According to a letter, dated May 8, 1654, from Francis Yeardley, of
Virginia, to John Farrar, a young trader and three companions went to
Roanoke Island in September 1653. An Indian chieftain "received them
civilly and showed them the ruins of Sir Walter Raleigh's fort." They
brought back a sure token of their having been there, which they gave
to Yeardley.
John Lawson wrote that the ruins of the fort could be seen in 1709
and that old English coins, a brass gun, a powder horn and a small
quarter-deck gun made of iron staves and hooped with iron had been
found on the site.
An act of 1723 regarding a proposed town on Roanoke Island speaks
of "300 Acres of Land lying on the No. E't side of the said Island, commonly called Roanoke old plantation," thus suggesting that at that date
the northeastern part of the island was regarded as the scene of Raleigh's
settlements.
The earliest known map to show Fort Raleigh is the Collet map of
1770, which indicates a fort on the northeast side of the island near the
shore line at what appears to be the present Fort Raleigh site. It is
marked simply "Fort," without name. A later copyist calls it "Pain Fort,"
probably because he confused the notation of Paine's residence on the
Collet map (in different type from "Fort") as part of the fort name.
Benson J. Lossing, the historian, wrote in 1850 that "slight traces of
Lane's fort" could then be seen "near the north end" of Roanoke Island.
Edward C. Bruce reported in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, May 1860,
that the trench of the fort was clearly traceable as a square of about 40
yards each way, with one corner thrown out in the form of a small bastion. He also mentions fragments of stone and brick. Partial archeological excavation of the fort was undertaken by Talcott Williams in 1895.
Additional archeological excavations by the National Park Service were
undertaken in 1947,1948, and 1950.
On April 30, 1894, the Roanoke Colony Memorial Association purchased the fort and 10 acres of surrounding land for memorial purposes.
In 1896, the memorial area was extended to 16.45 acres, and the Virginia
Dare monument was erected. In order to promote a more active program
of interpretation at Fort Raleigh, the Roanoke Island Historical Association was organized in 1932. With Federal aid a series of buildings,
constituting a symbolical restoration and an open-air theater, were
constructed. In 1935, the area became a State historical park under the
administration of the North Carolina Historical Commission. Two
years later, the production of Paul Green's Lost Colony pageant-drama
attracted Nation-wide attention to Fort Raleigh. The immediate success
of the play caused it to be repeated each season, and the performance is
now recognized as America's outstanding folk play.
Fort Raleigh was transferred to the National Park Service of the United
States Department of the Interior in 1940. On April 5, 1941, it was designated Fort Raleigh National Historic Site under provision of the act
of Congress commonly referred to as the Historic Sites Act, approved
August 21, 1935 (49 Stat. 666), to commemorate Sir Walter Raleigh's
colonies and the birthplace of Virginia Dare, first child of English parentage to be born in the New World. The area of the site in Federal
ownership is 18.50 acres and embraces part of the settlement sites of
1585 and 1587 and the fort site. By a cooperative agreement between the
Roanoke Island Historical Association and the United States, the play,
the Lost Colony, continues to be given each season in the Waterside
Theater at Fort Raleigh. This arrangement provides for the unhampered
production of the play with all of its creative folk qualities. The income
from the play is dedicated to the maintenance of the theater, the next
season's production, and the expansion and development of the historic
site.
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site is 3 miles north of Manteo, N. C.
on State Route 345. It is 92 miles southeast of Norfolk, Va., and 67
miles southeast of Elizabeth City, N. C. From Norfolk, Va., take Virginia and North Carolina Routes 170 and 34 to junction of U. S. 158,
then over U. S. 158 to Manteo. Manteo may be reached also from
Elizabeth City, N. C., over U. S. 158.
Traffic from the south and west can reach the site by the route from
Elizabeth City, or from Washington, N. C., over U. S. 264, or from
Williamston, N. C., over U. S. 64.
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