The Chowan River is a blackwater river formed with the merging of Virginia's Blackwater and Nottoway rivers near the stateline between Virginia and North Carolina.

Flowing for approximately 50 miles (80.4 km) before ending in the Albemarle Sound on North Carolina's coast, the river drains about 4800 square miles (12,432 km²)of land in North Carolina and Virginia. Flowing through mostly swamp land with occasional high ground, the Chowan River grows to nearly two miles wide (3.21 km) at its ocean terminus.