Resources
- Roanoke Island & Dare MainlandRoanoke Island and its waterfront town of Manteo are located between the North Carolina mainland and the barrier island beach towns. Manteo and sister community, Wanchese, have a flair all their own, and an historic legacy that carries through your experience. This Outer Banks island was the site of the first English colony in what would become America. You'll find street names alluding to those first settlers who disappeared mysteriously with little trace, a legend that continues to be told on summer nights at The Lost Colony outdoor drama.
- The Roanoke Island Colony: Lost, and Found?Article addressing the mystery of the lost Roanoke Island colony.
- Visit Roanoke Island Festival ParkExperience a new adventure in an old world at Roanoke Island Festival Park. This 25-acre historic site allows guests of all ages to experience first-hand what life was like for the first English settlers in 1585. Historic costumed interpreters are featured throughout the Settlement Site and the Elizabeth II ship to demonstrate how the first settlers lived, worked and played on Roanoke Island. For a hands-on history lesson, visit American Indian Town and the Adventure Museum that feature interactive exhibits that all ages will enjoy.
- What happened to the “Lost Colony” of Roanoke?The origins of one of the America’s oldest unsolved mysteries can be traced to August 1587, when a group of about 115 English settlers arrived on Roanoke Island, off the coast of what is now North Carolina.
Streaming Media
- The Lost Colony of Roanoke: Background and First AttemptsKim and David discuss the mystery of the "Lost Colony" on Roanoke Island, the English settlement in North America that vanished in the late 1500s. In this video, Kim and David set the stage for the colonial venture and discuss the first two missions to Roanoke Island.
- Lost Colony of RoanokeIt was supposed to be the first permanent English settlement in the New World. It became one of the most enduring, tantalizing mysteries in American history. In 1587, a ship with 117 English men, women and children arrived in what is now the Outer Banks of North Carolina to start the first British colony in the New World. But they would enter history as one of the most tantalizing mysteries of early America. Three years after leaving the settlement, Governor John White returned from what was supposed to be a six month supply trip to find the colony gone. Nothing remained but five chests of books and papers buried in the sand and a post with the word "Croatoan" carved on it. White knew Croatoan as an Indian village, but problems with his ship forced him to return to England without seeing if the Roanoke colonists had ventured there. LOST COLONY OF ROANOKE explores the possible fate of the vanished settlement. Were they killed by disease, storms, or possibly even Spanish adventurers? Did they abandon the coast and settle in the mountains? Persistent rumors link a reclusive group known as the Melungeons to the lost colony. Did they mingle with the Native Americans? From far-fetched theories to an underwater archaeological expedition going on today, this is a fascinating look at one of the most enduring mysteries in American history.
Perspectives
A Kingdom Strange
In 1587, John White and 117 men, women, and children landed off the coast of North Carolina on Roanoke Island, hoping to carve a colony from fearsome wilderness. A mere month later, facing quickly diminishing supplies and a fierce native population, White sailed back to England in desperation. He persuaded the wealthy Sir Walter Raleigh, the expedition's sponsor, to rescue the imperiled colonists, but by the time White returned with aid the colonists of Roanoke were nowhere to be found. He never saw his friends or family again.In this gripping account based on new archival material, colonial historian James Horn tells for the first time the complete story of what happened to the Roanoke colonists and their descendants. A compellingly original examination of one of the great unsolved mysteries of American history, 'A Kingdom Strange' will be essential reading for anyone interested in our national origins.
Time Full of Trial
In February 1862, General Ambrose E. Burnside led Union forces to victory at the Battle of Roanoke Island. As word spread that the Union army had established a foothold in eastern North Carolina, slaves from the surrounding area streamed across Federal lines seeking freedom. By early 1863, nearly 1,000 refugees had gathered on Roanoke Island, working together to create a thriving community that included a school and several churches. As the settlement expanded, the Reverend Horace James, an army chaplain from Massachusetts, was appointed to oversee the establishment of a freedmen's colony there. James and his missionary assistants sought to instill evangelical fervor and northern republican values in the colonists, who numbered nearly 3,500 by 1865, through a plan that included education, small-scale land ownership, and a system of wage labor. Time Full of Trial tells the story of the Roanoke Island freedmen's colony from its contraband-camp beginnings to the conflict over land ownership that led to its demise in 1867. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, Patricia Click traces the struggles and successes of this long-overlooked yet significant attempt at building what the Reverend James hoped would be the model for "a new social order" in the postwar South.
The Head in Edward Nugent's Hand
Examines Ralegh's plan to create an English empire in the New World but also the attempts of native peoples to make sense of the newcomers who threatened to transform their world in frightening ways.
Roanoke Island
Well before the Jamestown settlers first sighted the Chesapeake Bay or the Mayflower reached the coast of Massachusetts, the first English colony in America was established on Roanoke Island. David Stick tells the story of that fascinating period in North Carolina's past, from the first expedition sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 to the mysterious disappearance of what has become known as the lost colony. Included in the colorful cast of characters are the renowned Elizabethans Sir Francis Drake and Sir Richard Grenville; the Indian Manteo, who received the first Protestant baptism in the New World; and Virginia Dare, the first child born of English parents in America. Roanoke Island narrates the daily affairs as well as the perils that the colonists experienced, including their relationships with the Roanoacs, Croatoans, and the other Indian tribes. Stick shows that the Indians living in northeastern North Carolina -- so often described by the colonists as savages -- had actually developed very well organized social patterns. The fate of the colonists left on Roanoke Island by John White in 1587 is a mystery that continues to haunt historians. A relief ship sent in 1590 found that the settlers had vanished. Stick makes available all of the evidence on which historians over the centuries have based their conjectures. Methodically reconstructing the facts -- and exposing the hoaxes -- he invites readers to draw their own conclusions concerning what happened. Exploring the significance of that first English settlement in the New World, Stick concludes that speculation over the fate of the lost colony has overshadowed the more important fact that the Roanoke Island colonization effort helped prepare for the successful settlement of Jamestown two decades later. "Had it been otherwise," he contends, " those of us living here today might well be speaking Spanish instead of English." The four hundredth anniversary of the exploration and settlement of what came to be called North Carolina occurred in 1984. For that occasion, America's Four Hundredth Anniversary Committee commissioned this factual and readable history.
Research & Reference
- Lost Colony of Roanoke Island: Credo ReferenceA Credo Reference landing page on the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island. This page includes links to reference works, journal articles, and a mind map.