Posted on 10/17/2010 2:55:01 PM PDT by Palter
Sam Sumner retired as a schoolteacher, left his Hawaii home and recently moved to North Carolina, all for the purpose of solving the mystery of the Lost Colony.
The answer lies not in Buxton where experts and amateur sleuths have searched for decades, he says, but at Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge in Currituck County, a site that leaves experts skeptical.
A 1923 map in the lobby of Mackay Island ranger station shows an image on the ground next to the Currituck Sound that looks just like an old drawing of Fort Raleigh.
"I looked at that map and I knew immediately what it was," Sumner said. "I have the evidence on my side. It is up to the archaeological experts to say the image is not a 16th-century fort."
Sumner, 63, has researched one of America's oldest mysteries for 31 years, traveling almost annually from Hawaii to Roanoke Island. He has partnered with a psychic archaeologist; rented underground radar equipment at budget-busting costs; queried experts; researched books, maps and papers; and written reports.
But the most compelling clue is the map.
Sir Walter Raleigh sent 118 colonists to the New World in 1587 to establish a settlement. Led by John White, they landed at what is now Roanoke Island.
In August 1587, White left for England to get supplies, returning in 1590 to find the colony gone. All he found were the letters CRO carved on a tree and CROATOAN carved on a post. The colony possibly split up, one group going south to Buxton on Hatteras Island where the Croatan Indians lived and the other north toward Chesapeake. White wrote that a group was to go 50 miles inland.
"There are two islands 50 miles away," Sumner said. "One is at Hatteras and one is Knotts Island."
The colonists lived there for 20 years, until 1607, when the Powhatan Indians massacred them, according to a history from 1612. That is another strong piece of evidence they were there, Sumner said.
Forts of that day were made of earth piled high after digging a ditch around the perimeter, said Doug Stover, historian at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on Roanoke Island.
The image on the map has a long nose at one end and is star-shaped at the other, just like the old, undocumented drawing used to show what Fort Raleigh may have looked like.
Sumner could seek help through Fort Raleigh if the evidence is strong enough, Stover said. Mackay Island will not issue Sumner a permit to excavate unless he has backing from a sanctioned archaeologist or group.
It is hard to get backing without more evidence and hard to get more evidence without excavating, Sumner said.
Lost Colony researchers do not give credence to his Mackay Island theory.
"We know of no archaeological evidence to indicate a Raleigh colony there," said Phil Evans, president of the First Colony Foundation, a group that researches the Raleigh colonization efforts.
The group would have settled in a place where the Indians were friendly, said Nick Luccketti, principal investigator at the James River Institute for Archaeology and a vice president of the First Colony Foundation.
"I'm not sure Knotts Island fits that bill," he said.
The Mackay Island site, called the Sumner site by Sumner, is now an oval shaped pond. Sumner believes the site, located in low lands, may have been dug out and filled with water for duck ponds.
Joseph Knapp, the wealthy owner of Mackay Island in the 1920s, hunted there and practiced waterfowl conservation.
"They're all looking at Buxton," Sumner said. "No one looks anywhere else."
Sam Sumner believes the mystery of the Lost Colony can be solved by looking at Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge in Currituck County. He points to the image on a 1923 map of the refuge that could be the remains of a fort built by members of the Lost Colony after they left Roanoke Island in 1587.
A closeup view of the image drawn on a 1923 map of Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge that looks much like an old drawing of Fort Raleigh. Retired school teacher Sam Sumner believes this image helps solve the mystery of the Lost Colony.
This old, undocumented drawing purportedly shows what Fort Raleigh may have looked like, a long nose at one end and star-shaped at the other, which matches the image on a 1923 map in the lobby of Mackay Island ranger station.
I was always taught that the epitome of low class was to point out a presumed lack of it in others. Always endeavor to make others comfortable, or make a graceful exit, in other words.
Robeson County can still be quite the rowdy place.
Cookie had a relapse. I don’t know what caused it, I am at a total loss. She had a bladder/kidney infection at the same time as the renewed itching. She was so listless I though she was dying. She has come out of it after antibiotics. I changed her food again this time to venison and sweet potato and she is doing better again. We are going to be away for a week and when we come back my brother (the vet) wants me to take her to a specialist again. We’ll see. thanks for asking.
She needs immune support for whatever reason, imho. Get her right back on the probiotic as soon as the course of antibiotics is done, she needs to reestablish beneficial flora in her gut that is being killed off. No reason to discontinue the Omegas either, not that I can see, but your veterinarian brother would be the expert on the matter.
I know. It was gross, huh?
I know. It was gross, huh?
I’m so sick of double-posting that I could sit down and cry like a little girl. It’s not me!!!!!!!!
My husbands elderly aunt told him that there had been an Indian grandmother back in his family but not to worry, she was the white folks kind of Indian. What ever that means LOL! My husband was just hoping to have some Indian blood along with the English, French and German that he knew about.
Yep. The numbers of people who believe that they descend from Pocahontas defies mathematical probability. That story, at least in my family, has been debunked.
I figured out something about my computer and double posting. Those times when it seems to take forever to post, if I just hit the back key and then look back on the thread, the reply is posted. If I keep hitting the key to make it post, then it will end up posting multiple times.
In my fathers family we were supposed to be descended from Stephen F. Austin. My grandfather’s and my father’s first name was Austin. When I began to look into it, SFA never married and had no children (that he claimed). He did have a nephew that he took care of and I thought ah ha! that’s it. The boy died when he was about 8. On well, so much for family stories.
I’m never clicking post twice. It only happens from my new cell phone not from my laptop. And every single time it happens, the progress bar (on my phone’s browser) pauses for a few seconds then completes quickly. Then, wham, double post. It appears to be a defect with the Android itself. It’s also sending two requests for some page views. I just can’t figure out why.
I’m never clicking post twice. It only happens from my new cell phone not from my laptop. And every single time it happens, the progress bar (on my phone’s browser) pauses for a few seconds then completes quickly. Then, wham, double post. It appears to be a defect with the Android itself. It’s also sending two requests for some page views. I just can’t figure out why.
You are much more advanced than I am, I don’t have an Android or want to post from a cell phone. I am doing good just to be doing this. I should never give computer advice. :D
But then again, I am seeing an increase in the number of double posts by other freepers. So ...
No, no. Well-intentioned advice is a good thing. :)
I'm sure these guys could help him out....
I don’t think it’s Android, as I pretty much post here solely from an HTC EVO. I do, however, use Dolphin HD for a browser, as it’s much more complete than the stock one.
Perhaps you can try a new browser?
Innerestin’.
It’s good to have a hobby.
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