Chowan Discovery Group

Three New Markers for Roanoke-Chowan People

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The North Carolina State Highway Historical Marker program has accepted three nominations made by the Chowan Discovery Group for Roanoke-Chowan people.   This first marker honors the town of Choanoac (Chowanoke) which was the largest coastal town in North Carolina when the second Roanoke Island expedition explored the Chowan River in 1586.  The town was first reported in 1584.  Choanoac, commonly referred to as Chowanoke, was located on the Chowan River at Swain’s Mill Road and the river in the Mount Pleasant community.  Its people were the among the first known residents of what is now Bertie, Gates and Hertford County.

A dedication program is scheduled on Friday, October 21 at 3pm at the Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, during the Meherrin Indian Tribe’s annual powwow.  There are Meherrins who are also Choanoac descendants, and they will be present for the program. The Harrellsville Historical Association and the Chowan Discovery Group will have books available related to the history of the area.

On January 16, in Duplin County, a marker for Parker David Robbins will be dedicated in Magnolia where he lived for 30 years.  Robbins, a Gates County native and Bertie County resident, was a mechanic and farmer near Colerain.  He served as a sergeant-major in the 2nd Cavalry, United States Colored Troops during the Civil War.  Along with his brother and three cousins, he enlisted at Fort Monroe and he took part in battles from Suffolk to Richmond, eventually riding into Richmond at the end of the war.  Robbins was a representative in the North Carolina State Assembly, served as postmaster in Harrellsville and received two patents while in Harrellsville.

In Duplin County, Robbins was a builder, sawmill owner, and steamship builder and operator.  He was a Choanoac descendant. The third marker honors Ahoskie and Harrellsville’s Robert Lee Vann, lawyer and publisher.  Vann graduated from Waters Training School in Winton, attended Virginia Union Colllege and University of Pittsburgh.  His newspaper, the Pittsburgh Courier, was the nation’s largest African American publication with circulation of 250,000 in 1935.  The Courier is still a national newspaper, now 102 years old.  The marker will be dedicated in Ahoskie next year.For more information on the markers, contact Marvin T. Jones of the Chowan Discovery Group at 202.726.4066 or .  For Meherrin Powwow information visit the Meherrin Tribe.