For the English settlers in the colony of Roanoke, the birth of Virginia Dare was the beginning of a new era of health and wealth. Or so they hoped. But history isn’t always nice to new settlers.
Virginia Dare was born in 1587, just two weeks after her parents, Eleanor and Ananias Dare, landed on an island that lay between the coast of North Carolina and a small group of outer islands. They and more than 120 other men, women, and children had sailed from England in search of a better life.
Everyone was excited that a new baby had been born in the New World, but at the same time they felt nervous. The place they now called home was not very welcoming. The forest was so thick that sunlight barely reached the moist, mossy ground. Supplies were scarce. People were scared. There is danger lurking out there, they thought.
The colonists had survived a tough ocean voyage and two weeks of hard living on new land. Except, it wasn’t exactly new land. Another group of settlers had lived there two years before. Those settlers had left behind cabins and a crumbling fort. They hadn’t succeeded at establishing a colony. Where did they go? Why had their settlement failed?
A misunderstanding had caused the first group to abandon their settlement and their ambitious plans. The English did not appreciate that others had been living on that land comfortably, peacefully, and productively for many years.
The Native Americans who lived there knew and loved the land and what it offered. At first, they welcomed these strange new English people, hoping they could all share in the abundance that surrounded them.
The two groups traded goods. The English needed deer and bison skins, which the natives gave them in exchange for knives, hatchets, and colorful glass beads. It seemed to be a good deal for both, each getting something they wanted but did not have.
Soon enough, however, things began to get tense and mistrust settled in. The English were unfamiliar with surviving off the land. They began to run out of food. They were hungry.
While trying to get more food, the English killed one of the Native Americans who had been helping them. That was the end of the peaceful arrangement. The English had to get off the island quickly, before their hosts sought revenge. They left behind their houses and a small fort built from the sturdy pine trees of the lush forest. .
Now, two years later, a new group of settlers was going to try to succeed where the first group had failed.
A man named John White was the driving force behind this new settlement. He was a friend of the famous Sir Walter Raleigh, an English knight with big plans to expand English territories. Sir Walter was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth, who wanted more than anything to increase the size of her empire. The queen had the power and, more importantly, she had a lot of money.
What she really needed was people. She needed people who were brave enough and adventurous enough to want to pick up everything and move to a new land thousands of miles from home. Would you have volunteered?
John White had visited Roanoke with the first group, but he had been lucky enough to leave before the troubles began. He had liked what he saw and was willing to try again.
John White was a great talker. He could persuade a pig to take a bath! He talked to anyone in England who would listen about the hope and dreams and wealth and comfort that were waiting for them in Virginia. He probably didn’t mention much about the fights with the Native Americans. He painted a picture of the wealth and riches in Virginia that were far beyond anything people had in London, where it was crowded and dirty.
Whatever he said made Roanoke and Virginia sound as if it was worth the risk of a long ocean voyage and uncertain early days.
John Smith was so convincing that he even talked his daughter, Eleanor, and her husband, Ananias, into making the dangerous trip. John White’s stories of the beautiful land that lay ahead in Virginia were so magical that Eleanor and Ananias left their two young children behind. Once they settled in Virginia, they thought, they could send for the youngsters, and they would all live happily together.
They would never be reunited, though. And people are still trying to figure out why, even more than 400 years later.
First, the trip across the Atlantic Ocean was difficult. More than 100 people were crammed onto a small ship that pitched and rolled and seemed to take forever to get anywhere. Their quarters were cramped and there never seemed to be enough fresh air down below.
When John White’s new group finally arrived on shore and felt the steadiness of the solid land after months of rolling and sliding on the boat, they felt more hopeful. But Roanoke Island was not London. The air was damp and sticky and hotter than anything they had ever felt before. Even breathing was different than it had been in London. Would it stay like this all year? The quiet place was filled with irritating bugs that bit and caused everyone’s skin to swell and turn red. There were snakes—the settlers had to be careful about lifting up loose logs.
Their hardscrabble lives in London had not been happy, but at least they knew what to expect. Here, on this island, they had no idea what might happen.
It’s a good thing these people were not complainers. They were adventurers! They would make the most of this new land and they would thrive and be happier than they ever had been at home.
The day after they landed, the settlers marched to the north of Roanoke and found what was left of the first settlement. They watched as deer walked slowly within the shabby walls of the fort. They saw that vegetables planted by the first group were still thriving, though overgrown. Deer were feeding on them. It was a wonderful sight.
They also found the remains of the small cottages that had once provided shelter to earlier settlers. These shaky remnants were all that was left of the first settlers’ attempt.
