Ralph Lane and the Lost Colony

Several months ago, I was asked to write an article featuring Christmas in Edenton, NC. If you haven't been there, Edenton is located off the Albemarle Sound near the Chowan River and it's quite the charming little town, especially during the holidays. I knew it was historical, but I did not know to what extent until I began researching its history.

When I began my research, I set out to make a connection between Edenton and Edward Bland's journey into "South Virginia" in 1650 to trade with the natives and to investigate reports of Englishmen living among them. I'd read the account of the expedition in "The Discover of New Brittaine", which is online and also included in Narratives of Early Carolina 1650-1708. As it turned out, Bland and his group did not travel as far down as present-day Edenton, but in my research, I learned Ralph Lane, governor of Sir Walter Raleigh's second expedition, which landed on Roanoke Island in 1585, created a connection between English explorers and the hamlet on the sound when he visited the Weapemeoc (aka Yeopim) natives there. Finally, I had my connection.

But I was intrigued when my research also showed relations with the natives quickly deteriorated under Lane's leadership. Months later, he left a far more hostile world than what he had found. The following year, Walter Raleigh's third and last attempt to colonize the New World arrived at the same location.

Sadly, the magazine folded before the Edenton story could go to print, but below, I posted what was intended to be a sidebar item featuring my take on the Lost Colony and what may have led to its demise.

UPDATE: I've learned much since I first published this post, and the facts are far more fascinating and complex than I had realized. Click here for a link to the updated post.

Did Sir Walter Raleigh’s Second Expedition Set the Third Up for Failure?

Sir Walter Raleigh’s second expedition to the New World was a military endeavor. With Ralph Lane serving as governor, the group settled on Roanoke Island, which Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe had explored the previous year during a scouting mission funded by Raleigh.

In the months after Lane's group settled on Roanoke, conflict arose between the settlers and the natives. To quell the threat he helped create, Lane imprisoned Menatonon, king of Chawanook--also known as Chowanoke and Chowan--despite the fact that “(Chawanook) it selfe is the greatest Province of the region." He later released Menatonon for ransom, but kept the king’s son.

Hostilities continued. Then, as Lane reports, “Ensenore…being the onely friend to our nation that we had amongst them….died the 20 of April 1586.”

Having lost his strong and sole supporter, Lane and his group found themselves starving and in danger of attack. When a clash between one of Lane’s men and two natives resulted in the natives’ death, “(they) tooke themselves to their bowes, and we to our armes: some three or foure of them at the first were slaine with our shot.”

Another skirmish ensured, ending in more deaths. Days later, while Lane’s group was on high alert, Sir Frances Drake arrived and offered to resupply the colony. Lane instead opted to travel back to England, leaving behind him blood and bitter memories of European settlers.

The following year, Raleigh’s third expedition (and his second attempt to colonize the New World), led by John White, settled on Roanoke Island. White eventually traveled back to England for supplies, and the remaining colonists, including the first English child born in the New World, was never seen again. Victims, perhaps, of foolish choices regarding natives already hostile after their first encounter with Englishmen.

Glimpses of the Past

If you're interested in learning more about early North Carolina, several explorers have written detailed and often engaging accounts of their journeys through the Carolinas and America's "Cradle of the Colonies." Journals include:

A New Voyage to Carolina, John Lawson, 1709
"A Discovery of New Brittaine", Edward Bland, 1650 (Available Online)
"A Relation of a Discovery", William Hilton, 1664 (Available Online)
Natural History of North Carolina, John Brickell, 1737
Cradle of the Colony by Dr. Thomas Parramore

Yates Mill, Raleigh

Historic Yates Mill in Raleigh. While the two hundred year old structure is not open to the public, visitors can walk around the mill, stroll along trails, and purchase cornmeal ground at the mill.

Yates Mill (Copyright K. Buffaloe)

Side View (Copyright K Buffaloe)

Rear View (Copyright K. Buffaloe)

Copyright K Buffaloe

Sepia gives the mill an aged look (Copyright K Buffaloe)

For more information, go to www.wakegov.com/parks/yatesmill

Charleston's Provost Dungeon

The main goal of our recent trip to Charleston was to visit Boone Hall Plantation. But while in the Lowcountry, I took the opportunity to do a little bit of novel research. And to do that, we went into Charleston's Historic District to tour the Provost Dungeon and old Exchange.

