My Report on Roanoke Island

Do you like mysteries? History contains many of the world's best mysteries. For example, consider the mystery of Roanoke Island. What happened to the English colonists of Roanoke?

Actually, we know quite a bit about Roanoke Island before the settles disappeared. The 177 colonists arrived in 1587, too late in the season to plant crops. Their organizer was Sir Walter Raleigh, but he only dropped them off on the tiny island in North Carolina. However, he left John White in charge. White was an artist and mapmaker who had been to Roanoke before. This time he brought his daughter, Eleanor Dare and her husband.

The settlers were last seen in late August. John White realized that they would not have enough food, so he sailed back to England to get more supplies. Right before he set out, his daughter Eleanor had a baby named Virginia Dare. John made a plan with the settlers that if they moved on to a different area they would carve a message on a chosen tree. Little did John know that war in England would delay his return.

Three years later, John was startled to find that the settlers had disappeared. His only clue was the letters "CRO" carved on the chosen tree. John White never saw any of them again.

What happened to them? Where did they go? Well, one possibility is that they could have starved. But that is unlikely because White would have seen skeletons and other signs of distress. They could been attacked by the Spanish or the Indians, but then they would not have been able to carve CRO on the tree. The most likely theory is that they joined with Indians and went to Croatan Island. Actually, a few years later, light-eyed Indians were found not far from Roanoke Island. They could possibly be descendents of Virginia Dare and John White.

Nobody has ever solved the mystery of Roanoke Island, but it is still fun to learn about. Maybe you could someday solve the mystery of Roanoke Island, or one of history's other mysteries.