Editing Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina (section)

==Geography==
Roanoke Rapids is located in northern Halifax County bordered to the north by [[Northampton County, North Carolina|Northampton County]], with the county line following the [[Roanoke River]].

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the city has a total area of {{convert|25.9|km2|order=flip}}, of which {{convert|25.8|km2|order=flip}} are land and {{convert|0.1|km2|order=flip|2}}, or 0.36%, are water.<ref name="Census 2010"/>

The town is located at the eastern edge of the [[Piedmont (United States)|North Carolina Piedmont]], on the Roanoke River at the [[Atlantic Seaboard fall line|fall line]], which marks the area where an upland region (continental [[bedrock]]) and a [[coastal plain]] (coastal [[alluvium|alluvia]]) meet. The fall line is typically prominent where a river crosses it, for there will usually be rapids or waterfalls. Because of these features, riverboats normally could not travel any further inland. Because settlements needed a port and a ready supply of water power, they often developed where the river crosses the fall line. The Roanoke River and its falls inspired the development of Roanoke Rapids; businessmen such as Sam Patterson and other textile manufacturers used the river to power their mills.

The most prominent example of fall line settlement was the establishment of the cities along the eastern coast of the United States where the [[Appalachian Mountains|Appalachian Rise]] and the coastal plains meet.