Clarksville is located in
Mecklenburg County 52 miles east of
Danville between Finchley and Riverdale in the
Central Region of the state. Clarksville is located just north of the North Carolina state line, on Hwy 58; the John H Kerr Reservoir and Dam, and
Occoneechee State Park are nearby. Clarksville was named after its founder, Clarke Royster. The damming of the Roanoke River in the early 1950s had a major impact on the area, making Clarksville the only town on the 50,000-acre body of water named after an island upstream, Buggs Island Lake.