It would be a short, easy tour. Just confirm a couple of points of my research and then find some Lowcountry cuisine.

Old Exchange

We parked behind the building--or perhaps it was the front. What is now the rear of the building once faced the marinas along the Cooper River, and the ships involved in trade. After walking around to the entrance on Broad Street, we climbed one side of the split staircase and went inside.

Once there, I received a bit of a research jolt. Since revolutionary and local planter Isaac Haynes had been hung by the British on the grounds in 1781, I'd hoped all hangings had been performed on the premises. As it turns out, this building, completed in 1771, was used as an exchange and customs house, and the low, arched-ceiling ground floor as a prison only during the British occupation. While the information put a snag in my research, it also threw me into the 1770s, and the American colonists' fight for independence, for as I soon learned*:

• The prisoners held there included three signers of the Declaration of Independence
• Tea seized during protests against the famous Tea Act was stored in the dungeon
• Upstairs in the Great Hall, delegates to the Continental congress were elected
• South Carolina declared independence from England on the very steps we used to enter the Exchange

There's more. So much, I'm on information overload every time I research the Exchange. We've passed this building numerous times during visits to Charleston, never knowing we were passing a huge chunk of South Carolina's, and America's, history.

More research for later. But for now, I had another reason for touring the dungeon on this trip. I had to see the wall.

During her early days of settlement, Charleston, then called Charles Town, was surrounded by a protective brick wall. The east bordered the Cooper River. The west, what's now known as Meeting Street, and the city stretched several blocks north and south of Broad Street. Maps of the original walled portion of the city hung in the dungeon. Click each photo to see a larger version.

Original walled city located in the SE quadrant
of the peninsula now known as Charleson

"View" from the harbor along the Cooper River

In the center of the wall along the river's edge, a portion of the wall ballooned into the water. This "half-moon battery" is the present-day location of the Exchange and Provost dungeon. Thanks to archeology and preservation efforts, a section of the wall is visible inside the dungeon.

As amazing as it is in a photo, I was more amazed to stand on a catwalk over dank water, in a room where America's revolutionaries had been imprisoned in their fight for freedom, and stare down at the wall built by Charleston's founders. If you have the opportunity to visit Charleston, I highly recommend a tour of this historic site.

More more information on the Exchange and Provost Dungeon, go to:
*www.ccpl.org/content.asp?action=detail&catID=6055&id=15796&parentID=5750

If you're wondering if I eventually learned where criminals were hung, I did, thanks to our dungeon tour guide. Executions were performed on a gallows at the Old City Jail. The castle-like structure is the most ominous building I've seen in Charleston, and the perfect setting for the fictional hanging that occurs in my story:

It's currently closed to the public, but at the moment, visitors can tour the interior during one company's ghost tour. Next time.

Books: A Peek Into the Carolinas' past.

While I'm on the subject of history, I'll share a resource I learned of after my last research trip to Charleston.

Narratives of Early Carolina 1650-1708

In authentically-replicated reports and letters written by William Hilton (Hilton Head's namesake), Robert Horne, Francis Yeardley, Robert Sanford, Thomas Ashe, Danie Defoe and more, readers get a glimpse of both North and South Carolina in the days Europeans began exploring their shores.

Encounters with the natives and Spanish are included with description of the landscape, which, at times, is barely recognizable to me as described, so lush and plentiful were the trees and wildlife. The journeys were taken so early in the Carolinas' infancy, which is often referred to as Florida or, in North Carolina's case, South Virginia, the explorers named some landmarks as they traveled. Names that have been lost over time.

While reading, I pressed into the wilderness of NE North Carolina, where the Tuscarora dwelt. Read of the sugar cane that grew thick and tall; of the interactions between explorers and the various tribes, and between the tribes themselves; of the difficulties in finding the mouth of the Cape Fear River and then the trip up the river and its tributaries. Read of encounters English explorers had with the Spanish, and the difficulties they faced due to language barriers. I learned about the North Carolina settlement called Charles Town. New information for me. The town is gone today, and little of it remains, including memories, so I was thrilled when, during our trip to Old Brunswick Town, we passed the historical marker noting the settlement's location down the creek.

