Without a Trace: The Lost Colony-- Part 2" What Happened?

When John White was finally able to return, the colonists he had left were gone, the village disassembled and overgrown with brush.

He found the word "Croatoan" carved into the surface of one of the palisades' entrance posts, and the letters "Cro" carved into a nearby tree.  White believed that meant that the colonists had moved south to join the Croatoan Indians and he set out to find them.

But storms and lack of provisions soon halted his search, and he returned to England without ever knowing what had happened to his colonists.

To this day, no one is sure, either.

Somehistorians believe they died from disease or Native American attacks.  Or, perhaps they split up and were assimilated with the locals.

It would be 65 more years before immigrants again came to North Carolina.

--DaCoot