Monday, October 3, 2016

The Lost Colony of Roanoke

           The smell of salt filled his nostrils and the months of travel across the open ocean had made him weary. Questions permeated his mind but were drowned by thoughts of fear, concern…dread. The fog descended slowly and lay flat across the earth blanketing it like snow. The dark in the new world was filled with more than the sounds of the English twilight. It was mysterious…almost magical. Whispers and echoes floated across the wind and were carried through the trees and the shadows revealed more than just reflections. With their packs heavy and the sun pushing up the sky they made their way through the woody country side. Where a small hamlet had been left, nothing remained. No people, no graves, no struggle. The bustle of the village diminished to silence. Two small clues left behind, “Croatoan…CRO,” were his family nearby or had the new world consumed them?
            The colony of Roanoke, largely dubbed the “Lost” colony of Roanoke was established in 1587 when three ships carrying 115 people traveled from Portsmouth (Portesmouth) England with a destination set for Virginia.[1] Sir Walter Raleigh had decided they would settle near the Chesapeake Bay area but they actually ended up a Roanoke and the captain of their ship made the choice for the colonists to stay. Modern day Roanoke is actually off the coast of North Carolina.
            Life was difficult for these colonist, in a new world, surrounded by a harsh environment. They struggled to keep their heads above water but their relationships with the Native American Aquascogocs tribe was already at a breaking point due to bad blood with the previous Roanoke settlement. Two years earlier another group of colonists traveled to Roanoke under Sir Walter Raleigh but turned around and headed home in a little under ten months. They were low on supplies and food to due to an entire ships rations being spoiled after it hit a shoal. After the colonist accused the Aquascogocs of stealing, they burned down their village and in retaliation the tribe attacked the Roanoke settlement. The colonist repelled them but fearing the worst took an offer from Sir Frances Drake to gather their things and head back home to England.
            The colonist that arrived in 1587 had no knowledge of the disagreements and it didn’t take long for the Aquascogocs to exact revenge on the new settlement. Almost as soon as they arrived the tribe killed George Howe while he was fishing for crabs. The colonists had become friends with the Croatoan tribe that settled on Croatoan island (modern day Hatteras island) and their Christian Chief Manteo. In an effort of revenge the colonist executed an attack on the Aquascogocs tribe but in the dark of night they mistakenly attacked their Croatoan friends instead. The colonist put themselves in an impossible situation and realized without supplies from England they were never going to survive the winter. John White, governor of the Roanoke settlement, reluctantly left for England in an effort to bring back supplies that would save the colony. Many scholars question why White himself had to leave the people in his care behind instead of some of the other men going back. It has been said that he was an unpopular leader, which might be why he had to head back himself, instead of sending someone else in his place.[2]
            White planned on getting the supplies and turning around to head back to the colonist he left behind at Roanoke but crisis after crisis stopped him. Weather played a large part in marine affairs during this time because many of the smaller ships White was able to acquire couldn’t withstand heavy storms. During this time the Anglo-Spanish war was going on and most of the larger naval ships were sent out to battle. Any ships that were deemed English were sunk by the Spanish no matter if they were military vessels or not so Queen Elizabeth I didn’t want to risk her ships making a trip across the Atlantic. On one occasion when he was able to acquire a ship he was boarded by the Spanish and all of his supplies were stolen so he had to return to England. It took him three years to get the ships and the supplies he needed to return to his family and the rest of the colony he left behind in 1587.
            August 18th, 1590 is the date of one of Americas first great mysteries because when White returned to the site he had left behind those three years ago he didn’t find his family, he didn’t find his colonists, or their remains. He found nothing. As they searched what small debris had been left behind he discovered a few things, “as we entred up the sandy banke upon a tree, in the very browe thereof were curiously carved these fair Romane letters C R O.”[3] As they walked further, “one of the chiefe trees or postes at the right side of the entrance had the barke taken off, and 5 foote from the ground in fayre Capitall letters was graven CROATOAN.”[4] Among the left over debris they found what was mostly comprised of heavy iron and lead items. Most of the houses and dwellings had been dismantled. The settlement had been grown over and covered in weeds. White and his men found five chests, three of which were filled with Whites personal items. They had been dug up and most of the items had been destroyed or ruined by whoever found them (White proposed it was done by “savages”) as well as by their open contact with the elements.
