Later Historical Information on Fort
Raleigh
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.

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site.
(click on image for an enlargement in a new window)
Recent History of Fort Raleigh
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.
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