In 1812, the North Carolina General Assembly chartered the Roanoke Navigation Company to clear the Roanoke River from the Virginia state line to Weldon, North Carolina. Construction started in earnest around 1815 and was claimed to be completed in 1823. However, the canal was certainly not ready for transportation as a waterway for boats and/or barges at that time. It was not until 1834, eleven (11) years later, when all of its locks and one aqueduct were completed and the canal was truly ready for traffic.

The Roanoke Canal was designed to overcome the falls on the Roanoke River just above present-day Roanoke Rapids, then to the follow the course of the river via two sets of two-lock combination, then via the canal with high embankments and a towpath to the Weldon Aqueduct, then east into downtown Weldon for a drop in elevation of fifty-one (51) feet via six wooden locks the canal basin (close to the river).

The Weldon Aqueduct on this canal is one of, if not the, finest structures of its type in the country. At 110 feet long, with a single arch of 30 feet between abutments, it was built of heavy granite blocks and remains in perfect condition today.

The canal was closed in 1859, but was revived for service during the U.S. Civil War. The NC General Assembly passed an Act in 1874 to dissolve the Roanoke Navigation Company. In March 1875, the company was in receivership and all canal property was sold to new owners under the name of the Roanoke Navigation and Water Power Company. Their charter was granted on March 2, 1885 to provide water power only for the industrial era that soon followed.

In 1890, work began on widening the existing canal, repairing the banks and the locks, building headgates, and minimal work on the aqueduct. Later, a successor to that company - the Roanoke River Development Company - took over. The hydro-electric plant provided power to the town of Weldon for about a decade, more or less, then was sold to the Virginia Electric & Power Company and remained operational until the 1920s. Power was generated with a 268 hp generator turned via waterwheels.

The complete system has been abandoned since the canal was drained in 1912 (slightly at odds with the above note that power was generated into the '20s). The canal's nine miles contain some of the most impressive industrial and engineering sites in North Carolina. The area above Roanoke Rapids is now under water. The upper two-lock combination is in very good condition.