[C19fan]

If the map is true the colony would be at the western end of Albermarle Sound.

[bkepley]

Why don’t we just go see if they’re there?

[mkboyce]

Yep, the peninsula is bisected longitudnally by a stream. on the north is a housing development...on the south is a farm.

[Lurker]

Is it on the back of the Declaration of Independence?

[Adder]

Maybe it was supposed to be but never made it there?

The legend says White returned and found “croatoan” carved on a tree on Roanoke Island, not where the map shows.

Unless it was all a sleight of hand...a feint...hmmmm...sneaky ‘lizabethans :D

[BipolarBob]

Yes, the location is known and all that remains is the mysterious word “Croaton” carved on a tree.

[Sacajaweau]

I lived in Williamsburg Va doing historical research. They sure missed a lot of stuff in their map reading.

I'm looking at a book This id what it says on the cover.

"A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia by Thomas Harriot. The complete 1590 edition with the 28 engravings by Theodor de Bry after the drawings of John White and other illustrations."

[Ditter]

Cool, I love stuff like this! I would love to hunt for artifacts but I'll bet they would be really hard to find.

We lived in Yorktown VA and I roamed the York riverbank and the battlefield. I never found much but I bought a flintlock pistol that had been found somewhere around the area. It is not all there and I picked it up for $5. at a yard sale. I wouldn't take any amount of money for it.

[Graewoulf]

Thanks for bringing this article to our attention!

[Sacajaweau]

http://www.outerbanks.com/fortraleigh/

[rwfromkansas]

Hmmmm. Interesting.

[Theoria]

Lost colony ping. Adding this article, for more info.

Early map of Virginia reveals plans for a fort: did Lost Colonists head there?

May 3, 2012 by John Blythe

A portion of John White's map "Virgenia Pars." A patch on the map covers a symbol for a fort. © The Trustees of the British Museum

Researchers from the U.S. and U.K. announced earlier today that a 16th century map of coastal Virginia and North Carolina reveals the location of a planned fort or settlement. And, they suggest, that spot, at the confluence of the Roanoke and Chowan rivers, may be where settlers from the Lost Colony headed.

The lozenge shape on John White’s “Virgenia Pars”, which researchers suggest represents a fort, was discovered when experts at the British Museum used lights and other techniques to study details hidden by a patch on the map.

from Examination of patches on a map of the east coast of North America by John White ("La Virginea Pars";1906,0509.1.3), CSR ANALYTICAL REQUEST NO. AR2012-21 . © The Trustees of the British Museum

A panel of historians and archaeologists assembled by the First Colony Foundation discussed their findings and theories this morning at Wilson Library in Chapel Hill. Panelist James Horn, an historian and author of A Kingdom Strange: The Brief and Tragic History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, says that before John White left his fellow colonists in 1587, the settlers had already discussed moving about 50 miles inland. That distance roughly compares to the location of the fort depicted on the map. Additional details of the First Colony Foundation’s research and theories are here.

White’s “Virgenia Pars” map is considered relatively accurate in its depiction of the region’s geography. And The News and Observer reports that the site of the planned fort or settlement is “near Scotch Hall Preserve, a golf course and residential community just across the Albemarle Sound from Edenton.”

Although archaeologists expect to study the area of the planned fort or settlement, a timeline for such work has yet to be disclosed.

[Pharmboy]

Thanks for the post, C19fan...I was about to post a story on this, but searched and found yours.

The RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list...

[bert]

I would prefer to believe the effort under discussion is the Elizabethen version of whiteout. That is, there was a plan to locate the fort inland but it was instead built on Roanoke Island where they were landed and comfortable.

The patch covers an error

[Grimmy]

Everyone knows what happened.

It was the Templars what done it.

Srs biz. There were Sinclarian Templars all over that AO since way before the Englanders.

Saw it on TV so it has to be true!

[afraidfortherepublic]

Somewhere I read that early Jamestowne settlers and exporers reported seeing a blonde, blue-eyed youth running with the Indians. Virgina Dare, or Virginia Dare’s child? Most likely the child of Virginia Dare because the Jamestowne colony wasn’t founded until nearly 20 years after Roanoke disappeared.

I’ve forgotten the exact numbers, but the original Jamestowne settlers were decimated by disease and unpreparedness the first winter. In fact, they were packing up to return to England when the First Supply ship appeared on the horizon. I think only about 20% survived the first winter. I trace my father’s family to the First, or the Second Supply. It’s a bit murky after all these years.

I don’t think that my original settler ancestor actually survived, but his daughter (whom he’d left behind in England) came over after his death and took up his estate. She married, died in childbirth, and the rest of the line continued.

Life was tough in those days, so it does not surprise me that a small colony left to its own devices for 3 years had disappeared by the time White came back. I think that it is unfair to blame the Indians without knowing what really happened.

[ElkGroveDan]

It's also possible it was simply an error or a point of contention drawn on a map that he had invested a whole lot of time into making. If I was going to use invisible ink on a document I sure as hell wouldn't draw attention to it by pasting another piece of paper over the spot. It would be like stacking a pile of cannon balls over a buried treasure. I might do the paste-over though if some mistake had been made or a change of plans had been decided upon.

I predict that nothing definitive will be found on the site.