And that was within the first four of the eighteen reports included. I'm trying to read them in order, working my way southward to Charles Town (Charleston). However, the collection is divided so one can read one report and then skip around to another, if they so desire.

Below is an excerpt from William Hilton's, "A Relation of a Discovery", written in 1664 after his trip up the Cape Fair (Cape Fear, to my understanding, but those who read nautical terms can correct me):

...we returned, viewing the Land on both sides the River, and found as good tracts of land, dry, well wooded, pleasant and delightful as we have seen any where in the world, with great burthen of Grasse on it, the land being very level, with steep banks on both sides the River, and in some places very high, the woods stor'd with abundance of Deer and Turkies every where; we never going on shoar, but saw of each also Partridges great store, Cranes abundance, Conies, which we saw in several places; we heard several Wolves howling in the woods, and saw where they had torn a Deer in pieces. Also in the River we saw great store of Ducks, Teile, Widgeon, and in the woods great flocks of Parrakeeto's; the Timber that the woods afford for the most part consisting of Oaks of four or five sorts, all differing in leaves, but all bearing Akorns very good: we measured many of the Oaks in several places, which we found to be in bignesse some two, some three, and others almost four fathoms; in height, before you come to boughs or limbs, forty, fifty, sixty foot, and some more, and those Oaks very common in the upper parts of both Rivers; Also a very tall large Tree of great bignesse, which some do call Cyprus, the right name we know not, growing in Swamps.

Likewise Walnut, Birch, Beech, Maple, Ash, Bay, Willough, Alder and Holly; and in the lowermost parts innumerable of Pines, tall and good for boards or masts, growing for the most part in barren sandy ground, but in some places up the River in good ground, being mixed amongst Oaks and other Timber. We saw several Mulberry-trees, multitudes of Grape-Vines, and some Grapes which we did eat of. We found a very large and good tract of Land on the N. W. side of the River, thin of Timber, except here and there a very
great Oak...

Looking at the shores of the Cape Fear today, I never would have known.

Narratives of Early Carolina 1650-1708 is available on Amazon. Most, if not all, reports are now public domain and can be found online, but you have to know the title! I like the book version, though. It's far more portable. If you're a fan of Carolina history, I highly commend this collection.

Old Brunswick Town and Fort Anderson

As I've shared in the past, during a writers conference one year, while sitting at a table hosted by an editor, someone got me on the subject of the Carolinas. I'm sure they soon regretted that because I talked on and on about the beauty and history found in these states. When I ran out of air, the editor sat back, crossed her arms in dramatic fashion, and with a tired sigh said, "So..." Pause for effect. "You seem to know a lot about history. Tell me..." Pause for effect. "Are you writing a historical?"

Having totally forgotten the house she represented published the genre, I said something along the lines of, "No. You can't take a step around here without walking on history."

This past weekend, we drove down east to explore what I learned was a forgotten, and now, often overlooked piece of history located along the Cape Fear River across from Carolina Beach State Park.

Brunswick Town was established on the banks of the Cape Fear around 1726. It was a place of trade, a place of politics. In the midst of twisted oaks laden with moss, people lived, worked, enjoyed the beauty of life along the majestic river.

But like the port town of Bath, the village began to die out. What was left went up in smoke when British soldiers arrived in 1776. They left behind few remains.

And it stayed that way for a century. But during the War Between the States, the land that was once a busy port town became Fort Anderson. Mounds were built, "one shovel at a time" to create fortifications.

But the war ended, along with the need for Fort Anderson. And for another century, Old Brunswick was once again forgotten.

Until the 1950s. Then, a man who recognized the historical significance of the area launched an effort to find Old Brunswick's remains, and today, guest can stop at the Visitors Center for information before strolling around the grounds first settled by the son of a Carolina governor. It's a quiet walk, disturbed only by other visitors or pelicans flying above in formation. But few residents are found there. Silent sentinels. No one who can tell the stories of Old Brunswick Town.

