Roanoke: A Colony. A Word. A Vanishing.Episode 51:34
The Footprints Made During the Night
The hopeful smoke collapses into a false alarm, but fresh-looking tracks and carved letters draw White deeper into the abandoned island.
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Transcript
At the abandoned entrance, one word had been carved into the wood: CROATOAN.
John White returned to Roanoke Island on August 18th, 1590.
Near the settlement where White left colonists, his expedition saw great smoke rising.
White's party began searching and saw Native footprints made during the night.
During the search, they saw Native footprints in two or three sorts.
The searchers followed the trail toward the abandoned settlement.
The searchers reached the abandoned settlement they had been approaching.
Before leaving, colonists agreed to carve their destination in nearby trees.
Colonists agreed to carve their destination in nearby trees. A cross meant distress.
At the settlement, White found three letters cut into a tree: C.R.O.
White instructed the colonists to carve a cross above the letters if they left in distress.
The houses were gone, taken down and replaced by a high fortified palisade.
Inside, heavy iron, lead, firearms, and shot littered abandoned ground.
White found no colonists' boats or small artillery around the deserted settlement.
An abandoned place preserves objects, but cannot explain who moved them.
White found CROATOAN carved into a chief tree or post at the entrance.
The carving named a place, but did it explain where the colonists went?
Where it leaves off
Above the letters C.R.O., the promised distress cross was missing.
Sources
- John White Returns to Roanoke; an excerpt from "The fift voyage of Master John White into the West Indies and parts of America called Virginia, in the yeere 1590" (1600) - Encyclopedia Virginiaencyclopediavirginia.orgprimary
- We Finally Have Clues to How the Lost Roanoke Colony Vanished | National Geographicnationalgeographic.comsecondary
- Sir Walter Raleigh'stile.loc.govsecondary
- 1587: The Lost Colony - Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)nps.govsecondary
- Major Theories of the Lost Colony - Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)nps.govsecondary
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