adding the river's paddle trail in Stokes and Rockingham Counties as its eleventh State Trail.^[9]

References

^ ^a ^b "GNIS Detail - Dan River". geonames.usgs.gov. US Geological Survey. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
^ "Danville Historic District Topo Map, Danville (city) County VA (Danville Area)". TopoZone. Locality, LLC. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
^ ^a ^b "General Info - Dan River Basin Association - Dan River Basin Association". www.danriver.org. Dan River Basin Association. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
^ "Dan River Watershed Report". Waters Geoviewer. US EPA. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
^ "The National Map". U.S. Geological Survey. Archived from the original on March 29, 2012. Retrieved Feb 14, 2011.
^ "Early Danville History". Danville Historical Society. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Dan River
^ Jarvis, Craig (November 26, 2014). "Dan River coal ash spill damage could top $300 million". News & Observer. Archived from the original on December 28, 2014.
^ "Session Law 2021-55". Raleigh, North Carolina: General Assembly of North Carolina. June 25, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dan River (Virginia/North Carolina).

Dan River State Trail, official website for the state paddle trail.
Map of the Dan River Watershed

Protected areas of North Carolina

Federal

National Parks	Great Smoky Mountains
National Historic Sites	Carl Sandburg Home Fort Raleigh
National Memorials	Wright Brothers
National Military Parks	Guilford Courthouse
National Battlefields	Moores Creek
National Parkways	Blue Ridge Parkway Crabtree Falls Craggy Gardens Cumberland Knob Doughton Park E.B. Jeffress Park Julian Price Memorial Park Linville Falls Moses H. Cone Memorial Park Mount Pisgah Waterrock Knob
National Trails	Appalachian Trail Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail
National Seashores	Cape Hatteras Cape Lookout
National Marine Sanctuary	Monitor
National Estuarine Research Reserve	Currituck Banks Rachel Carson Masonboro Island Zeke’s Island
National Forests	Cherokee Croatan Nantahala Pisgah Uwharrie
National Wildlife Refuges	Alligator River Cedar Island Currituck Great Dismal Swamp Mackay Island Mattamuskeet Mountain Bogs Pea Island Pee Dee Pocosin Lakes Roanoke River Swanquarter
Wilderness Areas	Birkhead Mountains Catfish Lake South Ellicott Rock Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Linville Gorge Middle Prong Pocosin Pond Pine Sheep Ridge Shining Rock Southern Nantahala Swanquarter
Wilderness Study Areas	Craggy Mountain Harper Creek Lost Cove Overflow Snowbird
Wild and Scenic Rivers	Chattooga River Horsepasture River Lumber River New River Wilson Creek

State

State Parks	Carolina Beach Carvers Creek Chimney Rock Cliffs of the Neuse Crowders Mountain Dismal Swamp Elk Knob Eno River Fort Macon Goose Creek Gorges Grandfather Mountain Hammocks Beach Hanging Rock Haw River Jockey's Ridge Jones Lake Lake James Lake Norman Lake Waccamaw Lumber River Mayo River Medoc Mountain Merchants Millpond Morrow Mountain Mount Mitchell New River Pettigrew Pilot Mountain Pisgah View Raven Rock Rendezvous Mountain Singletary Lake South Mountains Stone Mountain William B. Umstead
State Recreation Areas	Falls Lake Fort Fisher Jordan Lake Kerr Lake
State Natural Areas	Hemlock Bluffs Lea Island Masonboro Island Mount Jefferson Occoneechee Mountain Theodore Roosevelt Weymouth Woods
State Lakes	Bay Tree Lake Jones Lake Lake Phelps Salters Lake Singletary Lake Lake Waccamaw White Lake
State Trails	Dan River Deep River East Coast Greenway Equine Fonta Flora French Broad River Haw River Trail Hickory Nut Gorge Mountains-to-Sea Northern Peaks Overmountain Victory Roanoke River Saluda Grade Wilderness Gateway Yadkin River
State Rivers	Horsepasture River Linville River Lumber River New River
State Forests	Bladen Lakes DuPont Headwaters Rendezvous Mountain
Educational State Forests	Clemmons Holmes Jordan Lake Mountain Island Turnbull Creek Tuttle
State Historic Sites	Alamance Battleground Charles B. Aycock Birthplace Historic Bath Bennett Place Bentonville Battleground Brunswick Town / Fort Anderson C.S.S. Neuse and Governor Caswell Memorial Charlotte Hawkins Brown Memorial Duke Homestead Historic Edenton Fort Dobbs Fort Fisher Historic Halifax Horne Creek Living Historical Farm House in the Horseshoe North Carolina Transportation Museum President James K. Polk Historic Site Reed Gold Mine Somerset Place Stagville State Capitol Thomas Wolfe Memorial Town Creek Indian Mound Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace
State Coastal Reserves	Bald Head Woods Bird Island Buxton Woods Emily and Richardson Preyer Buckridge Kitty Hawk Woods Permuda Island