Roanoke: A Colony. A Word. A Vanishing.Episode 61:14
The Fortress That Replaced Their Houses
Roanoke appears abandoned without a distress signal, but its dismantled homes, new palisade, and scattered weapons suggest a deliberate departure.
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Transcript
CROATOAN was carved into a chief tree or post beside Roanoke's abandoned entrance.
John White returned to Roanoke Island on August 18th, 1590.
Simon Fernandes refused to take the colonists farther up the coast.
Before leaving, the colonists agreed to carve their destination into nearby trees.
White instructed colonists to carve a cross over letters or name if distressed. No cross or sign of distress appeared above CROATOAN.
The houses had been dismantled, and the settlement was enclosed by a high palisade.
Inside, iron bars, lead, firearms, and shot lay scattered across the abandoned ground.
White also found his books torn apart, while pictures and maps rotted in rain. The empty fortress carried someone else's interrupted life.
Yet White found no sign of the colonists' boats or small artillery.
Three of the five chests we found were my own.
White interpreted Croatan as a token that the colonists were at Croatan.
White believed the colonists had moved to Croatoan, a people and a place.
Where it leaves off
But lost anchors and approaching bad weather forced White to abandon the voyage to Croatan.
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
- 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
- Sir Walter Raleigh'stile.loc.govsecondary
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