Excerpts from Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of The Lost Colony
By Lee Miller
...Sir Walter Raleigh obtained a royal patent from Queen Elizabeth I for rights to settle North America. In the spring of 1584, he launched an exploratory expedition under Captain Philip Armadas and Arthur Barlowe which located Roanoke Island before returning to England. The following year, he raised a military expedition headed by Sir Richard Greenville which reached Roanoke Island in the summer, built a fort there, and remained until the spring of 1586. Finally, in 1587, Raleigh sent a colony of men, women, and children to the Chesapeake Bay with their govenor, John White, with instructions to stop at Roanoke Island along the way. For some reason-White's ineptitude as a leader or his preference for Roanoke Island-they went no farther and settled there in the abandoned military fort.
...New cottages were constructed of brick and tile, and on August 18, White's daughter Eleanor and husband Ananias Dare became the parents of a baby girl. Christened Virginia, she was the first English child born in North America. Several days later, another celebration. A boy was delivered to Dyonis and Margery Harvie.
Already short of supplies, White reluctantly returned to England with the transport ships. Unfortunately, his arrival in London coincided with the Spanish Armada. With England at war with Spain, he was unable to relieve the colony until 1590. When he finally did return to Roanoke, the colonists had vanished...Stumbling ashore, White pressed through the woods to a smoking clearing, the fire of the previous night now smothered except for patches of grass and sundry rotten trees burning about the place. But nothing else. No people. No encampment. Like Hatorask (Hatteras), no sign of life anywhere. Another illusion. Reeling from disappointment, White plunged back through the brush to the shore, advancing around the north end of the island, until we came to the place where I left our colony. White pushed ahead. Scrambling up a sandy bank, White cried out. He had found something, an astounding discovery. Cut into a tree, in the very brow thereof, were curiously carved these fair Roman letters: CRO. Croatoan.
There is something unsettling about a mystery. When it involves tragedy, it is doubly so. When the tragedy is the loss of 116 people and their inexplicable disappearance, the need to find answers is compelling.__________________________________________________________
Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Paul Green's The Lost Colony is a two-hour symphonic drama slash spectacle at the historic Waterside Theater on Roanoke Island. Marcy and I witnessed this amazing story unfold on a moonless Friday night. The production recounts the actual historic events peppered with fiction. The Lost Colony is the first and longest running historical outdoor drama.
Opening Night
Waterside Theater
July 4, 1937
Waterside Theater
July 4, 1937
Waterside Theater
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