By Kip Tabb

The story of the Lost Colony is once again unfolding. For over 400 years, the tale has been unveiling bits and pieces of meticulous research and careful excavation of newly discovered archeological sites. What researchers are increasingly uncovering is how interwoven the fate of the first attempt by the English in colonizing the New World was with the intricacies of the Native American nations of the region.

“It’s like the big picture puzzles you played with your child,” Eric Klingelhofer, Vice President for Research for the First Colony Foundation, said. “There are a lot of pieces. We don’t even have all the pieces…But we’re getting enough pieces to see some idea of the picture.”

Dr. Kingelhofer is currently excavating a site of the Native American village closest to the Roanoke English settlement on the north end of Roanoke Island. The most significant find to date has been a thin brass ring. The ring is made of drawn wire and could only have come from England. The excavation has also unearthed considerable evidence that the site was an Indian farming homestead, providing food for the palisaded village to the north. The location of that village is now under the waters of Roanoke Sound.

If there has been a watershed moment in this story, it was the 2012 discovery of Site X, forever labeled on the La Virginea Pars map, exhibited at London’s British Museum. Located in Bertie County at the mouth of Salmon Creek on the Chowan River, Site X was a patch on this vintage map, prepared by John White, the artist and cartographer for the first 1584 expedition to the coast of North Carolina. Beneath that patch, British Museum researcher Kim Sloan discovered the symbol for a fort.

Jeremy Bliven (crawling out from an excavation pit), Tama Creef, Dr. Eric Klingelhofer and Martha Williams. As part of the First Colony Foundation, the group is currently focusing on a site of the Native American village closest to the Roanoke English settlement on the north end of Roanoke Island. Photo by Kip Tabb

There have been a number of excavations searching for the fate of Sir Walter Raleigh’s colony, but since 2003 the First Colony Foundation (FCF) has taken the lead in archeological and historic research into what happened to the Roanoke colony. Phil Evans, the President of the FCF, sees an emerging narrative of the events between 1587 when the Colony landed at Roanoke Island and 1590 when John White, as Governor, came back in search of the settlers.

“We now are into it enough that we can really try to understand things a little better,” he said. But he quickly adds, “the story that is coming to light is made up of small bits and pieces that suggest what happened and it is doubtful that there will ever be some singular discovery that tells the whole tale.”

“You’re going to hear echoes of their presence,” he said. “I don’t think there’s big dramatic discoveries of a lot of burials or a lot of fancy artifacts, anything like that. It’s going to be simple things.”

Even before the recent excavations in Bertie County at Site X, there were facts well-known to researchers that were inaccurately depicted in Paul Green’s play “The Lost Colony”, where many people were first introduced to the Roanoke settlement. Perhaps nothing was as inaccurate as the last scene where a bedraggled and ragtag population leaves everything behind to find their way to Croatoan.

Historians have known for some time that the exodus from the colony was well-planned. Klingelhofer points out that when White returned to Roanoke Island in 1590, he wrote in his report that all that was left was the fort, but no homes or other buildings.

“They took all the houses with them. They disassembled them,” he said. “When he came back (to England) in 1590” White said, ‘Oh, my goodness, all the houses are gone. They’re not burned down. They’re just gone.’” Klingelhofer said paraphrasing White’s description.

There remains a mystery, though, one of where they went. And this is where the story, which for long had been only a guess, truly is now emerging.

What has been found at Site X, and a close by Site Y, are artifacts that have been identified as consistent with late 16th century England. Although to date there has not been a huge cache of artifacts found, the concentration is enough to suggest somewhat permanent homesteads. Site Y has not yet been fully excavated.

The location of Site X is important for a number of reasons. When Governor John White returned to England in 1587 for supplies, he said at that time the colonists were planning to “remove 50 miles into the Main,” meaning the mainland. Salmon Creek is 55 miles from Roanoke Island across the Albemarle Sound.

It is also fertile land, an important consideration Evans said. Captain Ralph Lane, he explained, who led a 1585-86 exploration of the area, described the land at Site X as the “Goodliest Soile under the Cope of Heaven.”

