Gates
County
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Rood Ouough the Greot Dismal — the* dug a conol, laid
о
lood on lop ol the muck dug out ol the
swomp Wotcr is on both sides ol the highway.
Shaped by Geography
l.ilflo (lilies' s«‘f (Ic4ii€‘iil an«l devtdop-
ineiil were
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by (lie Great
Dismal and (lie Chowan Diver.
From beginning to end, geography
has shaped little Gates County, and
still influences the habits of its peo¬
ple. It was one of the lamented "Lost
Provinces” of political oratory because
the Chowan River cut it off from the
west. The Great Dismal Swamp lay
between it and the coast. There was
travclablc high land leading to Cho¬
wan and Perquimans on the south, but
they were as "lost" as Gates was, and
few went that way.
Consequently, the great land bridge
toward the north was the route of
travel, and this natural bridge bore
the first Virginia settlers into Gates.
A Virginia historian says Nanscmond
County is "the mother of North Caro¬
lina." and to this day "Nanscmond"
comes as easily to the lips of a Gates
resident as does Hertford or Chowan.
Some residents stoutly maintain that
the first permanent settlements in
North Carolina resulted from this en-
try.
The bridge across the Chowan to
Winton finally redeemed this "lost
province." but the redemption came
almost too late. Gates people still feel
attached to the cities to the north —
Franklin, Suffolk. Newport News,
Portsmouth and Norfolk. Several hun¬
dred of them have jobs in those towns,
commuting daily. They do much of
their shopping there, too, carry on ro¬
mances. consummate interstate mar¬
riages, read Virginia newspapers and
watch Virginia TV programs.
Secluded
For 300 years Gates has been a
sort of secluded cove, and still special¬
izes in the endeavors of field, forest
and river. Not only in making a liveli¬
hood, but in the invigorating but re¬
laxing recreations enjoyed by the very
first settlers. Now still a rural farm
county, it has virtually no industries
of its own except lumber and feed
mills, and few commercial enterprises.
«I/
DIM. SH AD I* F.
Its largest town. Gatcsvillc, has a popu¬
lation of 460. Throughout the county
arc scattered a dozen settlements of
similar or smaller stature.
History
lt seems certain that the secretary
of the province of Virginia in 1622 ex¬
plored Gates all the way to the
Chowan. His report praised the soil,
climate and friendly Indians — a de¬
scription influencing some Virginians to
come into North Carolina. They in¬
cluded religious dissidents chafing un¬
der the zeal of Governor Berkley. An
early grant (1637-38) to Henry How¬
ard. Lord Maltravcrs and Mowbray,
included Gates in its boundaries, but
none of the recipients visited the area.
An old Indian trail ran from the
James River to the Chowan. In 1653,
Roger Green and associates of Nansc¬
mond County were granted land on the
Roanoke River, and they may have fol¬
lowed this trail through Gates, though
it is more likely they floated down the
Chowan. George Fox was in Gates in
1672, on his way to his Quaker flock
in Perquimans. On the road from the
Virginia line to Gatcsvillc he saw only
one house. The Indians were still there.
One of the first settlers in the county
was supposed to have purchased land
around the present site of Gatcsvillc
from an Indian chief with the un-In¬
dian name of Thomas Hoyle.
Byrd's Visit
And in 1728, of course, came that
ubiquitous Virginian. William Byrd,
with his horrendous descriptions of
the Great Dismal and satiric thrusts at
the carefree settlers.
Until his surveying party came, no
one knew exactly where the state line
was, and borderers often endured or
enjoyed their lawless and taxless status,
according to their needs, habits and
attitudes.
The old stage coach road from Nor¬
folk to Edenton in 1738 came across
14
THE STATE. MAY 15, 1965