            Under the impression the colonist had  taken up their settlement and headed toward the refuge they had left in the new world, the Croatoan tribe, White and his men headed back to their boats with haste. They put toward a plan to make their way to the Island to find their people but when bad weather struck the captain  decided it was best to head back to England. White never returned to the new world and never found out what happened to his family or the rest of the Roanoke Colonists. White was not alone. There is no definitive answer for what happened to the colonist at Roanoke. Even today scholars, researchers, and archeologist are still trying to unravel the mysteries that the colonists left behind. There are many theories as to what happened to the lost colony of Roanoke. Some of them rely on what evidence has been able to unearth, some are merely educated guesses, and some are as magical and mysterious as the disappearance itself.
            Many scholars do believe that violence could have been an option for the disappearance of the colonists. Any of the local Native American tribes could have killed them and buried the bodies somewhere else. Some researchers say Spaniards could have killed them on their way up from Florida. It doesn’t really account for how neatly the camp was disassembled though, or the notes left behind (unless it was a strategy to throw them off the truth of what actually happened). Another theory is that disease wiped them out. There are many microbes that the colonists have never encountered so many did get sick in the new world. If something tragic did happen there is a good chance the group split up and went separate ways with the Governor of the town out of the picture. Eric Klingelhofer, a historian at Mercer University stated that, “No single Indian tribe or village could have supported them. They would be even larger than some villages.”  Some scholars say they built a boat and tried to sail back to the new world and were lost at sea.
            The most popular theory is that the colonist assimilated into the Croatoan tribe.[5] If the colonist left under duress they were supposed to carve a maltese cross and leave it behind somewhere for White to find but no cross was ever discovered. This leads some researchers to believe that when they realized White was going to take some time to return they packed their bags and made way to the one group of people they had the best chance with and left behind two clues to show White where they had gone (CRO, CROAOAN). Some Evidence from settlers in the 17th and 18th century has supported this claim noting they had met Native Americans who lived near the Hatteras islands that had blue and grey eyes and even blond hair.[6] The Lumbee tribe are supposedly descendants of the Croatoan Tribe (which died out in the 17th century). The Lumbee possess many European attributes which could be evidence of the Roanoke colonists settling down with the Croatoan tribe.[7] However, many scholars suggest that a few different 17th or 18th century migration theories could be behind the Lumbee’s European attributes and there is no imperial evidence to suggest this is a full proof theory of the colonists settlement.
            When John Smith settled Jamestown he was tasked with finding information on the lost colonists and when he questioned the Powhatan tribe (his geographical neighbors), their Chief told Smith that he killed them all because they had settled with the Native Americans near the Chesapeake area (the area which they were going to originally settle in the first place) and the tribe that lived their refused to join the Powhatans, so he killed them all, including the colonists.[8] This theory has been somewhat debunked by most historians because there is little physical or historical evidence to support it.
                        Archaeologists from East Carolina University found a 16th century 10-carat gold signet ring in 1998 that sparked Mark Horton, an archaeologist from Bristol University, to lead excavations on Hatteras every year since 2009. Their main goal was to discover any evidence that linked the colonist to the island. They have since found, “a small piece of slate that seems to have been used as a writing tablet and part of the hilt of an iron rapier, [and] a light sword similar to those used in England in the late 16th century.”[9] On top of that the archaeologists found some copper ingots and iron bars dating back to he late 1500’s similar to the ones that White found left behind at Roanoke. This evidence could suggest two things. They assimilated to the area and took their belongings or their belongings somehow ended up there anyway.
            A second area was searched by archaeologist known as “Site X” which is about 50 miles inland in modern day Edenton, NC (in Whites notes it was dictated that they would move here if they decided to leave Roanoke). Researchers were clued into this area because of a map drawn by White himself that revealed a small X over Edenton. [10] The archaeologists have found pieces of pottery that date back to the Roanoke settlers time period based on research that shows the style of pottery is Border Ware that was used at Roanoke and Jamestown. They also found, “a food-storage jar known as a baluster, pieces of early gun flintlocks, a metal hook of the sort used to stretch animal hides or tents and an aglet, [and] a small copper tube used to secure wool fibers before the advent of the hook and eye in the 17th century.”[11] This site offers similar insight to the Cape Creek site. They may have moved inland or at least some of their belongings did over time.
            The Lost Colony Center for Science and Research is a non-profit organization that was created in 1999 to research the mysteries of Roanoke. They have set up the Lost Colony DNA project wherein Americans who can date their history back to eastern NC in the 1700s with surnames, “of the colonists and families associated through historical documents with local Native American heritage.”[12] They also have some scholarly research on local Native American tribes, maps, and practices used to find archaeological evidence at Native American sites.
