What Happened To America's Lost Colony?

Baptism of Virginia Dare as shown in the book by William A. Crafts (1876) Pioneers in the settlement of America

August 18, 1587 — Virginia Dare was born on this day. She was the first-ever person of English parents to be born in the United States and as such would have commanded great interest in her life and times, going on to generate intense public attention, probably inspiring magazine and newspaper articles, and books.

Unfortunately, nothing is known about her. That’s because Virginia and the entire colony that she belonged to vanished from the place where they had settled in what is now North Carolina.

And despite investigations, speculation and research over the past 430 years, no firm evidence has emerged about what happened to Virginia and the 107 people in her group of colonists. They simply disappeared without trace.

The story began in 1584 when Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to English adventurer and explorer Sir Walter Raleigh to develop a New World colony, and so, for the next two or three years a number of ships sailed from England to America. On April 26, 1587, a small fleet set sail carrying more than 150 men, women, and children.

Among them was John White, the governor of the new colony, his daughter, Eleanor, and her husband, Ananias Dare. Their ship, Lyon, anchored at Roanoke Island off the coast of what is now North Carolina on July 22. Eleanor Dare gave birth to a girl on August 18 and named her Virginia.

Nine days after his granddaughter's birth Governor White set sail back to England for much-needed supplies. He hoped to return quickly but his plans had to be abandoned when war broke out between England and Spain.

Three years went by before he could return to Roanoke and when he finally reached there on August 18, 1590 – his granddaughter's third birthday – the colony had been abandoned and there was nobody to be found.

Inexplicably, there were no signs of a struggle, no burned houses, no bodies . . . nothing. The only sign that anyone had been there was the word “Croatoan” carved into a post and the letters “Cro” carved into a tree.

These clues later led to the belief that the colony had decided to move to Croatoan Island (now known as Hatteras Island) in North Carolina. But they were not there either.

The island was occupied by the Hatteras Indians, and a popular theory suggests that the colonists joined this group of Native Americans to overcome their lack of resources and poor knowledge of the habitat. Over the years, the theory goes, the colonists integrated with the Croatoan tribe and lived out their lives there.

But there are many other theories including murder, kidnapping, deadly storms and a killer disease. Whatever the truth, the “Lost Colony” has become one of American history’s most enduring mysteries and is still the subject today of research both by historians and by scientists.

Since 1998, the Croatoan Project has produced archaeological evidence backing up the theory that the colonists joined, or at least interacted with, the Hatteras tribe. The evidence includes artifacts and objects found within Croatoan villages that only English settlers had owned or had made.

But despite these discoveries questions remain and it seems likely that the mystery of the colonists’ disappearance will never be solved.

Published: July 29, 2023
Updated: August 6, 2023