John White, always the smooth talker, told the new group of settlers they were lucky to have these ready-made shelters they could fix up. It was much better than starting from scratch, he told them. Otherwise, they would have to cut down trees and build each new house piece by piece in this hot, buggy air. He put a positive spin on things. It was not much, but it was something. People cheered up a little.
Soon the sounds of hammering and sawing and the bustle of excited people so happy to be starting something promising filled the settlement.
John White took time from his work and wrote to a friend back in England that the new group of excited and ambitious colonists “were ready for the untapped riches that Virginia offered” and that he was “determined to success for the glory of the Queen and Sir Walter Raleigh.”
But then, while digging around the fort, two of the new settlers found human bones scattered in a mossy corner away from where most of the others were working. Whose bones were these? How did this person die? Why weren’t they given a proper burial? The discovery startled the settlers. How dangerous was this place?
The shabbiness of the rundown cottages and the fort that was barely standing was one thing. Bones of a dead person were another. It was almost as if the skeleton spoke to them from his crumbling grave: Beware!
Would they be next in this line of failures?
Still, the new settlers had lots of work to do to keep their minds off death and danger. The settlers managed to keep feeling hopeful until a man named George Howe went into the forest.
George Howe had lived in an uncomfortable, foul-smelling apartment in an area of London that itself was horribly crowded and cramped. John White’s descriptions of Virginia had appealed to George Howe immediately and he had signed up for the trip without hesitation.
George Howe had been told by John White not to go into the forest alone. Everyone was to walk in groups for protection. But George Howe was excited about seeing the vast expanse of forest and the clear streams that ran through it,. He decided not to wait for the others. He went off to enjoy the beauty and freshness of this new land he now called home, so far from the open sewers and rat-infested alleyways near his old London apartment.
George Howe felt he was in paradise and he could not wait to see it any longer.
George Howe left the busy encampment and the steady beat of hammering and sawing and slipped into the quiet forest. After half a mile along a path leading to the calm blue bay, he came to a babbling stream near the shoreline. He decided to catch some crabs, which he had tasted for the first time only two days ago. They were delicious and fresh.
He stripped off his clothes and waded into the cool running water, looking closely beyond the worn rocks for his tasty dinner. The peace and quiet of the moment was something he had dreamed about in London and during the long, hard trip over.
Hidden in the reeds on the banks of the creek crouched a handful of Native American Secotan warriors. They had come across the short, calm expanse of the bay from the mainland to see what all the activity was. They were worried that the English had come back, and they were right.
More English, they thought. More trouble. The last time a group of English settlers had been there, one of the members of their tribe had been killed.
They saw George Howe and decided now was the time for revenge.
Making sure George Howe was alone, they crept quietly to the edge of the streambank. Then they pulled sharpened arrows from their quivers, placed them in their bows, and drew back until the drawstrings seemed about to break. Next, they sent the arrows on their way.
George Howe was struck by sixteen arrows before he knew what had hit him. He fell screaming into the peaceful water of the creek. Before he could sink to the bottom, the Secotan warriors were on him, hammering his head with rocks and war clubs.
Downstream, the water quickly turned red.
George Howe was dead. His body sank to the rocky bottom of the stream, his arm waving in the current, as if he were saying goodbye.
His death was a profound shock to John White and the colonists. After George Howe’s bloody and violent death, things would never be the same.
Virginia was no longer a place of beauty. People were cautious. Perhaps Roanoke was a bad idea.
Then, Virginia Dare was born, and she gave the settlers a renewed sense of hope. Virginia Dare, the bright and happy baby, was a welcome addition to the community. She was the first sign that this ambitious plan to settle in a new and unknown land would work. She was like a new root of a plant that would grow and become strong.
The settlers celebrated both the birth of the baby and the fact that they had made great progress on the buildings. The celebrations cheered everyone after the difficult weeks following George Howe’s death.
Still, they were unprepared. Apparently, they had learned nothing from the experiences of the first settlers. Food began running short. They couldn’t turn to the Native Americans for help—the first group of English settlers had made sure that wasn’t an option.
John White and the other leaders of the colony met and discussed what to do. There seemed to be only one choice. Someone had to return to England, raise more money, buy more supplies and food, and return to Roanoke as quickly as possible. If they were lucky, the whole trip and the return voyage could be done in three months, just as spring would be settling back onto Roanoke Island.
The settlers who would stay behind and wait for help and new supplies would have the protection of the rebuilt fort and the comfort of the refinished cottages. It seemed like a solid plan.
John White, who had a strong friendship with Sir Walter Raleigh, would certainly be able to raise the money quickly. The leaders of the settlement thought he should be one of the people to go to England and return to Roanoke in time to keep the settlement alive and growing.
John White was torn, of course. He did not want to leave the colony. He certainly did not want to leave his daughter and baby granddaughter. However, he had started this whole thing, and he was responsible for the safety of the settlers. He reluctantly agreed to return to England for help.