            From 1937 to 1940 a series of rocks documenting what happened to the Roanoke colonists were found. The first stone was found by Louis Hammond, a man from California, who said he found the stone of the coast of Edenton, NC. The stone states, “Ananias Dare &- Virginia Went Hence- Unto Heaven 1591- Anye Englishman Shew- John White Govr Via.”[13] The back side of the stone mentions that after White left for England the colonist moved inland (toward Edenton, NC) and were ravaged by both disease and war with the local tribes. The stone was signed EWD Eleanor White Dare (John Whites daughter and mother of the first child born to the colony Virginia Dare). Dr. Haywood Pearce Jr. of the University of Atlanta thought the authenticity of the stone was real and offered a reward to find a second stone. Bill Eberhardt (a stone cutter) claimed to have found the second stone in 1939. Eventually Eberhardt claimed to have found a total of 42 stones. They were all deemed forgeries. The hoax left a stain on the story and all intellectual parties involved steered clear of it. However, the first stone is very different from the rest of the stones found. It is a different type of rock, different carvings, textual style, verbal usage, and had nothing to do with Eberhardt. Most scholarly parties didn’t want anything to do with it based on how badly Pearce’s career had been tarnished by his association to the hoax stones. The origin of the first stone, also called the Chowan River stone, and the story that lies behind the words is still a mystery.
            With so little conclusive evidence able to be found, some people believe a much more deviant plot was at work in the disappearance of the colonists. Why did John White never return to find his family? The information on John White is all but nonexistent after his return to England. He moved to what is modern day Kilmore, Country Cork in Ireland on one of Sir Walter Raleigh’s estates and stayed there. His exact date of death is not even known, but is expected to be around 1593 (he would have been in his mid-50s by that time). Some theorists think the picture of the world when White returned was far from mysterious. They suspect that he found a settlement full of dead bodies, his family included. They had died of disease or violence but to protect the “dream” of the new world the men covered up the truth to protect England’s interest in expanding to the new nation. They say that’s why he never bothered to go back, because he knew he would never find his family. He wrote in 1593 that he left the fate of the colonist in god’s hands, “Thus committing the relief of my discomfortable company…to the merciful help of the Almighty, whom I most humbly beseech to help and comfort them, according to his most Holy will and their good desire.”[14] It could be a gesture for good will and hope to his lost family, or another layer to add to the guise, closure for a broken man.
            The word Croatoan has been littered throughout the lore of North America turning up in a plethora of places in history. It was said that Edgar Allan Poe whispered the word on his death bed before he died. The word was also scribbled into Amelia Earhart’s journal that was found after she disappeared in 1937. It was found inscribed on a bed post that Ambrose Bierce slept in before he disappeared in 1913. It was scratched on the walls of Black Bart’s prison cell before he disappeared in 1888. In 1921 it was found on the last page of the ship Carroll A. Deering’s logbook before it ran aground on Cape Hatteras with no one aboard.[15] Each of these is as much of a mystery as the disappearance of the colonist in 1590.
            The Croatoan tribe believed that the Roanoke Island had a spirit. That spirit was outraged when people dug up the earth, cut down trees, burned fires, or drank from its water. The Croatoan people themselves used lived on the island but moved to what is now the modern day Hatteras Island. They said that when the spirit was angered it would turn the accused into whatever had been tainted.  
            Popular culture has not shied away from propagating the mystery behind the Lost Colony. American Horror Story had an entire season based on Roanoke. Many other shows have made episodes and story arcs that involve the lost colonists. Supernatural and Sleepy hollow alluded the colonists had a virus or plague. Authors have also delved into the Roanoke mystery using the word Croatoan to describe something that needed to be discovered, that was still lost, still a mystery (Stephen Kings Storm of the Century, Stephen Kings Haven,  Mind Hunters, The Croatoans from DC comics, The Last American Vampire, Tomb Raider, and Croatoan by Harlan Ellison to name a small few).
            The shroud of mystery still looms over the Lost Colony of Roanoke but there is no shortage of theories and no shortage of people willing to ask the questions that deserve answers. Through the technology being implemented and the researchers and archaeologists still committed to giving a voice to the lost families who gave up their lives in a comfortable country so that the dream and adventure of the new world could live; I am convinced that one day the lost colonists story will be told. Until then, we are free to search through the shadows of uncertainty and create our own understanding of what happened to the men and women of the new world. Whether you lie on the side of fact or fiction, the story of the Lost Colonist at Roanoke is mystery that implores research and understanding. Open a book, read a story and let your mind connect the dots. You could be the person that puts together what so many before you have tried. Come for the unanswered questions, and stay for the mystery and adventure.



