Dan River
The name of the river was first recorded by William Byrd II in 1728, during an expedition to survey the Virginia border, though Byrd did not explain the reason for the name. A variant name is "South Branch Roanoke River".
In 2014, a large amount of coal ash, a byproduct of coal combustion, spilled into the lower Dan River in Rockingham County, near Eden, North Carolina , prompting a cleanup process costing an estimated $300 million.
Dan River is also the name of the southeastern political district of Pittsylvania County, where a small section of the river serves as the boundary between Pittsylvania County and the city of Danville.
On June 25, 2021, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a law adding the river's paddle trail in Stokes and Rockingham Counties as its eleventh State Trail.