In July 1587 – 30 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock – a group of 117 men, women, and children established the first English colony in the Americas.
The ill-fated events that then unfolded all took place on Roanoke Island, just a two-hour drive east of the Inn at Gray’s Landing.
Because it is so shrouded in mystery, wonder, and speculation, The Lost Colony invariably captures the imagination of visitors.
Initially envisioned as a profitable commercial venture in the New World, this daring enterprise was financed by Sir Walter Raleigh under a charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I. However, as events would soon reveal, it was ill-fated from the start.
The story actually begins not in 1587, but in 1585, with the arrival of about 100 Englishmen at Roanoke Island. Organized as a military expedition, the men are led by Ralph Lane, the colony’s governor.
Sheltered by barrier islands to the east, low-lying Roanoke is rarely ravaged by Atlantic Ocean storms. Abundant tree cover provides the colonists with lumber for building dwellings, while fish, oysters, venison, and corn obtained from indigenous villagers supplement their imported food supplies.
But things take a turn for the worse when natives are accused of stealing a silver cup. The colonists retaliate by sacking and burning their village, cutting off any hopes of obtaining additional indigenous corn. In all likelihood, the colonists’ remaining supplies become completely exhausted by October 1585, just prior to winter.
Fortunately, a resupply mission led by Richard Grenville is en route to Roanoke. But Grenville’s mission gets delayed. Meanwhile, Governor Lane becomes despondent – feeling increasingly gloomy about the colony’s future.
Sir Francis Drake visits Roanoke the following year in 1586, and offers to transport the colonists back to England. Lane accepts Drake’s offer and abandons the colony.
Ironically, Grenville’s resupply mission arrives just two weeks after the colonists leave for England. Grenville discovers the abandoned settlement and makes a command decision: he leaves behind a small detachment of men to protect Raleigh’s claim.
A year later in 1587, Raleigh sends John White on an expedition to establish the Cittie of Raleigh at Chesapeake Bay. White stops in at Roanoke to check on the men Grenville left to guard the colony. He encounters a small, fragile group of dispirited men eking out a meager existence.
The flagship’s pilot, Simon Fernandes, insists that instead of continuing to Chesapeake to establish the Cittie of Raleigh, White’s contingent of colonists should remain on Roanoke, both to bolster morale and to ensure the community’s survival.
This second contingent of 117 colonists is more civilian in nature than the first. It includes White’s own daughter, Eleanor. Also included in the group are Eleanor’s husband, Ananias Dare, a bricklayer, and White’s granddaughter, Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas.
White returns to England with Simon Fernandes, resolving to resupply the Roanoke colony the following year in 1588. However, just as White arrives in England, the Anglo-Spanish War breaks out.
An emergency is declared. All English ships are diverted to the war effort. White’s return to Roanoke is delayed until August 1590.
When White’s resupply mission finally does arrive at Roanoke, he finds the settlement fortified but abandoned. The only remaining trace of the colonists is the word “CROATOAN” carved into the wooden palisade that surrounds the settlement.
White concludes that the colonists relocated to Croatoan Island (present-day Hatteras Island). He sets sail for Croatoan, but rough seas force him to abandon his quest and return to England.
No one ever hears from the colonists again.
Were they abducted by Native Americans? Did they get lost at sea in an attempt to sail back to England? Did they move further inland and assimilate into indigenous communities? Perhaps they met a bloody end at the hand of Spaniards in their advance northward from Spanish Florida.
The most recent archaeological evidence of what may explain the fate of the Roanoke colony has unearthed a number of Anglo-Native artifacts in Bertie County, home to The Inn at Gray’s Landing. The evidence obtained thus far supports the theory that the colonists actually moved inland to the area surrounding Windsor, where the Inn is located.
However, this evidence is far from conclusive. It supports a possible explanation as to what actually happened at Roanoke, but definitively proves nothing.
Discover the evidence for yourself. See if you can figure out what happened.
But be forewarned: no one knows for sure . . . even to this day.