Bibliography
Basu, Tanya. "Have We Found the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island?" National Geographic. December 8, 2013. Accessed October 03, 2016. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131208-roanoke-lost-colony-discovery-history-raleigh/.
Casale, By Steven. "America’s First Mystery: The Lost Colony of Roanoke | The Lineup." The Lineup Americas First Mystery The Lost Colony of Roanoke Comments. Accessed October 03, 2016. http://www.the-line-up.com/lost-colony-of-roanoke/.
Childs, By T. Mike. "The Dare Stones." Dare Stones. 2013. Accessed October 03, 2016. http://ncpedia.org/dare-stones.
"The Croatoan Mystery." Ghost Cities. October 17, 2011. Accessed October 03, 2016. https://anilbalan.com/2011/10/17/the-croatoan-mystery/.
Lane, Ralph. "Colony at Roanoke - 1586." National Center. Accessed October 03, 2016. http://www.nationalcenter.org/ColonyofRoanoke.html.
"The Lost Colony Center for Science and Research." Lost Colony. Accessed October 03, 2016. http://www.lost-colony.com/home.html.
Miller, Lee. Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony. NY: Arcade Publishing, 2000.
Moran, Michael G. "John White (d. 1593)." Library of Virginia. Accessed October 03, 2016. http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/White_John_d_1593#start_entry.
"The Mysterious Lost Colony of Roanoke Island Vanished, Leaving Behind a Strange Message." Ancient Origins. May 9, 2015. Accessed October 03, 2016. http://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena/mysterious-lost-colony-roanoke-island-020289.
Pruitt, Sarah. "Archaeologists Find New Clues to "Lost Colony" Mystery." History.com. August 10, 2015. Accessed October 03, 2016. http://www.history.com/news/archaeologists-find-new-clues-to-lost-colony-mystery.
University of Virginia. “Virtual Jamestown: First-Hand Accounts.” Accessed September 30, 2016. http://www.virtualjamestown.org/fhaccounts_date.html.


