The Lost Colony of Roanoke is NOT in the State of Virginia... What I Learned at Fort Raleigh, North Carolina

When I was in elementary school, my teacher taught about the lost English Colony of Roanoke in Virginia.






This morning, I found out that
Roanoke Island is actually
in North Carolina.

I am confused!  How can this be?

Let's stop at Fort Raleigh

National Historic Site.

The Park Rangers at the Lindsay
Warren Visitor Center must have

the answer to my geographic confusion.






Maps from 1590, 1610 and 1640 show that Virginia extends into present day northeastern North Carolina.  No wonder I was confused.

This room from a 16th century

manor house is a great place to

 start learning about England's

 interests in colonizing

 the New World.

England and Spain  were involved in a wide ranging wide power struggle in the 16th century. Spain was extending its territorial control west to the New World, following the Columbus voyages.  Advisers of  Queen Elizabeth I of England urged her to send ships across the Atlantic Ocean to claim lands for the Crown.

Queen Elizabeth I never 

married & was known as
"The Virgin Queen."

Sir Walter Raleigh was granted a

charter by the queen to colonize
 the area of North America which
 was to be called Virginia, for
Queen Elizabeth I.

The English wanted to stem Spain's growing influence in the New World by starting colonies there.  Plundering Spanish ships also added wealth to the English treasury.  Both England and Spain wanted to exploit resources in the New World and bring Christianity to the natives.

In 1584, English ships landed at the Outer Banks and explored the area with plans to establish a colony there.  

Sir Walter Raleigh sent 108 colonists, all men. under the command of Sir Richard Grenville to Roanoke Island in 1585 .  An earthen fort was built on the northern end of the island. The colonists were left under the command of professional soldier Sir Ralph Lane while Grenville returned to England for more supplies.   

Local natives fell ill with unfamiliar illnesses and tensions arose between the colonists and Indians, resulting in the murder of  Algonquian Chief Pemisapan. When Sir Francis Drake's ships arrived, unexpectedly, on their way back to England from the West Indies, the settlers abandoned the colony and returned to their homeland.  Grenville arrived with supplies and more colonists only to find Roanoke Colony empty.  After staying a few weeks, Grenville stationed 15 men at the earthen fort with provisions for one year.  He and the rest of the prospective colonists returned to England.

Explorer, surveyor & cartographer

John White led the third third

expedition to Virginia.

Sir Walter Raleigh sent John White and over 100 colonists to settle at Chesapeake Bay to establish the Cittie of Raleigh in 1587.  This group of colonists included families. Drake envisioned a colony that would grow and sustain itself.  

Simon Fernandez, the ship's Portuguese pilot, sailed to Roanoke Island first to check on the 15 men that Grenville left behind the previous year.  The new group arrived at the fort on July 22, 1587, found the fort abandoned, and some human bones.  

Fernandez told White that the colonists would settle temporarily on Roanoke Island because it was too late in the season to sail to Chesapeake Bay.  The colonists disembarked and started building their homes.  John White's daughter, Eleanor Dare, gave birth to Virginia Dare on August 18.  Virginia is the first English child born in the New World.  John White was chosen by the newly arrived colonists to return to England, report on their location and the deaths of the men left at Roanoke Island in 1586. He was to sail back to the colony with supplies.  White left with Simon Fernandez in late August, 1587 with expectations of a timely return to Roanoke.

After reporting on the conditions at Roanoke Island, John White tried to acquire ships and supplies to re-provision Roanoke.  England was at war with Spain and ships were either pressed into military service or forbidden to leave port.  Finally, in 1590, he was able to sail west to Roanoke Island with the needed supplies.

John White returned to Roanoke on August 18, 1590, his granddaughter Virginia's third birthday.  He found the colony in ruins, and no colonists.  The word Croatoan was carved on the fort's palisade.  Roanoke Colony had vanished.

Since 1895, Fort Raleigh has
been the site of repeated
archaeological exploration.

A display of the tools used

on archaeological digs

The grid shows the careful

examination of inch

of ground.

Artifacts from the digs are on display at the Lindsay Warren Visitor Center.

The sickle, ax head &

spikes survived because
they are made of iron.

The small lead seal 

was found during a

dig in 1992.

Thirteen European made

diamond shaped pieces of 

copper that made up a 

necklace were found

in 2008.

Venetian glass beads &

pieces of metal with holes

drilled through them were

brought by colonists to

trade with the natives.

For all of the archaeological exploration done in and around Fort Raleigh, no evidence of what happened to the colonists has been found.

As a result, theories about the vanished colonists abound.  One theory is the colonists were killed by Croatoan Indians.  Some think the colonists were kidnapped by the Croatoans and sent inland, where they were assimilated into another tribe.  Maybe the  colonists tried to sail to home to England, were ambushed by the Spanish and taken to their colony in Florida. Without evidence, these theories, and many more, remain theories.

After watching a short film

about the failed Roanoke

Colony, Eric & I will

visit the fort.