In 2012, the discovery of Site X in Bertie County was made. This photo shows digging in 2014 at the First Colony Excavation here at Site X, where significant evidence of late 16th century English inhabitants was found. Photo courtesy of First Colony Foundation.

“They (the colonists) knew where the good farmland was,” Evans said.

The designation on the map of Site X may have another implication as well. Dr. Klingelhofer points to records of the Roanoke colony that are available, indicating the colonists had no intention of staying there. “They wanted to create…their own settlements, and they couldn’t do it on Roanoke Island because it’s too small and the soil is not really great,” he said.

It may be that the settlement was forced to disperse prematurely—they were short on supplies when they arrived at Roanoke Island, which is why John White returned to England. Researchers with the FCF believe the most probable scenario would involve small groups of people.

“They’re going to break into smaller groups. Somebody’s going to set up their own farm or somebody sets up their own fishery,” Evans said. “When they go away from Roanoke Island, they can go to different places and then they can do different things.”

This map, from the David Stick Papers (courtesy of the Outer Banks History Center) shows Indian nations dotting the coastline of northeast North Carolina during the 16th & 17th centuries.

Leaving in small groups—perhaps three or four families—would have several advantages. Because of the actions of Ralph Lane during the 1586 expedition—soldiers under his command hunted down and beheaded Pemisapan (originally known as Wingina), the king of the Secotan Nation that included Roanoke Island—relations with neighboring Indian nations were at best tense, and at times hostile.

Evans believes that there would have been discussions between Indian nations and the colonists. “I think they have to negotiate to go anywhere,” he said. A tribal king would be more likely to allow a small group of colonists onto his land than 100 or more at one time. Sites X and Y are located near Metaquem, a Native American village map noted on the Pars map.

Not everyone agrees that the colonists would have left in small groups.

Since 2009 Scott Dawson has been involved in archeological research at Buxton on Hatteras Island. The site, he says, has unearthed a number of artifacts consistent with late 16th century England. Many of those artifacts are housed at the Lost Colony Museum in Buxton.

It is his theory that the entire colony relocated to Buxton. He sees the term Lost Colony as a false clue to their fate. “They don’t know they’re lost,” Lawson said. “So, there’s no reason to split up. They don’t know that no one’s coming back.”

In addition to the artifacts that have been identified at Buxton, there are two other compelling pieces of evidence, he believes. First, there is the well-known word CROATOAN that White found carved on one of the fort palisades, possibly indicating where the colonists were.

Perhaps as important, the Croatoan were the only Indian Nation in the area that were not either actively opposing or refusing to help with food and supplies in the area. Dawson’s belief is the tribal nation in Bertie County were hostile to the English, and following the death of Pemisapan, “the Secotan hated them most of all.”

In 1941, the National Park Service acquired Fort Raleigh National Historic Site from the State of North Carolina. Six years later, in 1947, archeologist Dr. JC Harrington and his wife, Virginia Sutton Harrington (pictured here) discovered and mapped the precise location of the fort. Photo: Image from the David Stick Papers, courtesy of the Outer Banks History Center.

Marvin Tupper Jones, the founder of the Chowan Discovery Group, has been studying the tribal nations of northeastern North Carolina for over 30 years. He agrees the most likely home for the colonists was Hatteras Island, although he adds, “The Croatoans were small and outnumbered, and I think they reluctantly accepted the Lost Colony.”

The FCF has not excavated archeological sites on Hatteras Island. Nevertheless, Evans agrees Buxton is a possible location where first colonists may have gone, although he adds a caveat. “I think if you take 100 people, and you move them into a small Indian town…they’re going to be overwhelmed…it seems reasonable that a small number may go there,” he said.

Even with the pieces of the puzzle that are slowly filling in what became of the Lost Colony, there seems little chance that the story will be complete, Evans feels. “It’s a human story,” he said. “There will always be a significant part of the Lost Colony mystery that will be a mystery. I think that’s wonderful.”

Author: Kip Tabb