Leslie and David's Wanderings: 26 October 2022 Fort Raleigh

Looking for something to do with our last day in the Outer Banks, we found there was another national park unit nearby on Roanoke Island. We drove down to the Fort Raleigh National Historic Park with no real expectations of what we would find. This part of the island is where they believe the location of the first English Colony in Virginia, know as the lost colony, was located. Sir Walter Raleigh sponsored several exhibitions to the area now called the Outer Banks. In 1584, a small exploration party in two ships arrived. During their explorations of the area, they befriended the Algonquian Indians. The following year, a larger party of 600 colonists in 7 ships arrived and establish the first English Colony. The ships sailed back to England, leaving the colonists to fend for themselves. One of their first acts was to build a earthen fort to defend against attacks by the Spanish. After a hard year of building their colony, the colonists became more and more dependent on the Algonquian Indians for food. Their leader, Sir Richard Grenville sailed back to England to seek more supplies. The colonist became more desperate and ended up in battles with the Algonquin Indians. While he was gone, Sir Frances Drake stopped nearby after his raids on the Spanish Colonies. They accepted his offer to return to England and abandoned the colony in 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh organized another group to return to the abandoned colony. This group numbered only a 117 and included the wife and daughter of their leader, John White. With the Indians now hostile to settlers, the colonists had a rough time on the island. But, John White’s Daughter had the first English Baby born in the new world. When John White returned to England to seek more support, he was stuck because all available ships were impounded for the war with Spain. John White was not able to return until 1590. They found the colony abandoned and no sign of the 117 settlers. The fate of those 117 settlers has never been found. During the civil war, the Confederates fortified the area and wrote about the strange earthen works on the island. The Union assaulted Roanoke and took control in 1862. Escaped slaves heard about the Union control of the fort and flocked to the area. The Union established the first Freedmens Colony on the island. The colony was disbanded and the land returned to the original owners in 1867.