Lost Colony Found? Roanoke Island Discovery

Using references from history and some "boots on the ground" exploring, Scott Dawson discovered some evidence of an historical fort on Roanoke Island, NC, site of the "lost colony".

He notified the National Park Service and took them to his find, and the agency has secured the area and an investigation has started.

Park service is leaning towards this being a civil war era Fort Blanchard, but Dawson has metal detected the area and has said that the numerous "silver" hits and lack of "lead, zinc" hits, leads him to believe the site is much older.

Ft. Raleigh? New find on Roanoke Island creates stir

Scott Dawson, a native of Hatteras Island and now a resident of Colington, has shared the location of a discovery he made on National Park Service property with that agency, which has now secured the area and posted surveillance to insure that intruders don't disturb the site.

Doug Stover, park historian of the Park Service, said that park officials think that the site may be the remains of Fort Blanchard, a Civil War fort.

But if proven correct in his beliefs, Dawson will be the envy of many archaeologists who have spent their careers in the search of the long-lost Ft. Raleigh, Ralph Lane's 1585 fort on Roanoke Island.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this latest find, below is a couple of stories of The Lost Colony/Fort Raleigh...

Later Historical Information on Fort Raleigh
National Geographic
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site

Spelling: edit

[edit on 2007/2/17 by JacKatMtn]

Very cool !!
I've been interested in Roanoke since grade school.
Also, the supposed blue-eyed indians that were encountered a few years
later.
Will be neat if they can establish this as the lost colony.

Thanks again,
Lex

Man this is a great find if it does turn out to be the lost colony. The only sad thing is that if it is true, it will take some mystery out of this tale. Either way, I am glad that people are sill wondering about this age old American incident.

lol you guys need to read the article a littl;e more carefully
the mystery of Roanoke isn't to do with Fort Raleigh
its to do with what happened to the settlers of the second expedition to the area
heres a quick breakdown
First Colony, 1585 - 1586
the settlers of this first expedition all sailed home with Francis Drake
second colony 1587
the settlers of this expedtion are the ones who vanished

Fort Raleigh was built by the first expedition in 1585 and also used by the second
it isn't anything to do with the mystery per se
the reason it was lost is because it was a crappy little fort that no one cared about at the time and it was allowed to deteriorate as people had better things to do
its only valuable in archaeological terms

most of the details about the fort can be found at this website
www.ego.com...
now heres the mystery that occupies my imagination when I read this article
Fort Raleigh was discovered in 1936 and enough evidence was found to prove it was the right site that the National Park Service built a reconstruction on the site in 1950

Originally posted by Marduk
lol you guys need to read the article a littl;e more carefully
the mystery of Roanoke isn't to do with Fort Raleigh
...
Fort Raleigh was discovered in 1936 and enough evidence was found to prove it was the right site that the National Park Service built a reconstruction on the site in 1950

What you are alluding to is what is believed to be true at this time. This man's discovery can very well change that position.

If the investigation confirms Dawson's theory of the site, what else might they find on the location?

They just might find evidence of the "Lost Colony".

Either way once the investigation and study starts in March we will all know the value of this man's effort.

The world isn't round, that just can't be...

They just might find evidence of the "Lost Colony".

when people refer to the lost colony they aren't referring to the buildings
they are referring to the people
when they became lost everyone knew where the buildings where because they were all there and all empty of people
so finding one of the buildings that they left abandoned is not going to give any clues as to what happened to the lost colony at all
that was not what the article was claiming at all

By "evidence", I am speaking of human remains, but I don't want to argue, this is a discovery which could answer some of the mystery surrounding the first settlements.
I optimistically look forward to hearing reports of what is found at the site.

GREAT FIND!!!!

I love a good mystery and this is one of the all time greats...

Semper

No new reports on the find but I found another article to post here:

History buff thinks he has found 1585 English fort

Tract predates Lost Colony

MANTEO - Amateur historian Scott Dawson thinks he has found what archaeologists and historians have sought for decades -- the site of an English fort on Roanoke Island linked to the legendary Lost Colony.
Dawson, a Civil War buff, said that documents written centuries apart led him to an overgrown tract where he believes explorer Ralph Lane established a settlement in 1585.

