Posted on 01/31/2025 12:06:36 PM PST by Red Badger
Most people have heard of the utterly baffling story of the "Lost Colony," the early English settlement in Virginia/North Carolina that completely vanished sometime before 1590:
The Lost Colony of Roanoke | Britannica
Explore the oldest mystery of colonial America.
WWW.BRITANNICA.COM
https://www.britannica.com/story/the-lost-colony-of-roanoke
The colony's founder, John White, departed for England in 1587; he returned three years later to find more than 100 colonists simply gone:
The word CROATOAN and the letters CRO, carved into trees within the colony's borders, were the only signs pointing to an explanation. Despite the clues, the returning crew was unable to search for the missing colonists; a storm approached just as they came upon the desolate settlement, forcing them to turn back for England.
Though long suspected to have ventured to "Croatoan Island," now Hatteras Island, the fate of the colonists has never been satisfactorily explained.
But that may have just changed:
Recently, a closer inspection of Governor John White's map, La Virginea Pars, revealed two faint outlines that appeared to be repairs — small pieces of paper had been used to cover an error. Under advanced lighting techniques, experts discovered that one of these patches concealed a symbol of a fort, which could indicate the intended location of a new settlement.
Here's part of that map:
'I said to Alice, "I think we just discovered the predicted location for the City of Raleigh, the colony for which John White was sent to Virginia,'" said Kim Sloan, a British Museum curator who made the discovery with her colleague, paper conservator Alice Ruhamer, according to Mail Online.
Now, the mere planned location for the site of a potential city in the New World might not, at first glance, tell us much about the fate of the colonists.
But the location of "Site X" offers more compelling evidence than that:
In 2007, archaeologist Nicholas Luccketti of the James River Institute for Archaeology discovered pieces of English ceramic artifacts at Site X. These artifacts included fragments of Border ware, a specific type of English pottery that had been restricted to the early settlements in Virginia, probably dating from the sixteenth century. The find suggests that archaeologists had stumbled upon a previously unknown English settlement.
Fragments of English pottery dating to 16th-century Virginia settlements?
Archeologists have also discovered "an early type of aglet (the metal tip of a shoelace), and a tenter hook (a nail used to secure cloth over a wooden frame)."
Based on these discoveries, the First Colony Foundation concluded that there was an English presence at Site X that could only have come from the Roanoke colonists
The First Colony Foundation "plans to continue investigating Site X in search of more evidence of English presence there and any clues that could provide more information about what happened to the inhabitants of the lost colony in 1587."
We'll keep a close eye on this one!
I’m administrator for a genealogical society in North Carolina. I posted an article about this map back in 2017/2018, and I think it had been known for a while even then.
Am I seeing it right that the X is about 5-10 miles east of present-day Windsor, NC?
They found a little drawing on the map that was concealed by a tiny flap of parchment. You can see it in the image at the top.
Yup.
It’s right across the Chowan River from Edenton. Edenton was a major city in the colonial era, but it’s not a good location, which is why it hasn’t expanded much. It floods, gets hit by hurricanes, and the mosquitoes are horrible. It’s basically brackish swamp, same as most of eastern NC. But very good access to the for ocean bound ships, plus access to the river system, which is how they transported goods inland via flat-bottom boats.
My nephew married a Lumbee. At the wedding, I met the family. They were indeed an assortment of appearances, but mostly African-American. One difference would be that their noses are not the soft contour of an African nose.
Fayette, North Carolina iirc was their home region.
Because there was no ‘Goebbel Warming’ back then...
Supposedly it’s on Hatteras............
Damn global warming causing hurricanes.
With permission I will use that
It is perfect
It was all those Indians and their campfires cooking buffalo...............
I caught one of those things like in the right hand corner! Scarey! Tasted ok, tho.
:]
It’s yours.
Farging bastages
That’s what my uncle always said.
I grew up on the Outer Banks. My parents’ house was within a quarter mile of Fort Raleigh on Roanoke Island. During the summer, we could hear canons going off during performances of The Lost Colony.
Mosquitoes, why did it have to be mosquitoes
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