He believed he would be back by spring.
Still, he was concerned. Before he boarded his ship to return to England, he told those he was leaving behind to be careful. He warned them not to anger the Native Americans who surrounded them. Be careful, he pleaded. Be respectful.
John White pointed out a tall, wide tree near the shoreline. If you have to leave quickly, if anything goes wrong, carve a cross in this tree, he said. If I see the cross when I return, I will know you left in a hurry and I will find you on the mainland or another island. If I see the cross, I will know there has been a problem.
He told the settlers that the best thing to do if they found themselves in trouble was to get across the bay to an island to the south of Roanoke called Croatoan. The people who lived on Croatoan had been friendly to the English in the past. John While hoped they would be again.
John White left Roanoke with a heavy heart. As he boarded the ship that would take him back to England, he turned to the small gathering of settlers who had gone down to the shore to see him off. Be safe, he reminded them. I will be back with everything we need to thrive on Roanoke. Remember Croatoan.
As his ship sailed out from the shore, John White watched as his daughter, Eleanor, holding young Virginia Dare, waved sadly from the shoreline.
Good leaders need to be able to think of things that can go wrong and make plans to avoid them. John White was a good leader. His plan to return to Roanoke with more food and more help was a good one. His idea to carve the warning cross into the tree was a smart one. His plan to have the settlers get to safety on Croatoan in an emergency was a fine one.
The problem with plans is that they can go wrong.
John White made it to England after a hard winter voyage. But complications set in immediately. England was at war with Spain. There were no extra ships to return to Roanoke. There was no extra money to buy the food and seeds and extra supplies for the lonely settlers in Virginia. Anyone who might have been able to help was focused on the war. It was as if Roanoke no longer mattered.
John White, terrified about what might be happening back on Roanoke, was stuck in England. He stayed there—powerless and full of worry—for three long years.
John White never gave up. There was never a single day that John White did not think of his settlers on Roanoke and what they might be doing. Unfortunately, he could do nothing but hope they were safe. He could only pray there were no problems. He could only wish that if there were problems, Eleanor and Ananias and Virginia Dare and all the others who had put so much trust in him would make their way to Croatoan.
Finally, John White was able to find a ship and set sail to Virginia. The voyage back seemed to take forever. He could not wait to see his hardy group of settlers and his beautiful granddaughter again. Would she be walking when he saw her? Talking? Would she know him?
When he stepped back on the island after such a long absence, everything was quiet. Too quiet, he thought. No one came to the shore to greet him. There was not a single soul on the island. The first thing he looked for was the tree he had showed the settlers as he left. There was no cross on it. That meant the settlers had never felt a sense of danger.
But where were they?
As he walked to the settlement, he nervously saw that all the houses had been dismantled in an orderly fashion. The settlers, it seemed, had calmly taken the houses down and packed them away for moving. But to where? He looked to what had been the edge of the small village and saw the word “CROATOAN” carved on a fence post.
That crude sign was all that remained of 80 men, 17 women, and 11 children—including his granddaughter. Virginia Dare had been the hope and pride of what would come to be known as The Lost Colony.
Had they gone to Croatoan? Were they safe and thriving? Had they been lost at sea trying? John White was trapped on Roanoke Island by bad weather and could not get to Croatoan, 50 miles away to the south. He never learned what happened. When he finally returned to England, he still didn’t know the answer. He never fully recovered from his loss and he never again sailed to the New World. For the rest of his life, he deeply mourned the loss of Roanoke Colony.
<afterword>
Some reports say that the settlers made it to Croatoan and learned to live and love the land as the Native Americans did. Other reports say that they were lost at sea. Another report claimed that they had all been killed in a battle with the Native Americans. Yet another report said that that Virginia Dare married “an Indian King” and lived a full and happy life.
Whatever happened, the mystery of Virginia Dare and her adventurous parents and their fellow settlers sparked generations of future settlers to wonder and move cautiously as they explored.
In a way, that was a gift from Virginia Dare.
What Else Happened in 1587?
King Philip II of Spain has been plotting to overthrow Queen Elizabeth of England. He plans to put Mary, Queen of Scotland on the throne as a replacement. Queen Elizabeth has Queen Mary beheaded to prevent this switch from happening, which increases tensions between the two countries so much that a war breaks out.
Shakespeare is believed to have left his hometown of Stratford and headed for the big city of London to embark on his career as playwright and actor.
On October 18, Spanish Captain Pedro de Unamuno discovers the area that later becomes California.
Construction begins on the Rialto Bridge in Venice, Italy, which is one of four bridges that spans the Grand Canal. Two rows of shops line this pedestrian bridge.