What About Roxobel?

Roxobel, North Carolina is located on NC Highway 308 in the northwest corner of Bertie County, two miles south of the Northhampton County line, four miles east of the Roanoke River, approximately 100 miles west of the North Carolina Outer Banks (Atlantic Ocean) and about miles twenty-five miles south of the Virginia state line.

One of the oldest settlements in Bertie County, the area encompassing modern day Roxobel came into being in the early 1700's; prior to our Revolutionary War for independence from England and the establishment of our nation's Constitution. The area was first known as Cotten's Cross Roads. apparently named for the Cotten Family who relocated to this community from South Quay, Virginia in the early part of the eighteenth century (1700's). The settlement was later called Granbery, for the Granbery Family which settled in the area in 1756. They owned a large amount of land throughout Bertie, Hertford, and Northampton Counties. Langley Granbery owned the site of the cross roads. William Granbery married Laetitia Cotten. This community was knowns a Granberys probably from the close of the 18th century through 1825.

Britton Cross Roads is the third name by which this township was known. William Britton, from Petersburg, Virginia, settled in present day Roxobel as early as 1815. He purchased lands from the Granbery's, built a store and entered the mercantile business. Over time, Britton accumulated a large portion of the area land. His home and store shared a building near the cross roads. Word passed down since then tells us that he gave the building the name of "Liberty Hall."

This home was the oldest in the community, being built by one of the Granbery's in 1805 and sold by the Britton heirs to Joseph Hardy in 1849. The property later came into the possession of John E. Tyler in the early 1900's. Mr. William Britton died in 1845 or 1846 and two of his sons settled in Mississippi not long after their father's death.

The present name of Roxobel finally came about around the mid 1800's. The name was chosen by Frances Norfleet, a sister of S.A. Norfleet. She came upon this name through a popular British novel titled, "Roxobel, a Village Tale" written by a Mrs. Sherwood. One of the suspected reasons behind the name change was due to frequent confusion with another similarly named town of Britton's Neck in South Carolina.

Growth

During the early days of our country, when transportation was slow and difficult, when roads were hardly more than trails and impassable in bad weather, the merchants of Roxobel and the farmers in the communities of Roxobel Township had access to the outside world by means of the steam driven boats navigated up and down the length of the Roanoke River. Commercial boat landings were constructed in strategic market sites to include the banks nearest Roxobel. This steamboat traffic provided Roxobel farmers and businessmen with access to a greater markets, as well as making foreign merchandise and produce available to the good people of Roxobel.

Additional growth was spurred by the building of railroads which finally reached this area around 1888-1890. The Roanoke and Tar (now Seaboard Air Line) and the Norfolk and Carolina (Atlantic Coast Line) railroads provided greatly improved transportation of goods (both in quantity and frequency), once again to the all-around benefit of our local population.

Population

The early history as well as the continued occupation of the cross roads must be directly credited to those merchants and farmers who settled, supported, grew and remained in the area. From the historic information available, some of the early founders of our community and their dates of arrival and residence are presented below.

This list is by no means complete and I not only welcome, but eagerly invite you to provide me with additional information, names, dates, documents, records and letters to effectively construct a written history of our Roxobel Township.

Norfleet & Murdaugh (1815)
William Britton (1823)
Robert C. Watson (1833)
J.L. Andrews (1829)
Wm Britton & Son (1836)
Britton & Thompson (1840)
Powell & Tyler (1844)
Wm. Britton & Bro (1844)
Capehart & Company (1840)
McDaniel & Tyler (1845)
Cox & Hardy (1850)
Cox and Andrews (1857)
Bishop Bros & Co. (1867)
W.J. Capehart (1870)
Hardy & Peele (1870)
Liverman & Tyler (1880)
G.W. & A.T. Liverman (1890)
Leroy Capehart (1890)

Memorable Events

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