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

Without a Trace: The Lost Colony, "Croatoan"

From the Feb. 2017 Our State magazine, North Carolina.

In April 1587, more than 30 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, explorer John White and about 120 men, women and children set sail from England to establish England's first permanent settlement in what became America.

They were the first whites to come here and joined thousands of Indians already living here for centuries.  They had intended to land in the Chesapeake Bay area, but got dropped off on Roanoke Island and soon became some of North Carolina's most famous residents: the Lost Colony

After living at the island for six weeks, White left the colony for England to get supplies and reinforcements.  he had delays in returning.

--Cooter

Longleaf Legacy-- Part 1: North Carolina's Longleaf Pines

From the March 2015 Our State magazine by Andrew Kenney.

When the first European explorers arrived on North Carolina's shores, they found towering longleaf pine trees standing at more than 100 feet tall and promising a plentiful resource in the wooden ship seafaring age.

Two captains told Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 that these trees "could supply the English Navy with enough tar and pitch to make our Queen the ruler of the seas."  This was a big reason he went ahead with what would become his famous "Lost Colony."

 They were referring to pine tar, the viscous fluid that leaks from heated pine, used to secure masts and sails.  They also were talking about pitch, the boiled tar which could be heated and painted on the bottom of boats for waterproofing.

Along with the wood of these trees, it helped foster a backwoods industry and turned North Carolina into the home of the Tar Heels.

And, that nickname stuck, just as it did on the shoes and feet of poor workers who "stepped" in it.

Tar Me Up, Scottie.  --Cooter

A New Clue to What Happened to the "Lost Colony"

From the May 4th Yahoo! News, AP "Researchers say they have new clue to Lost Colony" by Martha Waggoner.

A 425-year-old map may have a clue to what happened to North Carolina's Lost Colony.  Experts from the First Colony Foundation and London's British Museum held a joint-conference at the University of North Carolina to reveal the new findings.

Explorer John White's "Virginea Pars" map of Virginia and North Carolina was made in the 1590s and has been at the British Museum since 1866.  It seems to give proof that the colony moved westward up the Albemarle Sound to the confluence of the Chowan and Roanoke rivers. 

Two patches are attached to the map.  One appears to cover a mistake that was corrected, under the other one, however, there appears to be a symbol for a fort in modern-day Bertie County.

That land is currently privately-owned and some of the site might be under a golf course and residential communication, making excavations not likely to begin anytime soon.

Fore On to History.  --DaCoot

And We Though We Had a Drought

The US southeast was hit by quite a drought in the last two years, but that was nothing compared to what the first English colonists found in the New World for Roanoke (Lost Colony) and Jamestown.

According to University of Arkansas dendrochronolgist David Stahle, the 117 members of what has since become known as the "Lost Colony" in North Carolina who disappeared in 1587, leaving nothing but the word "Croatoan" carved in a tree. An examination of tree rings from that time show that the region was suffering its driest year in 800 years.

Twenty years later, the first permanent English settlement, Jamestown, almost didn't make it because of the misfortune to arrive during a drought that lasted from 1606 to 1612. Only 38 of the original 104 colonists survived.

From National Geographic March 1999.

How Dry I Am. How Dry They Were. --Old Coot