The Fort Raleigh Historical Site is located on the north end of Roanoke Island. We walked through the visitor's center at the site that had several exhibits and an informative movie about the Lost Colony. The Roanoke settlement was the first English settlement (or attempt at a settlement) in the New World. In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh sponsored England's first sustained exploration of North America. Although Raleigh himself never set foot in America, he convinced investors to invest in his venture that was chartered by Queen Elizabeth.
Upon arriving on Roanoke Island, Captains Amadas and Barlowe established good relations with the Algonquian natives who lived in the area, traded with them, and taught them much about the area and the other tribes. Two of the Algonquians traveled back to England with them: Manteo and Wanchese (for whom the two towns on Roanoke Island are named).
In 1585, Raleigh dispatched seven ships with 600 people (who were mainly soldiers) to occupy land for England and establish a base. After the soldiers helped build an earthen fort, all but 107 of the soldiers and colonists returned to England with Ralph Lane left in charge. They killed an Indian chief and things started going downhill from there. There was a breakdown in the good relations they once had with the Indians and the food supplies were dwindling. So when the colonists had a chance to ride back home to England, all but 15 men sailed back to England.
In 1587, a "true colony" was hoped to be settled with 117 colonists which included 17 women and 9 children led by John White who had been on the 1585 expedition. John White's own daughter and son-in-law were part of these 117 colonists. The 15 men left in 1585 were never found by the colonists. Maybe that should have been a warning to them! Again, things did not go very well as some of the Indians were now hostile and food supplies were getting low again. The colonists convinced John White to return to England for more supplies. Before White left, his daughter gave birth to his granddaughter and the first English person born on American soil, Virginia Dare.
Unfortunately, White was unable to return to the Roanoke Colony until 1590 because England was fighting with Spain. When White did return, no one was there. Not only was no one there, all the houses had been taken down and moved who knows where. The only evidence left were the letters CROATAN carved into a post and CRO carved into a tree. There were no graves or anything left of the colony. Some speculate that Indians killed them all or Spainards or a hurricane but if that happened, there should have been some evidence of that having occurred. One other theory is that they assimilated with the Indians. But nobody knows and to this day, the Lost Colony still remains a mystery.
John White was an artist and much of what we know comes from his drawings and journals as well as the letters, reports, and journals of others who traveled on these expeditions. Prints of many of White's drawings were on display in the Visitor's Center.
One of the rooms in the Visitor's Center was paneled with wood panels and carvings that had been originally installed in 1585 in Heronden Hall in Kent, England. It had nothing to do with those original Lost Colonists other than showing what would have been in the homes of wealthy individuals that stayed back in England at the time of the Roanoke Voyages. We were amazed by the wood carvings that were done completely by hand.
After leaving the Visitor's Center, we walked down a trail to this reconstructed earthen fort.
The fort was very small and the houses would not have been contained within it. However, it is believed that some type of building may have been where the posts are in this pictures.
We next walked out to the Waterside Theatre where The Lost Colony, America's longest running outdoor drama (since 1937) is performed. We may come back and go to this Friday or Saturday night.
Next, we walked on the Thomas Hariot trail (named for one of the scientist/colonists who was on the 1585 expedition).
I think this squirrel was pointing us in the direction we were supposed to go. :)
There were a lot of loblolly pines along the trail...
...as well as magnolias, persimmon and mulberry trees, and these big wild-looking oak trees.
Part of the trail took us to the coastline of Roanoke Island.
Can you imagine what it would have been like walking through these woods over 400 years ago??
After our history-mystery lesson for the morning, we headed back to the camper for lunch before going to Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers Memorial Site later that afternoon.
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