John Whites map of VA and NC

John Whites Roanoke

Archaeologist on Hatteras Island 




[1] “Virtual Jamestown: First-Hand Accounts,” Virtual Jamestown, accessed September 30, 2016, http://www.virtualjamestown.org/exist/cocoon/jamestown/fha/J1018.
[2] Michael G. Moran, "John White (d. 1593)," Library of Virginia, , accessed October 03, 2016, http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/White_John_d_1593#start_entry.
[3] “Virtual Jamestown: First-Hand Accounts,” Virtual Jamestown, accessed September 30, 2016, http://www.virtualjamestown.org/exist/cocoon/jamestown/fha/J1019.
[4] Ibid.
[5] By Steven Casale, "America’s First Mystery: The Lost Colony of Roanoke | The Lineup," The Lineup Americas First Mystery The Lost Colony of Roanoke Comments, , accessed October 03, 2016, http://www.the-line-up.com/lost-colony-of-roanoke/.
[6] Ibid.
[7] "The Mysterious Lost Colony of Roanoke Island Vanished, Leaving Behind a Strange Message," Ancient Origins, May 9, 2015, , accessed October 03, 2016, http://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena/mysterious-lost-colony-roanoke-island-020289.
[8] By Steven Casale, "America’s First Mystery: The Lost Colony of Roanoke | The Lineup," The Lineup Americas First Mystery The Lost Colony of Roanoke Comments, , accessed October 03, 2016, http://www.the-line-up.com/lost-colony-of-roanoke/.
[9] Sarah Pruitt, "Archaeologists Find New Clues to "Lost Colony" Mystery," History.com, August 10, 2015, , accessed October 03, 2016, http://www.history.com/news/archaeologists-find-new-clues-to-lost-colony-mystery.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] "The Lost Colony Center for Science and Research," Lost Colony, , accessed October 03, 2016, http://www.lost-colony.com/DNAproj.html.
[13] By T. Mike Childs, "The Dare Stones," Dare Stones, 2013, , accessed October 03, 2016, http://ncpedia.org/dare-stones.
[14] Lee Miller, Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony (NY: Arcade Publishing, 2000), 18.
[15] "The Croatoan Mystery," Ghost Cities, October 17, 2011, , accessed October 03, 2016, https://anilbalan.com/2011/10/17/the-croatoan-mystery/.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

