Roanoke Colonies Research Newsletter
Volume 1.1 (November 1993)

Boundary Expansion: Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, Dare County, North Carolina
By: Bebe B. Woody

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site was established on April 5, 1941, to preserve a nationally important historical site for the inspiration and benefit of all people. The primary resources responsible for the establishment of the site were those that are associated with the first English attempt at colonization of the New World.

A collateral purpose in establishing the park was to honor an agreement with the Roanoke Island Historical Association by continuing to provide a site for the annual presentation of the outdoor pageant-drama, The Lost Colony. On October 27, 1990, another act was passed that authorized the addition of approximately 335 acres to Fort Raleigh National Historic Site and expanded the purpose of the park.

Much of what we know about historical events on the north end of Roanoke Island has centered around the first attempt at English colonization. With the newly acquired lands, we can now explore other historically significant activities that have occurred on this tiny island. The following highlights just some of those times and events.

Native American History

For many years, Indian artifacts have been found throughout the north end of Roanoke Island. Indian tribes occupying Roanoke Island were Algonquins and were known as the Roanoke and Croatoan tribes. In 1887, Talcott Williams discovered an Indian burial ground near the present day Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. More recently, other burial grounds have been discovered and investigated by archaeologists, but much has been lost because the finds were outside the park's boundaries and unprotected. Very little is known about the history of these Indians. Their lifestyles while inhabiting this island, why they disappeared, and where they moved remain a mystery. It is important that we begin to gather and study this fragile information to better understand the earliest Americans and their relationship with European settlers.

Early European Exploration and Settlement

The site of the first pre-colonial English effort to settle in the New World has undergone surprisingly little change over the past 400 years. The Indians, the colonists, the American Civil War troops, the Freedmen's colony, and the farmers who successively occupied these lands altered vegetation and left their imprint; but each has been a shadowy and light overlay of history.

The exact location of one of the sixteenth?century colonial forts is known and protected within Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. The location of the pre-colonial village has never been found; however, in recent years, significant discoveries have been made through archaeological investigations under the direction of archaeologist Ivor Noel-Hume. The newly acquired lands may well provide us with new evidence of the colonial village.

Civil War History

Roanoke Island's strategic geographical location almost necessitated the island's use during the Civil War as a military bastion to control the sounds and navigable rivers of northeastern North Carolina. Confederate troops established defensive fortifications and bases on the island in 1861. Soon thereafter, in 1862, Union forces attacked and captured the area and held it for the duration of the war. Much of the Confederate-Union camp, which consisted of barracks, wharves, landing docks, and a hospital, was located between the northwest point and Fort Raleigh. The two-hundred-acre camp included between seventy-five and eighty wooden barrack structures and a hospital.

The Freedmen's Colony

After Union forces gained control of Roanoke Island, black refugees arrived seeking haven. Hundreds and then thousands of former slaves came in hope of a new beginning. The Reverend Horace James was appointed superintendent of Negro affairs and in this capacity established a pilot freedmen's camp on the island that served as a model for future camps in other areas. Land on the north end of the island was cleared, and a village for approximately 3,000 slaves was constructed containing 591 houses, a steam saw and grist mill, school houses, store houses, and a smallpox hospital. After the war, the federal government restored the land to the original landowners, and the camp was abandoned by the end of 1866.

Reginald Fessenden Site

Reginald Fessenden is one of the foremost American pioneers in the field of radio and electronic communications. Located within the newly acquired lands is the site of the radio tower from which he conducted his early experiments. During these experiments, Fessenden performed the first successful transmission of intelligible speech by electromagnetic waves in late 1900. As a result of his experiments, Fessenden patented many concepts fundamental to modern communication.

Natural Resources

The expansion area is characterized by a variety of natural resources. Included are the estuarine shallow water bottoms and sandy shore of Croatan Sound, estuarine marsh, ponds, scrub-shrub wetland, forested wetland, mixed hardwood forest, and evergreen forest. Numerous species of animals also inhabit the tract including passerine birds, raptors, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

The span of time and history has now expanded considerably within Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. Much has yet to be discovered, studied, and learned. We of the National Park Service welcome these new opportunities and those who wish to pursue them.

Top
Contents Page