Chocowinity, NC

Chocowinity is a Beaufort County town of 722 residents in the 2020 census, on the south side of the Pamlico River where U.S. Highway 17 meets North Carolina Highway 33. The town sits in the Washington area of the Coastal Plain, with water, farm fields, and a major road crossing shaping the local map. Its name has deep local roots: an older form, Chocawanateth, was tied to a Tuscarora village and later understood as "fish from many waters." The river and creeks keep that meaning tied to the landscape around town.

The place was once known as Godley's Cross Roads, but Chocowinity survived a post-Civil War proposal to rename it Belvue. Norfolk Southern made the town a railroad hub beginning in 1910, and the General Assembly incorporated the town in 1959. Chocowinity Primary and Middle schools, Southside High, volunteer fire and EMS services, Highway 17, and the Pamlico-side landscape give the town a working center between Washington, Greenville, and the river.