The Everlasting Love Story

The Everlasting Love Story
            The timeless stories created by Shakespeare have been adapted and readapted since their inception. The stories range from following Shakespeare’s dialogue faithfully, to only capturing his essence and deriving from his inspiration. With the vast availability of Shakespearian work (literal or not), taken from the original stories and ideas that were written almost four hundred years ago, there will be no generation that will not be introduced to some type of Shakespearian comedy, tragedy, history, or poem. His legacy is the passion that resonates within his work and ignites that same fervor with past, present, and future readers alike.
              Romeo and Juliet is one Shakespeare’s most popular tragedies and is featured on the reading list of almost every high school student in the United States. One could undoubtedly argue that there are hundreds if not tens of thousands (taking into account unpublished and amateur adaptions; including the hysterical comic book version I handed in as my ninth grade final paper), of versions of Romeo and Juliet floating around the proverbial literary water cooler; each version somewhat different from the last. This essay will take into account the 1968 Romeo and Juliet directed by Franco Zeffirelli, the 1996 Romeo + Juliet directed by Baz Luhrmann, the 2011 Gnomeo & Juliet directed by Kelly Asbury, and the 2013 Warm Bodies directed by Jonathan Levine. Each version correlates either directly or indirectly with the original Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare in the early 1600s (who actually took his inspiration from the Italian Romeus and Juliet written many years before).
             “Two households, both alike in dignity / From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, / Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. / From forth the fatal loins of these two foes / A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life” (Prologue.1-5). This is how the majority of Romeo and Juliet adaptations begin and the 1968 version is not different, in fact the movie deviates very little from the original play. In an interview with Pitch weekly Zeffirelli said, “You're talking to
someone who's done 80 percent of his work based on classical material” and his work on Taming of the Shrew (1967), Hamlet (1990), and  Jesus of Nazareth (1977) add credence to that (Lybarger). One of the most important characteristics Zeffirelli takes from the original play is the naivety of the characters. He takes two young people: Leonard Whiting (Romeo) who was seventeen at the time and Olivia Hussey (Juliet) who was fifteen at the time and allows their adolescent character to flourish on screen capturing both their innocence and budding romance.
            The 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet also features much of the original dialogue with minor changes to modernize the text to screen dynamic. The most abrupt change is to set and scenery as this version takes place in modern day (1996 modern day anyways). The movie features cars, guns instead of swords, and the two opposing families are actually two opposing corporations (one owned by the Capulets and one by the Montagues). The major difference (besides the set), is the grittiness of the 1996 version from the 1968 version. Luhrmann really captured the action, struggle, and resistance of the Romeo and Juliet story in a way that Zeffirelli didn’t. In this versions Romeo and Juliet both are more mature than in Zeffirelli’s adaptation; they (especially Leonardo DiCaprio), captured the essence of tormented teenagers stuck between a life and death situation with such passion and anguish Shakespeare himself would have given a slight nod from the audience.
             Apart from the literal adaptations of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, there are many stories that take only inspiration. Gnomeo and Juliet was a kids movie made in 2011 that featured two rival garden gnome families (one blue and one red), that lived in two adjacent yards. This movie centered around two characters (Gnome and Juliet), who met one day and fell in love, but were forced apart due to some very devastating horticultural differences. The movie features some of the famous lines (if only a little different): “A weed by any other name is still a weed” and “The story you are about to see has been told before. A lot. And now we are going to tell it again. But different. It's about two star-crossed lovers kept apart by a big feud. No one knows how this feud started, but it's all quite entertaining” (Gnomeo & Juliet). The movie is clearly directed towards young children and features music, playful action, and of course: A HAPPY ENDING!
            One of the even less literal adaptations for Romeo and Juliet is Warm Bodies directed by Jonathan Levine in 2013. The main character “R” is a zombie who early on in the film begins to wonder about himself in a very existential kind of way. He wonders why can’t connect anymore with anyone (which draws on many modern day worries of connecting physically with people rather than digitally). Then he meets “Julie” (getting any hints yet?), who begins to change him and instead of wanting to eat her brains, he wants to protect her. The two warring ‘families’ are the humans and zombies and if that isn’t enough evidence there is very compelling balcony scene. In the end the love between the two ignites R’s heart and turns him human again (happy ending!).
            The reason I choose these four adaptations of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is because they all deserve a place within the storylines. Literal adaptations like Zeffirelli’s aid in a more classical understanding of Shakespeare while Luhrmann’s version creates a textual understanding of the story but adding a more relatable exterior. As for the last two examples (Gnomeo and Juliet & Warm Bodies), they make Shakespeare available to the masses; available to people (teenagers and children especially), who would not be drawn to more literal adaptations. This is an important point because although there are people who swear by the original, it just isn’t plausible to assume everyone is going to be able to spend time learning an old English story from start to finish. I do wholeheartedly believe that if Shakespeare was here today he would want people to understand the underlying idea of Romeo and Juliet; not just the literal or textual complexity but the passion and electricity that is available when you connect with someone so completely. For that reason, I can’t argue for what genre presents Shakespeare best because they all do, in their own ways; for different people, on different days.
Works Cited
Gnomeo & Juliet. Touchstone Home Entertainment, 2011. DVD.

Lybarger, Dylan. "Spreading the Wrong Gospel: An Interview with Franco Zeffirelli." Lybarger Links. N.p., 13 Mar. 1999. Web. 18 July 2015. <http://www.tipjar.com/dan/zeffirelli.htm>.


Shakespeare, William, and G. Blakemore Evans. "Romeo and Juliet." The Wadsworth             Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Second ed. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage        Learning, 1997. Print.