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The Haw River, shown highlighted

The Haw River is a tributary of the Cape Fear River, approximately 110 mi (177 km) long, in north central North Carolina in the United States. It was first documented as the "Hau River" by John Lawson, an English botanist, in in his 1709 book "A New Voyage to Carolina."

The Haw rises in the piedmont country, in northwest Guilford County northwest of Greensboro, and flows east, passing north of Greensboro into Alamance County. It then flows SSE past the town of Haw River just east of Burlington, and continues on to Saxapahaw, once the home of the Sissipahau Indians. The river was first dammed here in the 1850's. In Chatham County it flows through the Jordan Lake reservoir, at which it is joined by New Hope Creek, which forms the north of the reservoir. Just below the reservoir at Haywood it joins the Deep River to form the Cape Fear River.

The State of North Carolina is planning a state park on the Haw River in Guilford and Rockingham counties.

The small town of Haw River, with approximately 2,000 people, sits on the banks of the Haw River near Burlington, Graham, Mebane, and Green Level.

The Haw River Valley has become a renowned grape growing region. A number of award winning wineries have set up successful operations on the mineral-rich, well-drained soil of the region. A number of these wineries are part of the Haw River Wine Trail.

Haw River is the location of the untimely death of blood plasma pioneer Dr. Charles Drew, on April 1, 1950. He was driving a group of his colleagues to a medical conference in Alabama when he apparently dozed off at the wheel, resulting in a crash and the mortal wounds that were the cause of his death. An urban myth developed that he had been denied treatment and allowed to bleed to death, because of his being black, but eyewitnesses, including one of his fellow doctors who was at the hospital, have testified that nothing of the sort happened, as detailed in the Raleigh News and Observer.^[1]

1. ^ Doctor wants to put end to story hospital refused to treat black physician. The News and Observer Publishing Company. Retrieved on September 12, 2006.

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