Same place the Banks ponies came from, I suppose ... shipwrecks.
Another item I picked up several months ago was that there were 30 other European settlements up and down the East Coast besides Jamestown. All but 1 of them have NOT been studied even though it is believed their locations are known.
So, who were these people? In reading through the various histories of New Sweden, it was supposedly founded in 1638. Nothing ever mentions the raw wilderness, just how they began farming.
Even the Jamestown guys remark on the absence of shelter, as do those who founded Plymouth. New Amsterdam/New York is another curious colony. There seemed to already be European people in the area.
The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) must have been a tremendous incentive for folks to leave Continental Europe. Did hopeful colonies of early survivalist types land here, and if so, where?