The shoreline of Lake Gaston touches Northampton County in North Carolina. The water shapes one side of the destination; in Jackson, historic buildings and the Northampton County Museum tell a different story. In this way, landscape and local history stand side by side as two distinct perspectives.
Lake Gaston and the Roanoke River
Lake Gaston is approximately 35 miles long, covers more than 20,000 acres, and has 350 miles of shoreline. Activities on the lake include boating, fishing, and water sports. The Roanoke Rapids Lake offers a different sense of scale, with more than 4,600 acres of water and over 50 miles of shoreline: by comparison, it is considerably more compact than Lake Gaston.
The Roanoke River’s floodplain also offers a distinctive perspective on nature. More than 200 bird species have been observed there, including 51 neotropical migratory species. Large numbers of breeding neotropical migratory birds can be seen in spring and summer. The river is accessible via the Roanoke River Paddle Trail and the trail’s camping platforms.
Jackson: Architecture and Local History
Jackson is located on U.S. Highway 158, known as the Historic Albemarle Tour Highway. The Jackson Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior on June 16, 2004. At its center is the Northampton County Courthouse, built in 1858, a Greek Revival courthouse dating from the antebellum era. Courthouse Square is also home to the Clerk’s and Register’s Office, completed in 1831 and the city’s oldest surviving public building.
Other historic sites in Jackson include the Church of the Saviour and Cemetery, added to the National Register in 2001, and Mowfield, listed in 1975. Another detail of local history concerns Sir Archie: at Mowfield Plantation, he stood as a breeding stallion from 1818 until his death at the age of 28 in 1833. Garysburg also has a historic church complex: the Garysburg United Methodist Church and Cemetery, also called Chapel Grove Church, was added to the National Register in 1985.
Museum, Remembrance, and Regional Culture
The Northampton County Museum preserves the county’s history, material culture, and cultural heritage from prehistoric times to the present. An active, educational, and interactive museum, it also serves as an educational and exhibition center for the region’s historic, cultural, and natural resources. It offers young people opportunities to gain firsthand knowledge. In Jackson, the museum also displays a mural by Napoleon Hill.
Another chapter in the county’s history concerns James H. Jones. In 1971, he became Northampton County’s first Black school board representative and played an important role in integrating local schools in the 1960s and 1970s. In Woodland, Penny Beasley has painted murals on the sides of buildings; Woodland–Olney School was added to the National Register in 1997. DeBerry Mill is an intact example of a small rural grain mill from before World War II.
Golf and Other Facilities
Valley Pine Country Club in Lasker has a regulation 18-hole golf course. It is 6,333 yards long and features three sets of tees, four par-3 holes, and four par-5 holes. These details give golfers specific information about the facility and its course layout.
Odom Shooting Range has a 100-yard rifle range with eight shooting stations, a 25-yard pistol range with eight shooting stations, and a 3-D archery range with six shooting stations. Visitors must bring their own ammunition and targets for the pistol and rifle ranges.
Discover more destinations: Garysburg, New Hanover County, Halifax, Edgecombe County, Macon County, Mitchell County, Henderson, Craven County.
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