The site, on the northern end of the island about 200 miles east of Raleigh, is on National Park Service property but not within the Fort Raleigh Historic Site or the area targeted by dozens of searches.

I can't wait to see what they find out about this discovery...

Finally an update, Southeast Archaeological Center scientists from the National Park Service observed the area and while they doubt that it is the original Fort, some very interesting findings, a few items to be checked out and still some mystery to what this find may be.

LINK

When Colington resident Scott Dawson came upon an earth-works while exploring the dense woods on Roanoke Island some weeks ago, heart rates soared and imaginations took flight. Had someone finally found the site of Fort Raleigh?

Southeast Archaeological Center scientists from the National Park Service (NPS) combed the forest this week, with other local park service employees, and admitted they've never seen anything quite like the network of rutted trails that spread seemingly without rhyme or reason throughout the woods. However, they were skeptical that the find is 16th Century.

The historian for the NPS's Outer Banks Group, Doug Stover, said, "We think it's either Civil War era, or something linked to the Freedman's Colony, because Fort Huger was just north of this area, and the main residences of the Freedman's Colony were only a short distance south if it."

Archaeologist John Cornelison of Tallahassee, Fla., said he has seen "tons of earth-works," yet he and fellow scientist Charles Lawson were baffled by the trails, which intersected each other in places, at angles, but also spread out in rounded "S" curves. The trails are a couple feet wide and several inches deep, and resemble dry brook beds or drainage conduits. "I've never seen an animal or human path worn that deep," Cornelison said.

While it may not be the missing Fort Raleigh, I hope that the NPS conducts a thorough archeological investigation of the area to determine what this discovery is, and what can they find beneath the surface, I am excited, but I like to dig anyway.

Originally posted by shai hulud
Man this is a great find if it does turn out to be the lost colony. The only sad thing is that if it is true, it will take some mystery out of this tale. Either way, I am glad that people are sill wondering about this age old American incident.

Yeah, unfortunatley, many applaud the end to mysteries. I am not sure that I do in all cases.

Very interesting find! While the Park Service usually can't fund a dig unless there's a really major find involved, it certainly goes on record and there is every possibility that a local university will use the site as a training area for future archaeologists.

There are several such sites here in North Texas that are investigated by universities. A number of them turned up some interesting material.

This is completely unrelated, but there have actually been mammoth bones found here in Waco. Waco has a museum dedicated to the continued dig.

Nah...if it's a fort, that doesn't mean that they've FOUND the lost colonists; it just means they've discovered a forgotten building. People also make mistakes. There were archaeologists in England that spent three months digging up someone's backyard because they had discovered what they believed to be an old Viking settlement. Turns out, it was a fifty year old cobblestone sidewalk.

Interesting find.
Always been interested in the mystery surrounding the area.
Have been looking on Google maps for said locations, and observed alot of modern civilation, so its still intersting no ones found more on the Island.Getting map coords would greatly help in the search.

In 1998, East Carolina University organized "The Croatoan Project", an archaeological investigation into the events at Roanoke. The excavation team sent to the island uncovered a 10 carat (42%) gold 16th century English signet ring, a flintlock musket, and two 16th century copper farthings at the site of the ancient Croatoan capital, 50 miles (80 km) from the old Roanoke colony. Genealogists were able to trace the lion crest on the signet ring to the Kendall coat of arms, and concluded that the ring most likely belonged to one "Master" Kendall who is recorded as having lived in the Ralph Lane colony on Roanoke Island from 1585 to 1586. If this is the case, the ring represents the first material connection between the Roanoke colonists and the Native Americans on Hatteras Island

Quote from the wiki

An on going project to determine if the DNA of the colonists is present in the local native american tribes. A large percentage of the surnames do exist among these tribes. Additionally, deeds and wills have been discovered to bear this theory out.The project will attempt to locate and test as many potential descendants as possible. Testing is also planned for some ancient remains.

Quotes paraphrased from the source below.

The lost colony DNA project

It was my understanding that the site of the lost fort had been lost to coastal erosion.