Those memories have been lost over time. But thanks to those who hoped to preserve the past, Old Brunswick Town hasn't been lost to history.

For more information, go to www.nchistoricsites.org/brunswic/main.htm

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Images from Colonial Williamsburg

Our heavy travel schedule in the earlier part of the year prevented us from taking a few days off to celebrate our wedding anniversary, but that didn't stop us from exploring. We traveled to Colonial Williamsburg, VA hoping to spend the day in the old town. But temps near 90 degrees and a humidity level that surely matched quickly conquered us.

After visiting a few bookstores and sharing an anniversary dessert of Crème Brûlée at the Blue Talon Bistro, we walked around as long as we could, then headed home. But we managed to snap a few photos, of course. We'll return in cooler weather to explore more of what the Williamsburg area has to offer.

 

 

 

 

 

For more information on Colonial Williamsburg, go to www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/

Charleston, South Carolina

By looking at this blog, you'd never know Charleston, SC is our favorite city. We first visited that stately town shortly after moving to the Carolinas five years ago. We go back every chance we get.

What we love about Charleston--beside the architecture, the history, the scenic location between the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, and the convenience to nearby barrier islands--is the proximity of activities in the Historic District. Park on Market Street and from there, take a carriage ride, (which I highly recommend) a guided walking tour, or a ghost tour (I don't believe in ghosts, but it's a lot of fun.) Or shop in the Slave Market where you'll find the famous baskets made by third and fourth generation basket makers (note, the baskets are quite expensive because they're handmade. If you buy one, ask what it's made of. Sweetgrass is getting harder to find and basket makers are using other materials. The vendors have been up front about it when I ask, so don't hesitate.) And all this from Market Street!

What do you in the Historic District depends on what subject you want to explore. Pick history one day and after you learn about Charleston's role in the Revolutionary War and the War Between the States, search for the graves of Stede Bonnet and other pirates hung at White Point Garden, then take a boat to Fort Sumpter (note: the island visible in the near distance from the Battery is the abandoned Castle Pinckney, not Fort Sumpter.) Or learn about the great fire of 1861, or the great earthquake of 1886. Don't forget to visit the Citidel, both old and new. Older is more interesting (to me) because it's now an attractive park in the Historic District.

Choose architecture the next day and take tours of the Miles Brewton house, where Mary Pringle (Mary's World) lived, then head to Rainbow Row, the Battery, the Old Exchange, St Micheal's Church and a plethora of other homes and houses of worship. You'll see two- and three-story Italianates. You'll also spot One Room houses, which the original owners built sideways on the lot for tax purposes. Piazzas (verandas) with wrought iron balustrades are everywhere, and add to the city's charm.

For the kids, visit attractions such as the SC Aquarium (ask if you can have a tour of the sea turtle hospital) or spend time at nearby Waterfront Park.

Outside of the Historic District, the plantations including Boone Hall and Magnolia Plantation and Gardens are wonderful spots to visit:

Check for entrance fees before you go. If you're in the mood for sand and waves, visit Folly Beach. While there, go to the tip of the island and see Morris Lighthouse. Sullivan Island has a lighthouse as well (though not as attractive.) Eco-tours are available on the Isle of Palms, stomping grounds of author, Mary Alice Monroe, one of the many sea turtle volunteers on that island.

Hungry? Eat at Sticky Fingers, whether in Mount Pleasant where Boone Hall is located, or downtown on Meeting Street. We always eat at A.W. Shucks on Market Street or--just for fun--Bubba Gumps, also on Market. Some folks love Jestine's Kitchen, but Charleston and the surrounding area is flooded with good restaurants serving great Lowcountry food.

One sight we've yet to see is the Angel Oak on John's Island. Click on the link to see a picture of the old oak tree, which has captured the attention of thousands: www.scangeloaktree.com/

Just another excuse to return.

For more information on Charleston and the surrounding area, check out the following links:

Charleston www.charleston.com/
Folly Beach www.follybeach.com/
Boone Hall boonehallplantation.com/